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Phoenix is the poster child of sunbelt sprawl hell. I'm not so sure if the city is even condusive to urban infill or even capable of having a thriving downtown. It's that bad.
Nah, it's getting better. It's got a long ways to go yet, but the light rail has already sparked projects up and down Central Avenue, including the new CityScape, and several new restaurants have opened downtown, even in this economy. It's got a long way to go, but the city's downtown is definitely improving.
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When it comes to public transit / urban rail projects, I think Denver has the most ambitious undertaking. Metro Denver is building several light rail and commuter rail lines including out to the airport, up to Boulder, and over to Golden. The city is also remodling their Union Station as a hub of the rail lines to create a Grand Central Station on a Denver scale. Pretty impressive.
Thank you everyone for discussing this interesting topic.
I was wondering if anyone has a good example(s) of infill work hand-in-hand with low carbon planning?
Examples need not be exclusive to the U.S.
I wonder how much infill development is purposely designed to combat suburban sprawl. It seems in most cases it is a seperate development that coincidently causes that. Though in some areas infill development really is the only option.
There is also the fact the core cities are not the only places with infill development, many suburbs are either building or rebuilding areas denser as a parallel trend, although most of these areas never decayed in the first place.
Also there is the related trend of the worst areas of a metro are being shifted out into inner-ring suburbs which mostly are developed similarly to the city due to when they were built.
Depending on where there have been weak, moderate, and strong trends of curbing suburban sprawl and densifying inner city neighborhoods, building new metro and light rail projects, gentrifying industrial areas. Sometimes even demoloshing small single family bungalows and replacing them with mega condo buildings. Also bringing residents to downtown and more focus of a city center/nucleus.
I'm going to leave the DC-Boston corridor and Chicago out of this thread as those cities "infilled" themselves before the 20th century, so somewhat redundent.
Obviously cities like Seattle and Portland come to mind. Even LA has come a long way from it's origins as a car dependent sprawled metropolis putting life back into it's downtown. Atlanta proposes a new streetcar along Peachtree St, Dallas and Denver have rapidly expanded their light rail systems all over their metro areas.
Example of infill in Dtwn Dallas Spire Realty plans Dallas mixed-use complex
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Dallas Business Journal - By Bill Hethcock
Spire Realty Group plans to develop a six-building office, hotel, retail and parking complex on 12 acres in the northeast section of downtown Dallas next to the Arts District.
The initial phase of the project, called The Spire, will include a 21-story office building with about 360,000 square feet of office space, 25,000 square feet of retail and 36 residential units.
Caleb Smith, president of Dallas-based Spire Realty Group LP, said The Spire will be a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood that "not only allows for interaction with the surrounding cultural destinations, but promotes retail and commercial viability."
Spire Realty began analyzing the expansion plans of the Arts District several years ago, and realized the area needed an easy-to-find pathway from the closest Dallas Area Rapid Transit station to the Arts District, more parking, and more retail, residential and office space, Smith said. The Spire is designed to address those shortcomings, he said.
Architectural firm WDG, with offices in Dallas and Washington D.C., is providing architectural planning and interior design services for The Spire. Austin Commercial has been named construction manager and general contractor. Peloton Commercial Real Estate will handle leasing.
In addition to urban land parcels in Dallas, Austin and Houston, Spire Realty Group also owns and manages a 3 million-square-foot portfolio including the 40-story Bryan Tower at 2001 Bryan Street in downtown Dallas. Spire Realty recently purchased the 203,000-square-foot 500 E. John Carpenter Fwy. building in Las Colinas and the 21-story Chase Tower in Austin.
I think you may have it backwards - infill housing does not prevent urban sprawl, it is the sprawl and its traffic congestion that make infill housing attractive. But if you want to look at initiatives that promote infill housing don't just look at zoning - look at the school system and how it treats the inner city schools.
Before you hold up Portland as a shining example - be aware that it has sprawl and more sprawl - it just occurs outside the county line.
Charlotte, I don't know, I just thought it was a shady pines suburb/country club with a big financial district. Is it not?
Lol. This is hillarious and one of my favorite comments in the world. It is a misconception about Charlotte. Charlotte has been experiencing more dense urban infill due to TOD of the LRT. Also condos are popping up along other corridors and neighbrhoods in Charlotte. However, we do have a big financial district, contry clubs, and shady pines.
Depending on where there have been weak, moderate, and strong trends of curbing suburban sprawl and densifying inner city neighborhoods, building new metro and light rail projects, gentrifying industrial areas. Sometimes even demoloshing small single family bungalows and replacing them with mega condo buildings. Also bringing residents to downtown and more focus of a city center/nucleus.
I'm going to leave the DC-Boston corridor and Chicago out of this thread as those cities "infilled" themselves before the 20th century, so somewhat redundent.
Obviously cities like Seattle and Portland come to mind. Even LA has come a long way from it's origins as a car dependent sprawled metropolis putting life back into it's downtown. Atlanta proposes a new streetcar along Peachtree St, Dallas and Denver have rapidly expanded their light rail systems all over their metro areas.
When discussing urban renewal projects in Atlanta I think it is more important to spot out the Beltline project (beltline.org) and the old Atlanta Station Steel Mill site (atlanticstation.com). The streetcar will help, but it is soley a transit project with a streetscape facelife aimed to improve an already successful corridor. The Beltline is about taking abandoned/underused rail tracks and renewing brownfield sites to be walkable communities, transit, and parks. In other words it is the whole deal in one. The Atlantic Station site was an old Steel Mill that was an environmental hazard that took lots of cleaning. Everything was built from the ground up to be a livable, urban community with lots of residents, offices, and a regional retail center.
I think Atlanta has also found a great way to finance such developments. Albeit, it is a long-term process, but it appears to be successful without placing a financial strain on the city and without help from the state.
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