Posts

In this blog post, I decided to look at the University District. This area is located adjacent to Ohio State’s campus to the east, as well as immediately north and south of the portion of campus that lies east of the Olentangy River. Most of the area’s food options are on N High street. High street is a moderately busy street and the sidewalks are accessible but not in terrific condition. The COTA bus runs many lines through the University Village that connects the district to the rest of the city. The area is safer along campus, but the further east, safety becomes questionable. There are emergency telephones readily accessible, but off campus towards High street, there is more crime. 

The closest grocery stores for residents in the University District is Kroger on N High st to the south and ALDI on the east side. Residents could walk there, take the bus, or drive a car. However, both of these stores are on the edges of the area. More available and accessible food options are fast food chains, convenience stores, and Target.

The University District is moderately food insecure. Kroger and ALDI are both stores from which residents can buy produce and whole foods, however, they be out of walking distance for many residents who do not have a car. Also, since the median household income for the district is relatively low, residents many be more likely to choose a cheap option (like fast food) on High street.

The University District could be considered a food swamp. Even though there are two grocery stores, all along High street, there are fast food chain restaurants and convenience stores. These places offer unhealthy food options that are not fit for a sustainable lifestyle. The University District is most likely a food swamp due to its close proximity to a college campus. Students living in residence halls do not have kitchens in which to cook healthy meals, so they rely on fast foods or snack foods. Also, cheap options are attractive to college students. 

To improve the availability of healthy food options near the University District, once fast food chains close down for whatever reason, healthier food options could replace them, instead of more fast food chains. More sustainable sit-down or take-out restaurants could enter the market. Another actual grocery store in closer proximity to campus would be a great addition and have a positive impact on students’ and residents’ health.

For my concept  map, I used three colors to organize my thoughts. I have the three factors of city health and vitality—urban design, transportation, and the environment—highlighted in yellow. Highlighted in green are the relationships between the three factors. Finally, highlighted in blue, I have the effects of these relationships on city health and vitality. I had to pare down the rough draft of my map and keep only what I thought were the most salient connections, on account that the map would have been so convoluted. As illustrated through this assignment, urban design, transportation, and the environment are complexly intertwined aspects of planning. Two of the effects on health and vitality of the city that I listed are economic externalities and social justice. Initially, it may be difficult to see how urban design can either contribute to or mitigate structural racism, but when planners consider dismantling or conserving a car-centric city (which serves the privileged), the connection between social justice and design/transportation is clear. Similarly, I made the point of connecting urban design to positive economic externalities. An aesthetically pleasing city (which was created to improve citizen happiness) may also have the unintended effect of revenue from tourism.

Cities: Skylines captures some of the interconnectedness of urban planning. Particularly, in the simulation, the planner can see how zoning (urban design) has effects on both transportation and the environment. In my city, the worst traffic is caused by congestion from reaching the industrial zoned area. Most of my residents are employed in that area, so it also has the highest traffic. Also, citizens in the simulation will complain about living too closely to industrial areas, since it is not only sensibly unpleasant, but it can cause negative effects on their health. Generally, Cities: Skylines illustrates most of the connections between areas of planning. 

To organize the walk around campus, I divided the areas on the campus map into five sections: High Street, North campus (18th Ave, 19th Ave, W Woodruff Ave), Cannon Dr, South campus (W 12th Ave, College Rd S), and the Oval. 

Sidewalks:

The sidewalks on High Street are very wide. They are in relatively good condition—a little dirty and some small cracks, but no major issues. The sidewalks on the east side of the street are smaller and looked in slightly worse condition than the side closer to campus. From this, I would imply that the sidewalks are wider on the campus side since that is a direct and busy route for Ohio State students to traverse the campus north to south, or vice versa. The sidewalks on the north campus are narrower and in better condition than High Street. On Cannon Drive, there is no sidewalk from W Woodruff Ave to about halfway down Ohio Stadium. For this stretch of the walk, I walked inside the parking lot for fear I would be hit by a car if I walked on the road. Once the sidewalk along Cannon Drive forms, it is very narrow and in poor condition. This could be improved by constructing a sidewalk off of W Woodruff along Cannon Drive, and/or expanding and renovating the existing sidewalk. Once on the south campus, I found accessible sidewalks similar to the sidewalks on the north campus—wide enough for two-way pedestrian traffic and in good condition. In the Oval, the sidewalks have some cracks, but nothing that poses a safety hazard. The sidewalks that form a chord and run through the inside of the oval are narrower than the sidewalks that outline the Oval. Pictured below on the top is the sidewalk on High street, and on the bottom is the sidewalk on north campus (18th Ave).

