THESIS STATEMENT:
In the wake of the economic recession politicians and planners alike are struggling to rebuild the American economy with concerted efforts placed on job creation and security. Among the cutbacks and austerity measures, urban planners are now looking to unleash the latent potential of our cities as the determining factor for economic growth. A healthy economy as corollary to sustainable urban development is congruent with our understanding of cities as traditional centers of commerce. As stated by John O. Norquist “Cities are labor exchanges, effectively matching individuals’ skills, abilities, talents, and interests with an immense array of opportunities. This fluid and dynamic process is one of the engines that drives cities and fosters the creation of wealth…” Consequently, the health and livability of our cities is crucial for achieving financial stability.
Urban planning theories such as new urbanism and eco-district development have abandoned the antiquated notion of city as antithetical to nature, in order to advocate for an integration of ecological and manufactured systems. With sustainable densities, compact utilities, and proximities to transit, education, and housing; cities are perfectly situated to promote higher levels of socio-economic and environmental achievement. Despite these natural advantages, impositions of the past have unraveled the urban form, in many cases, leaving it spatially fragmented and temporally disconnected.
Transportation and mobility have prefigured concentrated development efforts throughout history. As a result of this, the dominant form of transportation determines the governing characteristics of the surrounding neighborhood as it evolves. In many instances, designing for complete automobile hegemony has led to physical discontinuities, separating districts from one another through raised freeways or unsafe pedestrian conditions. Furthermore the auto-oriented street grid has resulted in architectural edifices that require tracts of land to be used as subsidiaries to destinations that are intermittently activated. Take for example the three-story parking garage. If leveraging our infrastructure to the automobile precipitated the creation of super malls, sprawl, and big box stores; what forms of urban development will a diversity of transit options foster?
NARRATIVE:
site: The health of our urban environments is contingent upon a number of working systems, not the least of which is a functioning transportation network. The Lloyd District in the North East Quadrant of Portland Oregon is blessed with a diversity of transportation options. Light Rail, street car, and bus lanes flow through the neighborhood, liberating residents from automobile dependencies. Portland is often quoted as #1 in the United States for bikeridership and has been spared in many respects the harmful transportation policies of the 1950s and 60s. Even so, the district has yet to overcome a few of obstacles that have left development stagnant. First of all, the district is characterized by large event spaces and shopping malls that create an inconsistent atmosphere, leaving the area vibrant and bustling at times and empty and deserted at others. Secondly, I-5 is a major thoroughfare that creates a significant physical barrier for east-west movement. And finally, the former two discontinuities have resulted in an existential and physical disregard of the riverfront, alienating residents from an ecologically and socio-economically important asset of Portland.
program option 1: Multi-modal transportation hub
Working within the ecodistricts framework, the design of an efficient transit hub will be both flexible and accessible by weaving a multitude of transportation options together, offering choices that facilitate the safe passage of pedestrians, bikers, and even native species. The average mid 20th century transit station is designed based on principles of traffic, volume, speed, and capacity; however this analog is predicated upon a society indoctrinated in a singular automobile culture. What are the implications for a mobility hub that is not focused on speed and function but rather community building and individual responsibility? What if we considered the social, economic, and environmental value of mobility? By merging the shared objectives of transit and trade, a new mobility center can transcend the prescriptive function of modal interchange and become a place for cultural exchange. By complementing the traditional transit oriented functions with mixed-used development and year-round activated public spaces, the transit hub may provide a series of places for residents to connect, circulate, and gather. How can the design of a new transit hub resolve the conflicting traffic claims and provide a solution for the physical and existential barriers created by the interstate and the intermittent activities of the Lloyd District?
program option 2: Eco-districts Watershed Park
Consistent with the eco-district ideology of systems based development, bioregionalism teaches us to organize our communities around a life-place by fully recognizing the complex networks that we live within. As stated by bioregionalist Robert Thayer, a life-place is simply an identity created by “a deep understanding of, respect for, and ultimately, care of a naturally bounded region or territory”. Watersheds naturally play a large role in the development of the landscape, sustaining biotic and abiotic development. As stated by bioregionalist Peter Berg “watersheds designate local natural communities and provide an organization for bioregional life through enlarging tiers of spring-creek-river networks; they can serve as a basis for organizing relationships between human communities in a bioregion as well.” In the NE quadrant, I-5 slices through the district, alienating people as much from each other as from the waterfront. Although our historical relationship with the river has been on large part conditioned by the industrial and economic advantages of the waterfront, a reestablished bond with our watershed can sustain the development of a bioregional identity. In doing so we may identify with each other across racial, political, and socioeconomic boundaries. By merging the shared objectives of district water treatment and a health and nutrition center, how can the eco-district park resolve the existential and physical barriers created by the discontinuities in the Lloyd District?
program option 3: Eco-districts Agricultural Park
By merging the shared resources of a waste to energy compost plant and an agricultural community garden and seed library, how can an eco-district park resolve the existential and physical barriers presented by the discontinuities in the Lloyd District?