Tactical Urbanism’ Taking Hold in San Diego
Tactical Urbanism’ Taking Hold in San Diego
Slowly
but noticeably, “tactical urbanism” is playing out in San Diego and other large
cities where young people are flocking to high-density core neighborhoods in
search of their desired quality of life.
Instead
of waiting for long-vacant lots to be taken over by the next developer, urban
planners and designers are finding ways to turn those underutilized properties
into attractive and useful neighborhood features, even if those elements prove
temporary.
It
can take the form of a “pocket park” — or a set of tables or benches surrounded
with planters and trees with some public art — that gives a sense of place to a
neighborhood. Construction is minimal, and the “pop-up” elements are easily
moved when it’s time to clear the way for a developer’s permanent project.
“The
community is investing in their own community, really,” said Jason Grauten, a
partner in San Diego-based design group RADLab, during a recent gathering
presented by the local chapter of the Urban Land Institute.
Community
Convincing Developers
The
tactical urbanist movement is supported by various methods of crowdsourcing —
which can be as simple as asking neighborhood residents to post input on a
whiteboard as to what they’d like to see in a pocket park — and crowdfunding
sites such as Kickstarter that help translate theories and wishes into action
in urban areas.
With
the help of more than $60,000 raised from nearly 300 donors through
Kickstarter, along with donations including a $300,000 contribution from local
real estate firm Canter Cos., RADLab is putting together a project called
Quartyard in a vacant East Village lot.
Making
use of 14 surplus shipping containers, Quartyard — planned by Grauten and
several fellow graduates of NewSchool of Architecture + Design — is a temporary
public park that will also include a coffee shop, dog run and food trucks,
using a 28,000-square-foot dirt lot owned by the city at Market Street and Park
Boulevard.
Experts
said the sense of community vitality generated by that type of project makes
the case to developers that a site is viable for future development. Organizers
of RADLab — with RAD standing for research, architecture and development — have
said Civic San Diego is looking to eventually sell the city-owned site of
Quartyard to a private developer.
Already
in East Village, a temporary gathering hub called Silo, with live music, food
and art events, has sprung up in an area that will eventually become the
mixed-use Makers Quarter development.
Park
Prototypes Speed Approval
Experts
said the spot-urbanism movement has already taken root in Los Angeles,
San Francisco and Boston.
In
the Los Angeles area, urban design firms such as Utopiad have devised numerous
configurations of “pocket parks” that neighborhoods can adapt to bring
attractive elements to neighborhoods with minimal disruptions. Having just a
few standardized “prototypes” available — all factoring in aesthetic, safety
and traffic issues — can speed the process of having the parks approved by city
officials.
“The
challenge of these parks is getting the city to review all of them,” Utopiad
founder Daveed Kapoor said.
In
some cases, as with a temporary urban feature that Utopiad established on a
stretch of the Los Angeles River, Kapoor said enough community buzz is created
to convince developers that something permanent could go there someday. The
urban features also help make existing neighborhoods more attractive by
creating inviting extensions to sidewalk areas.
Katie
Rast — director of Fab Lab San Diego, a collaborative invention space in Kearny
Mesa — said the pace of tactical urbanism will likely pick up in coming years,
partly as a result of San Diego’s entrepreneurial history, continued growth of
the “open source economy” and technologies like 3-D printing that enable small
firms to innovate and shape their surroundings faster.
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highlight the commercial real estate market. It solely represents the opinion
of the specific blogger/author and does not necessarily represent the opinion
of Pacific Coast Commercial. www.PacificCoastCommercial.com
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