Sprawl Repair: Fixing the Mess We Made

A handful of good articles in the November issue of the American Planning Association (APA)'s Planning magazine. Here's one:

Edited excerpts from an article by Emily Talen, AICP
APA Planning Magazine
November 2010

In the 1950s and '60s, the "next big thing" was urban renewal. In the 1970s and '80s, it was environmentalism. In the 1990s and early 2000s, it was smart growth. And today? Think of sprawl repair: retrofitting abandoned chain stores, dead malls, disconnected apartment complexes, and segregated housing pods.

In the short term, sprawl repair, or suburban retrofit, is driven by failing malls, widespread housing foreclosures, and the need to stimulate new forms of investment. But there is also something more principled at work: Americans' realization that it makes sense to reduce energy consumption, to reuse existing infrastructure rather than to build new, and to provide denser, more walkable housing options in response to demographic change.

Sprawl repair requires both big thinking and political moxy. Unlike simple technological fixes that we think of as "sustainable," it will take substantial behavioral change, the need for which is indisputable. That means:

• Accepting the loss of automotive dependence
  
• Making walking (and biking) the main mode of travel
  
• Being willing to live more compactly
  
• Tolerating far more social diversity and varied land uses.

We know that detached, single-family housing has a higher carbon footprint than apartment buildings and high rises, a fact thoroughly documented in David Owen's recent book, Green Metropolis. Compact neighborhoods, he makes clear, allow us to drive less, to lower our energy costs, and to strengthen social and economic connections. They have intrinsic environmental, social, and economic benefits.

Three steps to sprawl repair:

• Locate strategic, structural potential - areas near commercial intersections and potentially good connectivity e.g. shorter blocks, with substantial assets to build on, and where corners are occupied by buildings, NOT a parking lot
  
• Pockets of density and diversity - socially, economically, physically, e.g. land uses, housing types
• Begin implementation right away - stimulate investment by changing rules and codes, investing in public space, offering incentives for development.
  

The idea of sprawl repair has caught the attention of the national media. Time magazine in March gave "recycling the suburbs" number two ranking in its list of "10 Ideas That Are Changing the World Right Now." And newspapers around the country regularly report on efforts to revitalize failed malls and derelict industrial sites. Design magazines see retrofitting projects as a way to feature the work of architects. Dwell recently sponsored a suburban design competition called "Reburbia," devoted to "envisioning different scenarios for the future" (www.re-burbia.com). In part, this interest is spurred by investors seeking new development opportunities and by local governments looking for creative ways to revive the shopping districts that were once their major revenue generators.

Ultimately, true sprawl repair will require macro-level change — with new financial tools and new government policies. And those things are generally beyond the scope of planners' jobs. But there are specific things planners can do to motivate sprawl repair. One is to make sure that existing rules and regulations facilitate repair. For suburban planners that means stimulating investment in targeted locations by reforming codes, making improvements in public spaces, and encouraging private investment.

Until recently, planners have mostly focused on restricting sprawl, not on repairing it — two distinctly different approaches. Restriction involves putting the brakes on development, sometimes in the form of urban growth boundaries and wetland protection programs. Yet these are not always the best tools for rejuvenating our suburbs.

Repair, on the other hand, requires vision and a proactive approach. It encourages targeted planning and investment: tax breaks, for instance, and the creation of civic space, sidewalks, and street trees in locations where they might stimulate retrofitting. Allowing single-family suburbs to intensify by adding accessory units or small buildings to accommodate family-run businesses is another important strategy.

31st Street Green Street Demo Project - One to Call My Own!

Three-and-half months later and life Keeps Moving On, here in the Berkeley/Oakland/San Francisco home front. Still working on water issues, with exciting news on my project with Urban Releaf, a grassroots tree planting organization. The 31st Street Green Street Demonstration Project officially broke ground today, October 21. It's the same site I blogged about before here.