Street Safety:

Along High Street, some crossings have crosswalk signals; however, some have only a warning light that pedestrians can press and cross at a location where the traffic has no stop light. The former of the two methods is safer than the latter. I did find that the crosswalk signals are appropriately timed for pedestrian crossing. The pedestrian safety could be improved by fewer locations at which pedestrians can only press the warning light and enter into the traffic. On both north campus and south campus, the streets felt very safe. They have much lower traffic compared to High Street, and since the streets are narrower, the actual crossing takes less time, which means less potential accidents. At most 4-way stops on north and south campus, there were crosswalk signals. The portion of Cannon drive between W Woodruff and Ohio Stadium feels unsafe to walk on, as there is no sidewalk. The Oval feels safe for pedestrians since there is no vehicle traffic allowed (apart from the occasional maintenance vehicle). Pictured below on the left is a pedestrian crossing warning light on High street, pictured on the right is a crossing near the corner of 19th Ave and Neil Ave, and pictured bottom is the north end of Cannon Dr (notice the absence of a sidewalk; the picture was taken from the adjacent parking lot).

Building use:

The building use on the east side of High Street is commercial, which makes sense given the location and surrounding residents. There are several restaurants, drug stores, and coffee shops along the street, all of which college students use. The building use on north and south campus is mainly academic buildings and some residence halls, which also makes sense given the location on a college campus. There are fewer buildings along Cannon Drive, as it runs along the river with little room to the west to build. The only building on the inside of the Oval is the Thompson Library. Along the outside of the Oval are academic buildings and the Administration Building, Bricker Hall. It is appropriate for the offices of the President and other important university departments to be centrally located in the Oval. Pictured below on the top is Bricker Hall in the Oval (which houses the office of the President), and pictured on the bottom is a bar, restaurant, and bank along High street.

Accessibility:

Sidewalks on High Street had ramps only at crossings, not at all corners. To improve on High Street, there could be more wheelchair ramps on corners at crossings on the same side of the street. On both north and south campus, there are wheelchair ramps at all crossings and corners. Cannon Drive is not accessible for disabled people. First, since there is no sidewalk for a portion along the road, there is no place to use a wheelchair. Even when the sidewalk forms, it is far too narrow. Eventually near the intersection of Cannon Dr and John H Herrick Dr, a wider sidewalk forms, which can accommodate wheelchairs. Sidewalks in the Oval are wide enough for two-way pedestrian traffic, but may be difficult for individuals who use wheelchairs to move around. Sidewalks on the perimeter of the Oval are plenty wide for wheelchair use. Pictured below is a wheelchair access ramp located along the perimeter of the Oval.

Greenspace:

There is no green space on High Street, as the land use on the east side is commercial. On the west side, there is grass and the occasional bench around the Union, but not a lot of purposeful greenspace. On the north campus, there is some green space in the form of courtyards with benches and tables. Students could eat here or study here. There are similar courtyards on the south campus with slightly more green space: Mirror Lake and the South Oval. At Mirror Lake, there are many chairs and benches for students to eat, study, or just sit and enjoy the view. The South Oval has benches and lots of grass for students to play sports or lawn games. The Oval is similar to the South Oval, just larger. To the west of Cannon Dr, there is lots of grass and trees, but not specifically designed with a purpose for use. Having enough green space is beneficial for students’ mental and emotional health. Quiet, relatively untouched places are good escapes for students to get out of their dorms or apartments. Pictured below on the top is a courtyard with benches on 18th Ave, and pictured bottom is green space in the Oval.

The name of my city is Beckville. I chose Beckville because Beck is a family name and I thought that naming my city using a family connection would be a fun way to make my city feel personal to me. 

When I first started building my city, as many others did, I started with a very small area of residential zone and a small low density commercial zone. I also started with a few units zoned for industry to make sure there were enough jobs for residents. After running water and electricity, I let residents move in and build homes and get jobs in the commercial and industrial zones. Once my small grid had filled up, I built more roads and expanded the city outwards. This is when I began to build elementary schools and made sure that police and fire were connected to the citizens. Compared to the early building, I’ve also added much more industry to create jobs. 

