Planned Neighborhood: “MAPS Mini” Blog #7

What’s missing from MAPS-Mini? What did you keep wanting to report but didn’t find on the survey tool?

 

We felt that the MAPS mini was useful in general, but was lacking questions about the safety of the street as a whole. By implementing more questions from the perspective of a pedestrian, we could plan the landscape in order to enhance the pedestrian experience through aesthetic and safety appeals. In addition, we believe that the survey did not focus enough on the safety of bicyclists, despite Scott Ulrich’s (Healthy Places Coordinator) constant emphasis on the importance of biking, especially within our university’s campus.

For our group, we thought that this picture effectively portrays the lack of awareness for pedestrians as well as cyclists along W Norwich.

For our group, we thought that this picture effectively portrays the lack of awareness for pedestrians as well as cyclists along W Norwich.

 

Did you find public realm mattered more or less to you than private realm? Why?

Planned Neighborhood believes that the public realm takes precedent over the private realm. If a planner turns most of their focus towards the public realm, then community members will be more inclined to the take care of their private realm. Because most people take pride in where they live, their community’s safety and appeal will be maintained, which subsequently pushes the community members to upkeep the private realm. Ultimately, the effort to maintain both the public and private realm contributes to creating a safer and cleaner community.

 

What issues do you think would be more important to community members as opposed to planners?

 

Essentially, a planner holds the responsibility of being the voice of the people that he or she serves. Because of this, it is hard to distinguish whose concern (the community members or the planners) is more important. A talented planner will listen to the concerns and opinions of the community and consequently implement those concerns into the landscape of the community.

A symbiotic relationship between a planner and the community members is essential in designing a safe and effective community.

A symbiotic relationship between a planner and the community members is essential in designing a safe and effective community.

 

The Chaire of Pierre : MAPS Mini Assignment

Question 1

What’s missing from MAPS-Mini? What did you keep wanting to report but didn’t find on the survey tool?

The MAPS-Mini is obviously an abbreviated version of the survey but it was lacking a lot of important questions about safety and parking. We feel that the parking situation determines a lot about the visibility of pedestrians and the general feel of the street. This also impacts the safety of pedestrians because it provides a barrier from traffic. Parking is an important factor especially for people who live on the immediate street and should be addressed.

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Question 2

Did you find public realm mattered more or less to you than private realm? Why?

 The public realm mattered more to us because there is a lot less that city planners can do about existing private structures. We like to focus on public things that are actually able to be changed. The things in the public realm such as the beat and broken sidewalks and lack of pedestrian cross walks at both intersections were the things we were worried about most. These can be fixed with a little government intervention.

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Question 3

What issues do you think would be more important to community members as opposed to planners?

Community members would be more interested in the aesthetic qualities of sidewalks, the buffer zone, and the general look of the street. Community members would also care more about safety, parks, and places to sit. Planners probably care more about traffic patterns, building setbacks, buffer zones and sidewalk size, along with all of the legality of their decisions in the planning of a busy down town street. It would be nice to see city planners also take into account the things that community members want in their area like Norman Krumholz from Cleveland advocated.

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