Planning Pool

While it might be nice if our cities and towns were built around squares as is the case in much of Europe, most places in North America developed around a main street. As such, Main Street programs have developed all across the United States, with average returns of $25 to the local economy for every $1 invested. Still, beyond its economic force, the program’s greatest strength is the sense of ownership is grants community members in celebrating their hometowns.

The following slideshow covers the Maryland Main Street Program, which is but one of many… Read more

In January, Daniella shared how she and some colleagues incorporated a tool library into concept designs for the Britannia Community Centre. To follow up, we visited the Northeast Portland Tool Library for our latest Planning Pool Original. Read more…

Northeast Portland Tool Library from Planning Pool on Vimeo.

Gazing toward the future, and hopefully beyond these dismal economic times, what will cities look like? Though it’s easy to get excited about the technologies that might shape the built realities of civilization, any sociologist will tell you that cities are at least equally defined by their inhabitants…

This untraditional session tackles the current economic downturn, crisis, meltdown, recession, depression – however you conceive of it. Its title is “What Planners can Bring to the Table in a Recession,” aptly subtitled “Planners’ Improv”. Panelists are:

- Rino Mostacci from the Town of Fort Erie, Ontario
- Ron Marini, City of Hamilton, Ontario
- Paul Smithson, City of Burlington, Ontario
- Ann McAfee, City of Vancouver,BC (retired), consultant, City Choice

Today’s discussion took the form of a brainstorming session between the audience and an expert panel about how planners can best do their work in the context of economic collapse. Highlights are summarized below, at some length. The conversation was rich and spirited – the topic and seem to have hit a nerve!

A planner from the Maritimes opened the dialogue by sharing his long experience working in places where economic hardship … Continue Reading

Amity Gardens Shopping Center, 2007 via Groceteria

Amity Gardens Shopping Center was a popular shopping center in Charlotte, NC, during the 1950s. Now, the blighted strip mall is slated to be bulldozed and replaced with a Walmart with the hopes of revitalizing the area.

According to Groceteria:
The Winn-Dixie at Charlotte’s Amity Gardens Shopping Center opened in November of 1958, right in the middle of the most thriving retail strip in the city. The center also included Woolworth’s and a Barclay Cafeteria. By 1961, it also included Charlotte’s first (and only) branch of Clark’s, an early “supercenter” with both general merchandise and groceries.

The term ‘green infrastructure’ typically conjures up ideas of LEED-buildings, green roofs, grey-water recycling and emerging clean energy technologies such as solar panels and wind turbines. This type of ‘green infrastructure’ investment is sometimes heralded as an economic save-all, a way to meet the goals of the planning profession while investing in the world of tomorrow. Pundits suggest that investment in green infrastructure will create the backbone of future communities, places that are energy efficient, multi-modal, carbon-neutral and in harmony with natural systems.

However, “green infrastructure” could also have an entirely new meaning. Exploring this expanded definition is going to test our beliefs and will require keeping an open mind. Planners should be up for the task; as a profession we are open to idea exploration, we experiment with new technologies and we utilize our creative instincts when planning for communities … Continue Reading