31st Street is located in the Hoover neighborhood of West Oakland, a neighborhood with a median household income of ~$20k and faces serious lack of tree canopy and greenery, high asthma rates linked to air pollution from nearby freeways and diesel truck serving the Port of Oakland, and many, MANY other environmental, social and economic disadvantages. Urban Releaf is bringing The Greens (federal, state, and local dollars) to this community in the form of Greens (jobs, youth development, environmental education, and of course, trees!). We are also contributing to science by designing and implementing innovative tree wells that will help retain storm water and reduce storm water pollutants.


The groundbreaking/media event went really well! In attendance were the media, many of our long-time government, community and business partners and supporters, including CA Dept of Forestry & Fire Protection (CALFIRE), CA Dept of Water Resources, California Releaf, City of Oakland, retired Senator Don Perata, Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, the Black Repertory Group, St Mary's Senior Center, UC Berkeley's urban forestry guru, Prof Joe McBride and his PhD student Lara Roman, our board members Pam Wallace and David Ralston, etc etc. Thank you everyone who pulled serious weight to make this event happen and help the 31st St green street move forward!

UC Davis' Dr. Qingfu Xiao is the lead scientist on this project, designing a monitored experiment to quantify water flowing into and out of the tree well and get a grasp on the retention capacity of our innovative tree wells. The tree wells will contain special soils that save water in two ways:

• First, the mix of red lava rock and soil helps retain storm water that would otherwise run off directly into the City's storm drain, relieving burden off of the City's infrastructure system in the future.
• Second, trees and soil help filter out pollutants in storm water and prevent them from entering our precious Bay habitat.

According to the USDA Forest Service Center for Urban Forestry Research, trees in urban areas mitigate air pollution, beautify the neighborhood by adding greenery and shade, save on heating and cooling costs, build a sense of community, and provide opportunities for green job training -- all in addition to saving water. Trees also address global warming by making streets safer and more attractive for walking and biking, as an alternative to driving, and by sequestering carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.

Construction for a pilot test tree well is targeted for November 13-19, pending our permit approval from the City of Oakland. We will then apply the prototype tree well to and come up with other innovative designs for the rest of the two-block project area. In a couple of years, fingers crossed, insya allah, 31st Street will be transformed into a pleasant walking environment, a community asset, and... a national demonstration bringing together the myriad benefits of our city's trees!

Cities all over the world are facing water crises and are seeking water-sensitive tree well design and approach to urban forestry. The CA Department of Water Resources Urban Drought Assistance Program provided funding for this project to educate local residents on California's water shortage and the importance of conserving water. The project also received funding from the West Oakland Project Area Committee Neighborhood Projects Initiative Program.

The Tortoise and the Hare

Got back from my trip nearly 3 weeks ago, properly charmed and energized. Whirlwind only begins to describe the 2.5-week trip in the Rhone River valley. It was a "Tortoise and the Hare" kind of trip, feeding my addiction to contradictions and unlikely combinations: Working frantically like the Hare in the deep, leisurely Provence countryside in south east France (my room is dubbed The Rabbit Room). Then, taking it easy like the Tortoise, checking out cool urban spaces and trends in two frantic cities, Paris and New York. Slipped in meetings, field trips, and partying in Lyon in between all of that. Many surreal moments, e.g. "I can't believe I'm shopping for lunch for 25 people on Malaucène market day in the middle of Provence!!!"

Arrived June 3rd in Paris and barely caught my TGV down to Lyon, to join a meeting of European government agencies and researchers sharing experiences with river restoration, as they are now mandated by the EU Water Framework Directive enacted in 2000. (Ten years later, we are finding ways of classifying and measuring the health and physical conditions of European waterways.) Field trip to the Yzéron followed by a visit to a rather touristy Oingt village in the Lyon hinterland, and wine tasting at Domaine du Sornel in the village of Letra

The Yzéron (ih-ZEH-ron') river, tolerated by a couple of ducks despite its ugly banks, apparently concretized with "leftover" materials from a nearby river infrastructure project.

