download PDF file

download PDF file

Developer Norbert Klebl presents a new net-zero energy development called Geos Neighborhood in this podcast episode. Norbert had a vision of a sustainable neighborhood with simple but effective improvements throughout the development that will improve the quality of life for residents.

Geos Neighborhood will be built in Arvada, Colorado. Ground-breaking for this project will be in May 2012. The new development will maximize open space, produce and save energy, conserve water, and help with food production. A checkerboard pattern of houses will maximize solar gain and create narrower lot sizes. Street lines will also benefit from this checkerboard pattern. “Living fences” will be used as much as possible to divide spaces throughout the development, and the greening of the neighborhood doesn’t stop here. Norbert Klebl will integrate community gardens and fruit trees in Geos Neighborhood.

Norbert Klebl is trying to promote social activities through promenades, common gardens, and

local events.

download PDF file

As designers we always in need to present our work. Although in the digital world we often present our work in digital formats, there are still occasions when we need to print. In those instances we struggle with the quality of what we print. Jared Osborn with SOCO Imaging has some tips for us in this podcast interview.

Jerry’s many years in the reproduction industry inform his advice that we check a few simple things before printing our work. First, he recommends that we keep in mind our personal limitations in viewing colors. We can check our hue sensitivity through online tests. Second, we should get our monitors calibrated. Jerry recommends calibrating your monitor every other week and keeping a minimum of two profiles for different light conditions. Third, we should check the compatibility between images and printers. Each printer is different and capable of printing only a limited color spectrum. Jerry suggests the use of the soft proofing function in Photoshop to see the output of your presentation.

You can find more illustrations and useful links in the PDF file.

As urban areas grow, they require more support from rural areas. That support includes recreational uses and food production. Some urban areas are working to bring some food production into the city, but there is not enough space to grow produce and provide cattle ranching.

Historically, ranch land management practices have focused only on maximizing cattle on the ranch. Over centuries, this approach damaged banks of reservoirs and streams. Introduction of new invasive species of grasses pushed off native grasses. As Tom Roberts of Western Lands notes, it takes nature 50 to 60 years to restore those areas. But there is  hope for reclamation of ranch land.

As the current generation of ranchers retires, only a few are willing to step up to replace them. Ranchers’ children do not always want to continue ranching. Unfortunately, this trend will continue. Some ranches will be sold; others will be protected through conservation easements, and some will be turned into recreational ranches. In his projects, Tom Roberts has seen the results of bringing ranches to recovery through land management. Tom has shown that ranches can be restored through a multi-phase process in a few years. New land management practices recommended by Tom enhanced value, aesthetics, and ecological functions of ranches.

Letters from Listeners

anyone interested in aerial revegetation for land restoration, or know practical examples of it?

John McBain

Sports stadiums and training facilities have been around for centuries. As technology and the needs of athletes change, so do the design and function of these facilities. Dan Cohen, with Urban Investment Group, talked in this interview about a new sports facility being planned in Boulder, Colorado.

The vision of the center is to have integrated sports training and a full range of sports medicine and science facilities. Components of the complex will include not only a gym facility and workout rooms but also a 50-meter outdoor pool and a 25-meter indoor pool, a 250-meter velodrome, tennis courts, and an outdoor field. In addition, the complex will have retail and residential components. A staff of expert physical therapists, exercise physiologists, nutritionists, coaches, and personal trainers will be available to visitors. Planned to attract athletes from around the world with its state-of-the-art facilities, the center will be available to all, with a special emphasis on youth development.

Follow the progress of this exciting project at www.bouldermultisport.org.

ULI’s Emerging Trends report praises

Denver, saying better days ahead

by John Rebchook

Denver did not quite make the Top 10 list in the closely watched Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2012 report, but it would be hard to imagine that the Mile High City would receive a more glowing analysis in the closely followed and influential report, published by the Urban Land Institute and PriceWaterHouseCoopers.

