By Frank Hebbert, Associate Planner, GIS
As dedicated readers of Spotlight know, this Friday is RPA's 20th Annual Regional Assembly, "Innovation and the American Metropolis." On April 16th at the Waldorf-Astoria in NYC, a stellar group of speakers will gather to discuss innovation in cities and regionalism, with keynotes and appearances from Adolfo Carrion, Richard Burdett, William McDonough, Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch, David Crane and many more. If you haven't yet registered, sign up now.
One of the recurring questions during preparation for this Assembly has been "but what do you mean by innovation?" Everyone has a slightly different idea of what innovation means for planning, cities, and regions. Each of the eight workshops addresses innovation in the context of important topics: green infrastructure, housing, the economy, energy, infrastructure, community design, urban mobility, and intercity transportation. Read on below for more about two of those panels: Petra Todorovich on the future of intercity transportation, and Corey Piasecki on the emergence of intelligent infrastructure.
But we realize these panels will only begin to address the diversity of innovations on the horizon. Fittingly for this topic, we're opening the question to the crowd. It's time to take stock of the state of innovation in 2010. Give us your thoughts on the profound innovations set to shape our cities. We want to hear your ideas about nurturing innovation, and comments on the obstacles to be overcome. Head to the Assembly website now, and add your voice to the conversation by answering three short questions.
We'll be displaying the collected wisdom of our Spotlight readers and Assembly delegates on screens throughout the Waldorf on Friday. After the dust settles, we'll reflect and respond to your submissions, exploring your views on the innovation landscape ahead. Look out for a special Spotlight edition and some exploratory features on our website in the coming months. Don't miss out on being part of this exciting experiment.
(My answers? The profound innovation ahead will be an accurate price on carbon. Forget hand-held computing or smarter subway cars. I can't imagine anything that will more directly challenge our established value proposition - where we live, how we travel and consequently all aspects of cities. Agree? Disagree? Send in your responses.)
@RegionalPlan
I absolutely agree that accurately pricing carbon would make us totally revise our outlook on city living and transportation. But I think we should also take into consideration other negative externalities when pricing. For example, the noise of automobiles, the cost of maintaining roads and highways, the space we devote to moving automobiles as swiftly as possible all should be taken into consideration when pricing automobiles. Perhaps, the government should transfer the costs of all these things to auto manufacturers, who would then pass them on to auto purchasers?
INNOVATION IN THE AMERICAN METROPOLIS will come from support of:
1/ research on NEW SUSTAINABLE URBAN FORMS such as those proposed by the http://sustainable-city-project.com/
2/ the scientific calculation of GLOBAL CARBON FOOTPRINT per acre of the different urban forms (global = heating and cooling +daily mobility), for measurable results. This would be totally new, and it is possible and necessary.
3/ open community planning processes, a DIALOGUE, for top-down and bottom-up to meet for sensible solutions.
TODAY, we are facing many challenges, like climate change, housing crisis, social, cultural and economic crisis.
UNTIL NOW:
1/ in the suburbs, we are ever extending the urban sprawl,
2/ and in the cities, we are simply juxtaposing towers one next to the other (see as an example the current project for Hudson Yards in Manhattan).
OVER THE NEXT TEN YEARS the innovation which will change cities and regions will be the emergence of new sustainable urban forms which will combine PASSIVE SOLAR DESIGN AT AN URBAN SCALE with pedestrian friendly, DENSE MIXED USE neighborhoods, with urban diversity and vibrant streets.
Pricing carbon is not enough. It’s just the negative side of the coin.
There must also be a positive side:
We should offer, at long last, new SUSTAINABLE URBAN FORMS, an alternative to urban sprawl or to the simple juxtaposition of supposedly “green” buildings (see current project for the Hudson Yards…), which are not really green and which do not create a sustainable urban form.
We must create new pedestrian–friendly neighborhoods, with dense mixed-use in every city block (Jane Jacobs…). With vibrant streets and urban gardens, rather than left over “green space”.
Passive solar design at a comprehensive urban scale is possible and the city can become a genuine solar plant, even at Hudson Yards. A few photovoltaic panels on the roof, for LEED certification, that’s not enough!!
Please have a look at http://sustainable-city-project.com/
For THE MANHATTAN DIAGONAL GRID for passive solar design at an urban scale,
as an innovative approach to urban design in the XXIst century american metropolis,
have a look at:
http://sustainable-city-project.com/XXIst%20Century%20New%20York/XXIst%20Century%20New%20York%20%20%20Hudson%20Yards.html