Cute lil' restaurant/hostel
Village of Oingt

Breathtaking view from the foot of the church
Village of Oingt

Wine tasting numéro un
Domaine du Sornel, Village of Letra, 1+ hour south Lyon


Frog legs for dinner, fried with garlic and herbs (actually it was just appetizer!) with the Forecaster group of European river restoration managers
Village of Letra, south of Lyon

The next day, we drove down to Institut Beaumont, the site of a week-long course on river restoration taught by Profs. Matt Kondolf of UC Berkeley and Hervé Piégay of CNRS Lyon plus other wonderful guest speakers. The course took place at a restored farm house in a village, or hameau, on the northern face of Mont Ventoux in the valley of the Toulerenc, a tributary to the Rhone. The closest municipality, or mairie, is Beaumont-du-Ventoux, the nearest town is Malaucène, bike capital of the northern Provence and the Mont Ventoux circuit. This cherry growing region (terroire de cerises) is roughly equidistant to the east and between Montelimar and Avignon on the A7 freeway. See map below and zoom in for a closer look. Photos follow the map.


View Larger Map

Entrance to hameau Les Alazards, a village of about 15-20 houses, with cherry orchards and against the dramatic background of Mont Ventoux.

Bienvenue à l'Institut Beaumont, the restored farm house with wildly climbing rose bushes. We're just before the village fontaine and lavoir.

The gorgeous kitchen in the farmhouse, where sparks fly and the magic happens!

Ta-da! Chef Robin whipped up a marvelous salade niçoise aux anchois.

Lasagne au saumon two ways, filet and smoked, the night of the Ventoux winds. Hands-down the best meal, courtesy of our French chefs Mélanie and Vincent. Hint: The secret was the bechamel sauce.

Mairie de Beaumont-du-Ventoux (nearest municipality, town hall building with the flag).

Cherries oh-so-in season!

View from the verandah of the house, on the 2nd floor (the French say "à l'étage," or 1st floor).

Dentelles de Mirail, nearby.

That's all for now, folks. More stories and photos and maps coming soon!

Best meal + experience for under $10...

...and one of the things that make San Francisco tick! I usually don't blog about food on this blog, but I promise I will make this planning-related.

I'm talking about the SF Underground Market, a free, monthly marketplace organized by forageSF.com, whose mission it is -- partly -- to "reduce carbon miles" to transport food to the table. Last Friday April 2nd, fellow foodie Jen K. and I ventured to the Market held at SOMArts. We got there around 7 pm; long lines under the freeway had us doubtful if it's worth the wait. It's BYO. Jen headed over to Trader Joe's next door for some pale ale and apple cider. We got in by 7:30, which is a half-hour wait comparable to waiting for a table at many restaurants.

And hell yeah was it worth it. I was impressed with the creativity, which, infused with my own nostalgia, made for a unique experience. Part of the it was connecting with the vendors/makers, who proudly offered taster bites. Most of the food were prepared at the vendors' home kitchen or backyard, by "veterans, people who’ve been making their products for years, but only able to share them with friends. We thought we’d give them a venue to share with the whole SF food community." -- forageSF.com.

Most main dishes were $5 for a reasonable portion and $2 for cookies, snacks, and the like. A little pricey, but I was full at the end, with all the sampling. I ended up spending on dishes that reminded me of food I grew up eating, but with a twist: (I realize not all the terms used here will be understood by everyone out there. I include a mini inter-continental food glossary below but let me know and I can explain.)

1. Pork belly on Chinese man-tou sandwich with green onions, pickled cucumber, and hoisin sauce. Char-siew-looking slices were reheated on the spot on a portable frying pan, and stuffed in the folds of the fresh white bun. The cucumber pickles were oh-so-thinly sliced, and added just enough acidity and crunch. Reminds me of: Mei cai kou rou. The twist: a bunch of edible wild onion flowers gracefully sat atop the hoisin spread. A different version here to give you an idea by Kitchen Sidecar's Katie Kwan.

2. Strawberry lavender macaroons. At first I was doubtful; there weren't samplers, and I recently declared Sweet Adeline Bakery's cherry cream-filled chocolate macaroon the best out there. But it's lavender, so I fished $2 and it was totally worth it. Probably on par with Sweet Adeline's. I didn't grow up with a lot of macaroons, but they remind me of cream-filled wafer snacks, and the lavender was the twist.

