We're not alone here wrestling with how to combine big-box retailers like Target and Lowe's with creating a more walkable community with a sense of place.
In Lawrence, Kansas, planners from the Smart Growth Leadership Institute suggested that future development in the city's two commercial corridors "should include plazas, pocket parks and a lot of sidewalks," the Lawrence Journal-World reports. "'Big box' stores like SuperTarget, 3201 S. Iowa, should 'integrate pedestrian walkways with surrounding development to provide a sense of safety and comfort for pedestrians,' the experts said in their report, now available on the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Department's Web site, www.lawrenceplanning.org.
Sound familiar? As I posted earlier, the Framingham Planning Department is now considering a request from Lowe's to build a store on Rte. 30 at the Verizon site. Developers want it on the back of the property, like surrounding pedestrian-hostile retailers that create an unsightly, suburban sprawl district around Target, BJ's and Super Stop & Shop.
July 28, 2004
‘Bike Paths Are a Valuable Part Of The Seacoast Transportation System’
Officials and residents of Portsmouth, N.H. are working to make the area more bicycle and pedestrian friendly, with a new master plan that references "a citywide bicycle and pedestrian plan" and a $191,000 federal grant to build paths to "help connect outer neighborhoods with the downtown area," according to the Portsmouth Herald.
"We applaud the continued efforts of local individuals, nonprofits and the city to make Portsmouth and the Greater Seacoast area a bit more bicycle-friendly," the paper editorialized.
So do I!
"We applaud the continued efforts of local individuals, nonprofits and the city to make Portsmouth and the Greater Seacoast area a bit more bicycle-friendly," the paper editorialized.
So do I!
July 24, 2004
Foresaking Sprawl For Walkable Living
AARP magazine calls it a "growing trend: 50-plus empty nesters are abandoning sprawling suburbs for pedestrian-friendly cities, towns, and planned communities. . . .
"Town centers ringed with housing are popping up in big-city business districts, close-in suburbs, and new-urbanist, master-planned communities."
The article includes a link to Walkable Communities Inc.'s 12 requirements for a walkable community, including "a lively, compact town center with a good mix of stores; tree-lined, low-speed streets; and public space (a park or plaza) within 700 feet of a home." Director Dan Burden told AARP: "Look for places that put people first, cars second."
"Town centers ringed with housing are popping up in big-city business districts, close-in suburbs, and new-urbanist, master-planned communities."
The article includes a link to Walkable Communities Inc.'s 12 requirements for a walkable community, including "a lively, compact town center with a good mix of stores; tree-lined, low-speed streets; and public space (a park or plaza) within 700 feet of a home." Director Dan Burden told AARP: "Look for places that put people first, cars second."
July 22, 2004
How Cool Is This? Paris Turns 2-Mile Highway Into Summer Beach
"Put on by Paris City Hall for one month and with most of its two-million-euro (2.4-million-dollar) cost paid for by corporate sponsorship, the idea is to transform what is usually a busy two-lane riverside motorway into a sort of pedestrian-only French Riviera during the traditionally quiet vacation period," AFP reports.
The "Paris Plage," running right through the city center, features "an artificial 'beach' packed with sand, palm trees, lounge chairs and free family activities" along the Seine.
Within hours of opening, the man-made beach "was alive with people walking, cycling, playing on trampolines, cooling off under fine-spray sprinklers, and kicking back in the chairs and hammocks," AFP says. New addition this year: a swimming pool.
Bad for business, shutting down a highway for people's enjoyment on foot? The "plage" attracted 3 million visitors last year and is the city's most popular summer attraction.
The "Paris Plage," running right through the city center, features "an artificial 'beach' packed with sand, palm trees, lounge chairs and free family activities" along the Seine.
Within hours of opening, the man-made beach "was alive with people walking, cycling, playing on trampolines, cooling off under fine-spray sprinklers, and kicking back in the chairs and hammocks," AFP says. New addition this year: a swimming pool.
Bad for business, shutting down a highway for people's enjoyment on foot? The "plage" attracted 3 million visitors last year and is the city's most popular summer attraction.
July 21, 2004
Lowe’s Coming To Rte. 30, Framingham
Lowe's wants to open a store on Rte. 30 in Framingham, tearing down the former Verizon building for a 156,000 superstore, the MetroWest Daily News reported from a Planning Board meeting last night.
Alarmingly, the developer wants to build a big-box store set back from the street, offering a sea of asphalt as a streetscape -- EXACTLY the sort of hideous, pedestrian-hostile design that gives rise to suburban sprawl.
Vice Chairwoman Ann Welles said she'd rather see the building at the front of the property -- and we can only hope she sticks to her guns on this.
Lowe's will be one of the first major NEW retail construction projects on Rte. 30 of the 21st century. There are two choices: Start here trying to reshape Rte. 30 so it might eventually become an appealing, park-once-walk-to-multiple-stores destination; or continue the pattern of Target and Stop & Shop that makes it a car-only experience, to the point where shoppers feel the need to drive their car a quarter-mile from one to the other.
There are a lot of office workers as well as residents within walking distance of this shopping area. How about making it an esthetically pleasing place to walk and bike to instead of more suburban blight?
Alarmingly, the developer wants to build a big-box store set back from the street, offering a sea of asphalt as a streetscape -- EXACTLY the sort of hideous, pedestrian-hostile design that gives rise to suburban sprawl.
Vice Chairwoman Ann Welles said she'd rather see the building at the front of the property -- and we can only hope she sticks to her guns on this.
Lowe's will be one of the first major NEW retail construction projects on Rte. 30 of the 21st century. There are two choices: Start here trying to reshape Rte. 30 so it might eventually become an appealing, park-once-walk-to-multiple-stores destination; or continue the pattern of Target and Stop & Shop that makes it a car-only experience, to the point where shoppers feel the need to drive their car a quarter-mile from one to the other.
There are a lot of office workers as well as residents within walking distance of this shopping area. How about making it an esthetically pleasing place to walk and bike to instead of more suburban blight?
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