The report, released Jan. 12, at a breakfast attended by more than 350 real estate and business leaders, ranked Denver No. 11 in two categories: Investment Prospects for Commercial/Multifamily Properties and Development Prospects for Commercial/Multifamily Markets.

In what is probably a surprise to no one, Washington, D.C., was ranked No. 1 in both categories, as well as a third category: For-Sale Homebuilding Prospects.

But the report released at the event, the most popular sponsored by Urban Land Institute Colorado, described Denver as being in fine shape and said it will only get better.

“Downtown steadily remakes itself as an enticing, highly desirable

21^st century city center,” according to the report.

“The acclaimed LoDo … entertainment district is being built out, surrounded by sustainable office development and boutique apartment projects: 4,000 units begin to come off the drawing boards,

promising “significant changes ahead.”

The report tracks the evolution of LoDo this way.

“First, new restaurants and a sports stadium attracted nightlife; now developers cater to echo boomer residents with social amenities like landscaped roof decks, gyms and community rooms.”

It quoted one person interviewed on Denver as saying: “We’re gradually becoming a 24-hour city.”

The report moves on to the redevelopment of the historic Denver Union Station, which it notes will be redeveloped into a “full-blown light-rail, bus, and train transportation complex, serving rising numbers of suburban

commuters who now have alternatives to driving on congested highways.”

The Regional Transportation District, of course, recently chose Union Stage Alliance – headed by Walter Isenberg of Sage Hospitality and long-time historic developer Dana Crawford – to redevelop Union Station into a project that will include a 130-room boutique hotel and a 24-hour diner in the station. The plan is estimated to pay RTD $65 million over the 60-year term of the lease and generate $130 million in tax revenue.

The Emerging Trends report doesn’t stop with Union Station, however, and notes that transit-oriented developments will continue to pop up along new suburban stops.

Here is how one person described the metro area:

“Denver feels good. We have the draw of good-paying clean-tech, energy industry jobs with a reasonable cost of living and improving

transportation.”

The Emerging Trends summed up Denver this way:

“Although the office market moves sideways, housing sidestepped

the boom/bust debacle. Better days definitely seem to be ahead.”

Ann Sperling, chief operating officer for the American region of Jones Lang LaSalle, moderated a local panel.

Panel members included:

Marcel Arsenault, principal of Real Capital Solutions, which has acquired, redeveloped, leased and sold more than $2 billion in commercial real estate.

Clark Atkinson, executive vice president and partner in Shaw Construction, who has led teams completing more than 3.5 million square feet of projects.

Andrew Hancock, a member of FirstBank’s Credit Policy Committee and chairman of its loan committee.

David Sternberg, senior vice president of Brookfield Properties, which owns Republic Plaza and recently acquired 1801 California.

Charles “Chetter” Latcham, president of the Colorado Division of Shea Homes, which has built more than 3,500 homes and 1.5 million square feet in the Denver area.

Letters from Listeners

Thanks for the share on this. Very good information. I am glad to see that Denver is high on the list of cities to watch this year.
Gieo Pensoneault

Topic:

The Impact of Facilities on Recruitment and Retention of Students at Educational Institutions

Study was conducted and sponsored by APPA’s Center for Facilities Research

Introductions:

Casey Martin

Historic Architect and Planner

Facility Management and Strategic Advisory Services Group for Jacobs Engineering

Arlington, VA office

Dr. David Cain

Vice President of Professional Affairs for APPA (Leadership for Educational Facilities)

National Certification Board for Educational Facility Professional

Associate Faculty Coconino Community College in Arizona

Report on ULI Colorado’s Explorer Series: Will the Aerotropolis Fly in Denver?
December 8, 2011, History Colorado Center, Denver

Kathleen McCormick, Principal
Fountainhead Communications, LLC
303.442.8020; fonthead@indra.com
For ULI Colorado website and Urban Design Podcast

With vision, collaboration, and new transit links, Denver International Airport (DIA) is on its way to becoming an Aerotropolis, or a 21st century airport linked with speedy global connections, which will boost the regional economy and make Denver an international destination, according to five of the region’s top public officials and business leaders who discussed the concept on December 8 at a ULI Colorado Explorer series program at the History Colorado Center in Denver.