3. Earl grey lavender swirl. Another lavender twist to my all-time favorite tea, served with milk.

4. Spicy peanut brittle. Much more "refined" than what I'd find in the snack-land I grew up in, but it effectively curbed my nostalgic cravings.

Notable samples:

1. Nasturtium pesto. Interesting.
2. Maple bacon butter. 'Nuff said.

Regrets:

I did not get the rice crackers with mildly spicy peanut sauce. A half-foot crispy disc of krupuk, speckled with black sesame and the peanut sauce had meatballs/ground pork in it!!

Not taking photos. I was so busy BEING there focused on the food and the people and the whole experience!

A mini inter-continental food glossary:
Hoisin sauce: a sweet-and-sour sweet potato paste
Macaroon: almond paste cream filling sandwiched between fluffy meringue-like cookies
Forageables: Nasturtium and wild onion flowers grow along many urban sidewalks in the US.
Warung: a casual, outdoor shack selling food cooked non-commercially, ubiquitous in Indonesia. May also sell everyday needs, such as sachets of shampoo, headache medicine, and packets of instant noodles.

And now for the planning-related part of this blog. Food is usually such a contextual experience that you share with someone and the memory of it is so closely linked to place. Where you had it, who you had it with, why you were there, how you were in a bad mood because you were starving, how long you had to wait, the heavenly smells, the greasy stove tops and vents, and how full you are at the end of the meal. My theory is, good food experiences are at the heart of a great city. I don't mean just great 5-star, Michelin-rated restaurants, but more like the everyday and almost-banal occurrences of feeding oneself in the middle of the workday or on the way home from happy hour with a group of friends.

Many of the food at the SF Underground Market could easily count as Street Food. I've been really excited about the up-and-coming street food movement. Trucks serving tacos, Korean BBQ, Belgian waffles, and crème brulée, all have found their way to the streets of East Oakland, the Mission, and beyond. Modern day street food vendors have even caught the Twitter bug,
"street-food vendors have flocked to it to relay info to customers. This is particularly helpful with vendors who switch up locations from day to day—or hour to hour. In retrospect, it almost seems like Twitter was made for this purpose. What better way for a roving kitchen to publish crucial intel, from the field?" from seriouseats.com which published a list of vendors on Twitter by region.

For the record, serving food out of a booth on the street doesn't automatically make Street Food! When I went to the SF Street Food Fest on in the Mission District last year, I was -- frankly -- disappointed. Maybe it was the cold, foggy and cloudy SF weather (blame it on the rain), but I was disappointed because it wasn't the street food I was expecting. Most of the vendors were selling at exorbitant prices, for me a disturbing reflection of gentrification in the neighborhood. Folsom Street between 25th and 26th was jam-packed with slow-moving lines, so long it was hard to distinguish which lines were for which vendors. Jen and I ended up having the best pupusas at a nearby El Savadoran restaurant. Oakland's Eat Real Fest at Jack London Square the following week was slightly more spread out and was a slightly more pleasant atmosphere, but I was disappointed not to find the plethora of taco trucks that have become a common sight in East Oakland neighborhoods like Fruitvale. The two festivals made me question "What is Street Food? And why did the festivals seem so wrong?"

For me, Street Food has always been part of growing up in cities. In ballooning urban districts in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, street food is an affordable option for many, not just the working class. One of the things I must have whenever I go back to Indonesia is wonton noodle soup from a cart on the street, that's been my dad's favorite since he was a child. The cart is still in the same alley in Surabaya's Chinatown where he grew up. Selling street food is also livelihood for the vendors, an accessible way to start a business without high overheads. In Indonesia, warungs are ubiquitous along residential and commercial streets, and sell a decent lunch of rice and a meat stew, like rawon or soto, and is also the where one might linger on to chain-smoke kreteks and chit chat over coffee. Ice cream, tou hua (soft tofu flowers), ice kacang (like Taiwanese shaved ice), terang bulan (cheese and chocolate crispy pancakes) and other desserts are also commonly sold by street vendors. I also remember the woman who walked from house to house in the morning, selling vegetables on a large flat woven tray balanced on her head.

