For our third and final unit of Urban Planning we discussed what makes a city. For a Field Experience we talked with Charles Hickox, who is an architect about urban planning and design. For our project we were asked to redesign an area of a city. This could be an empty lot, street corner, or neighborhood. To prepare for our project we met with people from Chicago Mobile Makers for feedback and ideas.
For this project, I am redesigning a portion of a block between Hoyne and Leavitt on Grand Ave in Chicago with an emphasis on a vacant lot on the street. The strength of the area is that it has easy access to public transit. However its weakness is that it lacks greenery. I think this space needs to have some sort of commercial area along with a community space because generally speaking there is not a lot going on in the area at the moment.
The area I am redesigning is on a rectangular plane with dimensions of 120.87 feet by 116.56 feet which means the area is 14088.6 square feet.
Here is a satellite photo of the area before my alterations:
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| The lot I am altering is boxed in black |
I found data on the area such as how the area is very walkable. According to the City Health Dashboard the area has an above average walkability compared to the national average and decided that the area would be good to place a community space because of that access.
Some changes I plan on making are:
Adding trees to sidewalks
Zoning part of the lot into commercial space ie a restaurant or store
Zoning the other half of the lot to be a public space, community garden or public library.
Adding bike lanes to the street
Two TedTalks we watched, Retrofitting Suburbia by Ellen Dunham-Jones and Greening the Ghetto by Majora Cater are where I draw inspiration for my designs. Dunham Jones's talk is about increasing walkability and making areas desirable to be in. Majora Carter talks about environmental justice and having areas that are easily accessible by transit. This area is great because it is just off the Grand bus and, with the reworks, would have a bike lane.
Some target goals from SDG11 I plan to address are:
Target from SDG11 that my project helps to enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization by having access to community spaces
11.7 “provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces,” having a community garden can help make an area more desirable by having a space for people to come together.
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| Measurements |
Problems I encountered along the way were deciding how I wanted to zone the lot I was redesigning. I overcame this just by deciding that the area could be a multi-purpose zone for commercial and public use after talking with Adam about the indecision. My advice for anyone doing a similar project is when in doubt about zoning, just let it be multi-purpose.
Something I learned from this project is just how long the process of urban planning takes and all the thought that goes into it. Also how the design process is very open with creative freedom. Overall I am proud that I was able to make a diorama showing the changes I would make to an area and I think it turned out pretty decent.
Sources:
Photos by KE.
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