More than 170 ULI members heard how Denver’s Aerotropolis over the next 30 years could expand development at and around DIA to include shops, restaurants, and housing, corporate offices, an exhibition and conference center, an information communications technology corridor, new industries, and freight and warehouse facilities.

“Nothing defines a city like its people, and Denver’s people have continually supported commitments to making this a great city” through projects like Denver Union Station and FasTracks, said Denver Mayor Michael Hancock in his keynote address. To attract innovation and investment, he said, the Denver region needs to use its “greatest economic tool, our airport, to show the world that Denver is ready to be on the global stage.”

Hancock said DIA, owned and operated by the City and County of Denver, is “a catalyst for development” of the Aerotropolis, which would extend via a transit corridor to Downtown Denver lined with small businesses linked to the global economy. He said now is the time to “imagine what we can do with this corridor to revitalize the regional economy.” He said the Aerotropolis is beginning to take shape with a 500-room hotel and FasTracks East Rail Line and train station at DIA under construction and due to open in 2016. DIA has been instrumental in attracting businesses such as Arrow Electronics, a Fortune 500 corporation moving from New York to Arapahoe County, he noted. The airport also has great potential for attracting business from overseas because of DIA’s location between New York and Japan. He said nonstop flights to Asia would help Denver become an international hub for business, industry, tourism, and commerce.

“We don’t have another large-scale opportunity” like expanding DIA into the Aerotropolis, Hancock declared. To expand DIA and the area around the airport, cities and counties in the region need to collaborate to draw “cluster markets” of new industries that will make Denver a leader in the green-energy economy.

Leading a panel of responders moderated by Julie Spencer, business management manager of Swinerton Builders, was Kim Day, DIA manager of aviation. Day said the Aerotropolis “is the vision we’ve been working toward,” following the lead of examples such as LAX. The big opportunity at DIA, she said, was that 53 square miles of land was set aside in the 1990s for planned development. Even at half of its development capacity, DIA is Colorado’s primary economic engine, generating $22 billion annually and employing 30,000 people a day, she noted. DIA “is trying to develop logical view of what could happen over 30 to 40 years,” she explained, and has commissioned a study of 63 square miles of land to determine how to expand the airport. Not all the potential development will happen at DIA; some will occur on neighboring lands owned by Aurora, Adams County, and other cities and counties. She advised that these communities should talk to each other and collaborate on development. Day said the Aerotropolis will become a “multimodal facility” with a network of roads to connect with surrounding communities.

“We don’t want development of a silo or an island,” said Paul Washington, executive director of the Denver Office of Economic Development. He said the Aerotropolis will extend into Downtown Denver and east of the airport, but also will be integrated regionally, like biotech has been in Aurora.

Jim Chrisman, senior vice president of Forest City Stapleton, Inc., described the Aerotropolis area, like Stapleton, as within a circle 15 minutes from the airport. He said development of the Aerotropolis will require strong economic development assistance—such as infrastructure funding from tax increment financing, flexible zoning, streamlined entitlement, and other project incentives.

Tom Clark, executive vice president of Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, said the Aerotropolis “is a continuation of the dream” started decades ago with the idea for a new airport to replace the old Stapleton International airport. Clark advised building the dream and planning for 50 years hence. “We have a gigantic canvas,” he noted. “For center cities that are land-locked, the effective use of land is key.” He said the success of Denver over last 20 years has depended in large part on the region’s collaborative spirit.