The population of Beckville is 7,439 residents. Most of the city’s population is adults (37%), followed by young adults (21%). The smallest demographic by age is children (8%). There are 5,634 jobs available in Beckville and 3% of residents are unemployed. Beckville is growing relatively fast; there are 4.6 times more births per week than deaths.

One goal for the built environment is to improve the attractiveness of my city. Currently, my city attractiveness is 5%. A strength of the built environment now in the city is a high traffic flow of 81%. A weakness is that the rotary at the city’s connection to the highway is backed up. This location is the most congested in the city. An opportunity to boost the aesthetic of my city is to add more outdoor features such as benches, landscaping, fountains, and to build courtyard areas for communities to be together. A threat to the built environment is the emissions released by the growing industry zone in the north of the city. One action that I can take to address these issues is to modify the rotary and create more points of access to the highway. Another action would be to use more multi-lane roads between high density areas.

One goal for housing is to offer different types of housing to accommodate and attract different families and individuals; to make this happen, a more specific goal is to develop high-density housing. A strength of housing now is that all units are supplied with plenty of electricity and water. One weakness of housing is that there is not currently any high-density housing. An opportunity I have to develop high-density housing is to create an office zone along the river north of my city. As the city has just reached 7,000 residents, I can incorporate office districts, which will attract more professionals to the housing. A threat to this development is not having enough jobs in the area to attract people to live in high-density housing. An action that I can take is to build a university which will attract young adults and eventually fill the housing. Another action I can take is to develop commercial zones to further provide employment and attractions for residents. 

One goal for economic development is to establish a thriving high-density commercial area which will attract those looking for employment and tourists. A strength of economic development is low unemployment and a high number of available jobs. A weakness of the economy is that the city is not yet collecting taxes on high-density housing or office zones. Some opportunities that I have to enhance economic development are to zone a high-density commercial area as well as installing more public transportation. A threat to economic development is not creating enough jobs to attract residents, which in turn, will lead to collecting less tax revenue. An action that I can take is to route a bus system. I can also build infrastructure connecting the concentration of residents now to the areas in which I would like to zone for commercial and business.

One goal for transportation is to offer reliable public transportation to residents through bus lines, as well as to keep the city walkable and accommodating to bicyclers. A strength of having a bus system is collecting fares which fund the system and add to the city’s revenue. One weakness of transportation is not having a bus line yet. An opportunity to develop a bus system would arise once I develop the business district in the north of the city. Once there is a large demand for jobs and high-density housing, workers can utilize the busses to get to work. A threat of having a car-centric city is that low-income individuals will have a harder time obtaining and keeping a job since they may not be able to afford a car, therefore having no other transit option. An action that I will take to develop a bus line is to increase the area for business and high-density housing to create a demand for public transportation.

One goal for community services and utilities is to ensure residents have enough access to public services like police, fire, trash pick up, and education. A strength of public services now is efficient landfill sites and garbage management. A weakness of the city is high fire hazard. An opportunity to improve public service availability is to construct a fire station and several more fire houses. A threat to this plan is the chance of not collecting enough taxes to fund more public services. An action that I can take to improve this area is to construct more fire stations throughout the city (especially near the industrial area). I can also place police stations on well accessed roads to ensure that they can reach citizens quickly.

One goal for parks and recreation is to provide residents with plenty of green space throughout the city and, specifically, to develop a series of parks around the waterfront of the body of water that I have in the south of my city. A strength of parks and recreation now is that there is a large concentration of children in one particular area in the city, so playgrounds and parks are well utilized. A weakness is there are still low entertainment levels in most of the residential area. An opportunity to develop more parks is along the small lake. I also could develop low-density commercial areas around the parks to draw more users. One threat to this plan is that much of the efficient areas for wind turbine placement are along the water. Residents might not enjoy a park near turbines. One action I can take to make this goal happen is to set aside land on the waterfront for no turbines and reserve the land for park space. I will not build the parks until I have developed the area surrounding the parks so the parks are in walking distance. Another action that I can take is to leave more areas not zoned for residents when I construct neighborhoods, so I can add park space.

