Prague’s Franz Kafka International Airport was fake of course, but the Russians have come up with something just as intimidating — and it’s real.
life post-euclid
the company blog of Redevelopment Solutions
World’s Most Oppressive Subway Station
July 19th, 2010Hard and Soft Data
June 24th, 2010We at Redevelopment Solutions certainly agree with the thrust of this blog post from Zyscovich Architects’ Melissa Hege: Planners aren’t that big on using quantitative data in their analyses. We tend to deal more with the qualitative stuff: SWOT Analyses, charrettes, and the like. That’s all good. However, more rigorous quantitative techniques are better for rule- and policy-making in that they lend themselves well to universalization. We figure that planners aren’t well-schooled in these techniques, and as a result they aren’t widely used.
But the usage of quantitative techniques cannot be the be-all and end-all of analysis. Frankly, there are just some things you can’t put numbers to. Sure, we can create a scale and ask people how they “feel” when they walk or drive through a neighborhood, but sitting down, talking to people, and getting a detailed view of their thoughts and desires creates a richer trove of information. Quantitative analyses, which when doing the kind of research in which planners often engage, often forces respondents into the preconceived boxes of the research team. The nuances and contradictions that emerge from in-depth qualitative analyses — nuances and contradictions that are often quite enlightening — are too often missed by straight numbers.
Moreover, quantitative techniques are great when one wants to understand current conditions quickly, but without good analysis, usage of such techniques alone often do not provide a way forward. In instances when it does, the solutions may be intractable given current resources. Crime may be high in one neighborhood or another. The data may also show that such crime rates are significantly related to disinvestment. But then what? Will putting more cops on the street help matters? Reductions in the amount of subsidized housing? A farmers’ market? From where does the crime come? Qualitative techniques become invaluable in answering those questions.
So, yes, getting the “hard” data and analyzing it is important, but we discount “soft” data at our peril.
Who Doesn’t Want “Smart Growth?”
June 22nd, 2010According to a survey of residents in the American Southwest reported on in this article, it’s political conservatives and those living with children. Moreover, California residents who see a problem with traffic congestion are also less likely to support local infill development, a strategy commonly associated with Smart Growth.
Females and foreign-born persons are more likely to express preference for a smaller house and a shorter commute, probably due to the latter’s accustomation with such real estate features and the former’s concerns about safety. Blacks, Hispanics, and persons with low incomes were more likely to prefer transit-oriented developments. In California, Bay Area residents, recent movers, college graduates, and those with low incomes were more likely to express preference for infill developments.
Given these preferences, where should local governments pursue Smart Growth initiatives? (That they should be pursued goes without saying. No good comes from the chewing of the natural landscape.) Answers include near employment centers, in areas with relatively few people under age 18, and in areas where population density is already relatively high.
Shrinkage
June 21st, 2010The New York Times has an article about Detroit’s shrinking footprint. Because the city’s population has declined so significantly over the past 60 years, entire sections of the city resemble ghost towns. Like the municipality of Flint, Michigan, Detroit is opting to demolish buildings and neighborhoods in attempts to spark a renaissance (in a manner of speaking).
Though The Times article doesn’t address it, Detroit undoubtedly has a more practical rationale for pursuing this strategy: cost-cutting. Dwindling tax revenues cannot cover the cost of providing services over the city’s wide expanse. In that kind of fiscal environment, it makes sense for the city to get leaner.
Now if only someone would suggest that to these folks…
Been so long …
June 4th, 2010life post-euclid will be back after these messages.