"Public libraries are the last vestige of public free space."
-- Joshua Prince-Ramus, who worked on the design of the Seattle Public Library.
Note: for more on the Seattle Public Library, and the role libraries can play in our downtowns, see today's post on our PlannersWeb site.
"San Francisco’s privately-owned public open spaces ("POPOS") have multiplied in the last twenty years, and as major new development is poised to begin downtown, they promise to become even more common. Taking the form of courtyards, plazas, rooftop gardens, and corporate atriums, fourteen POPOS have been created since 1985. San Francisco’s Downtown Plan enabled developers to build high density commercial development in return for providing spaces that were to be 'open to the public' during certain hours and provide amenities such as restrooms, shade, and protection from the sun and wind.
However, what appears to be win-win for developers, citizens, and open space advocates masks a deeper question: just how 'public' are these spaces?"
-- posted by the COMMONspace project
note: POPOS are increasingly common in cities, as zoning codes authorize the granting of density bonuses in return for providing open space accessible during certain times of the day to the general public.
"The consumer spending slump and tightening credit markets are unleashing a widening wave of bankruptcies in American retailing, prompting thousands of store closings that are expected to remake suburban malls and downtown shopping districts across the country. ... The International Council of Shopping Centers, a trade group, estimates there will be 5,770 store closings in 2008, up 25 percent from 2007, when there were 4,603."
-- from "Retailing Chains Caught in a Wave of Bankruptcies," The New York Times (April 15, 2008)
"Difficult and time-consuming as town centers are to develop, they can add immeasurably to community pride and satisfaction, while boosting the tax base. Charles Bohl, director of the Knight Program in Community Building at the University of Miami, regards such centers as "live, work, play" settings that answer a wide-spread hunger for community life. "We are still in the infancy of reintroducing town centers after six decades of not building them but destroying them at a rapid clip," he says. The centers that have emerged in recent years are all imperfect. But they point in the right direction -- toward a much-needed rebirth of public gathering places."
-- Philip Langdon, "Creating the Missing Hub" (in Planning Commissioners Journal #62)
note: this article is also available as part of a collection of articles on Downtowns & Town Centers .
"Chapel Hill downtown seems to be owned by well heeled landed gentry always holding out for more money. If they asked me, I would try to get more people to live there, I would get the university a bigger foothold downtown, as my planner friend always says, instead of building a giant outpost campus. There’s little to do downtown other than eat, drink, or buy UNC paraphernalia. But who knows, city planning ain’t my area of expertise. But I have lived downtown for the past 5 years and all I ever did in downtown Chapel Hill was drink (lots), eat (occasionally), fix my bike (a couple of times) and buy a T-Shirt (once). So something is not right."
-- from "Chapel Hill Downtown Property Shenanigans," on The Olive Ridley Crawl blog (Jan. 28, 2008)
"Your community's comprehensive plan should make downtown the easiest and most advantageous place for new development to occur."
-- Kennedy Smith, "Downtown Hurdles" (Planning Commissioners Journal #59)
note: this article is also included in our collection of articles on Downtowns & Town Centers