One goal for the natural environment is to operate the city fully on green energy (wind turbines, hydro-power, and solar energy). A strength of the natural environment is that the city, so far, is fully dependent on green energy. Residents are not as at risk for environment related health issues due to lower emissions. Also, I do consider having low emissions  to be a victory in itself. A weakness of the natural environment is the emissions coming from the city’s industrial zone. An opportunity to implement more green energy in the future is to build a dam and install a hydro-power plant once I have a population of 9,500. This seems possible since there is a river to the north of my city. A threat to this plan is that since green energy has a lower yield of power compared to energy from raw materials, if I do not manage the growth of my city well, I may find myself desperately in need of more power and financially able only to use a more polluting option. One action that I will take to ensure green energy in the future is to maximize the potential output of wind turbines by only placing them in areas that will generate 8 MW of power. Another action is to try to create more employment through other jobs, not just from industry.

One goal for my future land use plan is to develop a downtown area with high-density commercial, office, and high-density housing zones. A strength of future land use is to use the land suitable for forestry on the edges of the city. A weakness of this plan is that the best forestry area is not far from existing residential areas now. One opportunity to make this development is to start to construct infrastructure connecting the north region to the center, and gradually expand the city outwards. An action I will take to address this is to create office zones along the river and near the highway. 

To implement the goals above, I will need to build more infrastructure to expand the city and zone the areas accordingly. I need to create high-density urban areas with suburbs on the outskirts. Also, I’ll have to add services and utilities to all of the areas as they grow. 

Cities: Skylines is a good way for planning students to begin to unpack the process of planning. One large disconnect between the simulation and real life is the existence of the pause button. Real planners can not put time on hold to address issues as they arise; further, construction, reconstruction, or demolition happen instantly in the simulation, while those processes actually take weeks to years. Also, there is little citizen participation in the simulation (besides incoming Tweets, which are all reactions to plans already implemented, not forward-thinking insights on what plans to create). Contemporary Urban Planning outlines basic goals of planning which I found to be consistent with my goals for the city: health, safety, provision of services, environmental protection, and redistributive goals (to name a few). The book also details a planning process, parts of which I used and parts I did not use. I did not conduct a research phase, mostly because there were no previous trends to analyze. The beginning of the simulated city is essentially trial and error. Further, I did not have a phase of clarifying community goals and objectives. The writing outlines this phase as stemming from conversation among planners, the city, and citizens. I clarified the goals to myself only, as I am the sole planner in the simulated city. As for the final three phases, I did seem to have periods for plan formulation, plan implementation, and review and revision. One point that Professor Burton mentioned was that it is important to find the balance between what the people want and what the planner thinks is best. In the simulation, the planner can do basically whatever they want to (or are financially capable of doing); there is no way to community plan.  

References

Levy, J. M. (2017). Contemporary Urban Planning (11th ed.). Routledge.

Hello! My name is Allex Smith and I am from Springfield, Ohio. Coming from Springfield—also nicknamed The Champion City— gives me particularly unique experiences to draw from as we discuss planning in this class. Several online and printed publications have reported Springfield as being one of the worst cities in America; Just to mention two, theglobeandmail.com and The Ventriloquist both called Springfield “the unhappiest city” in the United States in 2012. With I-70 running through the city and I-75 not far away in neighboring Dayton, Springfield has suffered at the hand of the heroin epidemic amid other crises like a loss in manufacturing jobs, under-funded public schools, and high crime and poverty. However, my hometown has been on an upward trend in the last seven years. The city has completely revitalized the down-town area, bringing more commerce, a new restaurant scene, and town homes along the historic Fountain Avenue. While Springfield has endured a tiring and turbulent past, I truly believe that the city will cling to its recent progress. One fun fact about Springfield is that it’s John Legend’s home town too! (He and I went to the same elementary school!)

My major is in fact City and Regional Planning. I chose this program as it combines several of my interests, like government, economics, and sustainability. This course is required for my major and I am excited to delve into the material.

After much deliberation, I am designating my favorite city as Boston, MA (special mentions to Cincinnati, OH and Petoskey, MI). I first visited Boston when I was a sophomore in high school. I love Boston’s physical diversity between the urban center and parks by Fredrick Law Olmsted. Boston is also teeming with history—some good and some bad. Boston’s spirit is very tangible and enamoring.