In Singapore, some of the nation's favorite and traditional dishes grew up as Street Food, e.g. prawn noodle soup, char kway teow (fried rice noodles), Hokkien mee (fried egg noodles), chai tow kway (fried carrot cake), etc. Hong Kong's now-famous dim sum that can now be found all over the world, too had its humble beginnings as street food. Wheeled on a cart or carried on 2 baskets hanging on a wooden pole balanced on the vendor's shoulders, street food vendors shout out their wares ("kai chuk!" "lo mai kai!" "chee cheong fun!") or are recognized by their signature taps on their frying pan, or on a piece of bamboo. Interested customers would greet vendors, sometimes bringing their own bowl. Part of Singapore's post-war urban redevelopment scheme, the government created spaces for "hawkers" called hawkers' centers, now common in HDB public housing districts and markets. They are open air, roofed buildings housing 5-20 stalls, with a central seating area. Commercial buildings and shopping malls often host a food court floor, a more expensive version of hawkers' centers, but serving similar food, sharing plates, bowls and cutlery. Sort of like those you find in American malls, but not quite the same.

The story of street food in Singapore provides a hint on the line between formality and informality. From the government's perspective, street food vendors are hard to regulate. Hygiene is a real issue. From the vendors' perspective, regulations could create barriers that make it impossible to sell their wares. In Singapore, the move to gather street vendors into hawkers' centers was directly motivated by the need to improve and regulate hygienic standards. Now, each stall displays a score card (A, B, C and D), a hygiene certification by public health inspectors. "To sell at a farmers market, you need to produce your wares in a commercial kitchen. This is an impossible expense for many of us, so the underground farmers market is about helping to get some exposure for all of our fellow producers without the cash for a commercial kitchen." -- forageSF.com. La Cocina, an incubator program in SF that serves to address this economic barrier, also organized last year's SF Street Food Fest. But why is it their street food didn't look like street food to me?

While I'm speaking mostly from experience, and I haven't done much research on anything I wrote above, the transition from informality to formality is probably one of the biggest challenges of cultivating a street food environment everywhere.

GREEN LIGHT FOR BERKELEY DOWNTOWN ECO-PLAZA

At close to midnight Wednesday, March 23, Berkeley City Council voted (8-1) to endorse the Hood proposal for Center Street and directed city staff to work with nonprofit and community partners, Ecocity Builders and Citizens for a Strawberry Creek Plaza, to move the project forward and apply for upcoming funding opportunities. Following a decade of citizen-led advocacy and numerous public processes, the downtown Berkeley project can move forward beyond concept and into planning for implementation.

The project is located at a prime opportunity site along the main pedestrian thoroughfare from the Downtown Berkeley BART station and the UC Berkeley campus, and is likely to attract funding for its myriad social, environmental, economic and infrastructure benefits to residents and visitors.  "This is a key victory in this project's history. Deadlines are coming down the pipeline in the next month, for millions of dollars of potential funding for this project," says Kirstin Miller, executive director of Ecocity Builders. 

The project has gone through numerous rounds of public and planning processes, since it was first proposed to the city in 1997 and is consistent with official City of Berkeley planning and policy documents. The City Council has previously adopted policies in reference to the plaza in the 2001 Berkeley General Plan, 2004 Downtown Task Force recommendations, 2007 Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee recommendations, and the 2009 Downtown Area Plan. 

Award-winning landscape architect, Walter Hood, in 2007 was commissioned to design the plaza, located on Center Street between Oxford Street and Shattuck Avenue in downtown Berkeley. Hood was responsible for designing the gardens at the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park. 

The Hood design calls for closing off this block of Center Street except for emergency and delivery vehicle to create a pedestrian-oriented gathering space tied to the upcoming Berkeley Art Museum/hotel and conference center complex. Strawberry Creek will be partially "daylighted," or dug up from underground storm drains where it is currently buried in the downtown area, for residents and visitors to enjoy and learn about creek ecology and the regional watershed.  The Hood design elements and more project information can be viewed here.

Catching up...

Ay-ay-ay! It's been a while.

Updates - Added photos and videos on previous posts:

Ecocity Builders charrette at Gaining Ground, Vancouver
Watershed Weekend

More posts coming up.