How can up and coming planners like me design and develop walkable communities without having to restructure existing living spaces or facilitate gentrification?Question: What is your job and how does that specifically tie into the field of city planning/community development? How did you end up in the job you have now?
Answer: "My job is the Zoning Administrator for the city. Technically I do a lot of permitted uses and general use questions. I also get a heads up on land development, and review construction projects to make sure they meet code before and after development. So worked with transportation previously and its a very frustrating field where you do a lot of work for transit and roads that never happen and I wanted to go back to my roots in land use."
Response: Planning includes a lot of technical aspects that happen behind the scenes. Brian is just one of the 20+ people in the department that decides the outcome of all the projects in the entire city. I think it is important that there be involvement in all aspects of work with a project, and I have seen the amount of time and effort each one takes. Zoning and lot use is something a lot of people overlook when they think of planning. Additionally, there are different types of planning within the municipal context, like transportation and park planners. Together, they work with the community development team to make sure that the city is livable and appeals to all of its residents.
Q: What are some trends you have seen in your career in the field of planning (things like new development types, population specific projects, etc)?
A: "I'd say the biggest change that I have seen from when I first started is a bigger focus on mixed use developments. When I first started, everything was still very single use. When they talked about doing a mixed use project it really wasn't a mixed use product, it was pods of different types of uses and they didn't really connect well.
R: I've noticed that the majority of developments we are working with are mixed use. We are actually currently dealing with refacing an existing development (North Point) that was set up in the pod format. It is interesting how the city is accommodating the concepts to an existing system, as opposed to building from the ground up. It is much more difficult to do that because of the associated costs, which creates an issue for suburbs that were built without a mix of uses in mind.
Q: Why do you think mixed use projects are such a big thing right now?
A: People understand what that is now, and you even have banks that won't give loans to people unless they do a mixed use project. Whereas before, banks weren't funding mixed use projects and they were having to find funds from somebody else, like a private entity or a [Real Estate Investment Trust]."
R: It is interesting how banks have completely switched sides. It goes to show that once something is proven to work, everybody wants to get behind it. It's harder for private companies to fund these types of project in my opinion, because then they are tied to a developer and a city.
Q:What do you think will be the next big thing in this field?
A: "I'd say in the future it's going to be a lot about transit oriented developments. It has been a big thing for a number of years but I think that there's going to be a much bigger focus on getting ahead of that and designing transit oriented developments before the transit has arrived."
R: Compare transit in America and the rest of the world. Even New York, where the subway system is super well known, seems archaic and outdated when compared to the efficiency of public transport in European cities like London and Stockholm. In Cologne, Germany, the entire city is built to accommodate the transit system. I to look forward the future of American cities decided by transit.
Q: Why do you think it'll be the next big thing?
A: "I think for urban areas, there's that understanding and acceptance that we can't keep building roads and making them wider. Transit has to be an option. And to do transit you have to have a critical mass of people that either live in one area or need to go to one area. The way that cities are developed is very spread out, so we have to start thinking in advance, 'This is where we want to go, let's go ahead and start 10 years in advance.' We should gear our developments to support transit stations when they do show up."
R: I read in The Geography of Nowhere by Howard Kunstler about how American cities are surrounded by "Chinese walls" of roadways. It is kind of bizarre to consider how connected roads make cities, but how much they isolate them as well. Kunstler discussed how older municipalities were never constructed with individual transport in mind, and how the suburbs were built to inefficiently support an already weak public transit system. Additionally, New York City, which could have been the precedent for public transit in American, was turned into a freeway haven by a single man, Robert Moses. I am unsure of the outcome of public transit in cities if Moses had not been present to intervene.
Q: What’s the appeal in walkable and mixed use developments?
A: "I think it's kind of the implementation of new urbanism to reintroduce that whole concept of living in an urban environment; having that shared communal space that people interact in."
R: Communal spaces to me aren't a new concept. I always remember learning about town squares and churches being the original meeting places for American colonists. I think with the implementation of new urbanism, Americans are really looking to go back to our roots in the sense of community.
Q: Is there a particular audience that new mixed use developments are targeted towards?
A: "I think it really got hold in people in my age range (30-50) so they started seeking those out. As they started seeking those out, it turned out that they had a lot of money to spend and so they were buying expensive places in those communities, they were spending money at high end retailers, and so what you saw were these demographics that basically sold the concept of a mixed use development to developers because they thought they could get more money for their product."
R: Recently, I feel like this has become common in poorer areas of big cities. Everywhere is becoming gentrified, especially places in close proximity to downtown, major business centers, and easy access to highways. I think that a focus on transit like Brian mentioned earlier could really help reduce the impact of gentrification. On the other hand, it could be beneficial to cities to start homogenizing rather than segregating due to socioeconomic class.
Q: Do you think that gentrification is a big problem in our area right now?
A: "Oh yeah, absolutely. Not specifically our city, though. For example, when I bought my house I had a crack house across the street, literally. I've seen gunshots and whatnot fired near my home. But, you move into those areas knowing that's going to be there with the hope that it's going to get better. You're putting in that money and investing, wanting to make the community better. But at the same time, you're pushing [poorer] people out... In other areas, what you see is more of an upper middle class that is getting pushed out by an "upper upper" class. So you see all these communities that have been there for fifty or so years undergoing full blown redevelopment"
R: It is surprising to see just how much gentrification can affect a specific area. I also never considered how it affects more affluent regions. You would think that a community like ours is well off, but new development is happening all around. This just hikes up housing prices even more then they already are. It's very shocking to see that houses in the area are four times what they used to be when I started living here.
Q: Do you know of anything in place currently to help lessen the effect of gentrification?
A: "Not much. It's unfortunate how the City of Atlanta and the state is all set up, because there is not a strong mechanism to keep people in their homes. In DeKalb County you have a senior homestead exemption. If they are a senior citizen, they get a nice tax break on their home. But it makes it near impossible for someone [low income] to find a home in those areas. If someone moves out, they're not getting replaced by someone who doesn't make a lot of money. They're getting replaced by someone who makes more."
R: It is really sad to think about losing your home because you can't afford to live there anymore. While subsidies are in place, they are extremely finicky The DeKalb County example only applies to senior citizens. However, senior citizens do not make up the bulk of homebuyers or homeowners in the area. Gentrification becomes inevitable.
Q: With regards to mixed use developments and the future of planning, do you think think this will be a proper response to the issues posed by gentrification?
A: I think where you will see the best example with something like that would be the Atlanta Belt Line. What they've done is they've set aside funds to help cover the cost of a home, and then they work with the developer to subsidize developments to get units at workforce housing prices. It's a drop in the bucket. Things like this won't serve everybody.The last time I talked to anybody about [the Belt Line] they had opened up applications for housing, and it took them two years to work through all of them. As for other places, it's not going to be a one size fits all solution, and it will take city council or someone involved with the government to push that forward."
R: I think a lot of the failures in correcting the problem have to do with the system, like Brian said. Without proper legal action, cities cannot aid the issue of gentrification. And while making areas nicer and more welcoming to live in may seem better in the long run, this is a very personal issue. Morally, forcing people out of their homes should not be something we consider necessary. I think the most important step in the fight against gentrification is finding the alternatives that can make areas homogenous and welcoming to all residents.
Yasamin, 1/13
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