Responding to a question about how the Aerotropolis would work with an expansion of the 1-70 corridor, panelists variously noted that it should extend as far as the Eisenhower Tunnel and include two light-rail stops between DIA and Downtown Denver. Washington said light rail, Denver Union Station, and the regional bus system are important to connecting the region to DIA. “We have to plan infrastructure for 20, 30, 40 years from now,” he said. “The 18-to-34-year-old generation thinks differently about transportation, and that will prompt us to make bigger bolder decisions.” He said this generation wants walkability, only one car per family, and will rely on public transit to travel to home, work, and play. Washington said the project also should be adjusted for a population that is projected to double in a few decades, putting pressure on infrastructure and requiring effective investments.

The Aerotropolis concept was developed by John D. Kasarda, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship and Director of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. Aerotropolises are gateway anchors of 21st century metropolitan development and powerful engines of local economic development, attracting many types of aviation-linked businesses. Aerotropolis development requires sustainable “smart growth” principles of strategic infrastructure and urban planning.

The Aerotropolis program preceded the first annual ULI-NAIOP Holiday Party overlooking the new four-story atrium of the History Colorado Center, which will open in phases through April. In side conversations, attendees debated whether the Aerotropolis is a blanket term for typical airport-area development or whether such development could be made compact and walkable according to ULI principles.

With specifics of the Aerotropolis still to be worked out, Mayor Hancock and his staff are exploring the possibility of a ULI panel to help determine how the vision could take physical form.

###

There is no stronger driver of the economy than consumption. States and local governments have come to rely heavily on sales taxes. As a result, we have structured our local economy and measured success around how many big box retailers we can attract to our cities. More property and sales tax revenues generated from these big box retailers means fewer taxes levied on residents. Over the past century, these corporate big boxes have driven local main street stores out of business. However, the new economic reality points to a return toward more urban, smaller, quality oriented retailing. New research suggests that smaller urban development is more profitable than suburban big boxes.1 The smaller retail format also favors local businesses and promotes local place-making.

The largest retailer in the world and arguably the most emblematic example of a big box retailer is going small. Recently, Walmart opened a 3,500-square-foot store on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville. That store is comparatively smaller than the original Walton’s Five and Dime store, circa 1945. The store is 2 percent of the size of an average 185,000-square-foot Walmart supercenter.2 In the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, after facing stiff local opposition against chain stores, Duane Reade pharmacy decided to offer something the neighborhood did not have: a bar serving draft beer.3 These two examples suggest changing attitudes in the large format retail industry. Retail stores are getting smaller, becoming more urban in location, and they are adapting to local nuances.

Personal consumption is two-thirds of our gross domestic product.4 According to the National Retail

Federation, almost one of every five employees works in the retail sector.5 How and where we spend time and money reflects a shift not just in the retail industry, but in our economy as well. This article explores post-Great Recession retail trends and discusses the future implications for local economies.

SHIFTING TRENDS

Urban by Choice

Retailers are returning back to the city as retiring baby boomers and echo boomers favor the convenience and comfort of urban areas over sprawl. Intense competition from deep discounters, neighborhood opposition to chain stores, and a desire to return to the urban market are prompting large retailers to examine, recognize, and serve the local needs of neighborhoods.

Big boxes are drawn by the large number of trips that pour into the suburban arterials. Patrick Condon, in his book Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities, says that store location is based on the range of incomes in the service area and the distance and time a customer might be willing to drive to the store.

Therefore, smooth flowing traffic on big roads increase the service area radius the stores can draw from.

“As more stores locate in busy commercial areas, the gravitational forces these stores exert on the system lead inevitably to congestion, as whatever capacity the system provides is used up by the decisions of big box corporations,” writes Condon.6 Congestion on suburban arterials ends up shrinking the market area radius for the big boxes. As a result numerous corporations are now exploring smaller stores in urban environments.

Consumption to Conservation

A majority of the U.S. market is oversaturated with retail, and our population is not growing as previously anticipated. The growth in retail space has outpaced population growth. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, the United States has 14.2 billion square feet of total retail space, which means 46.6 square feet of retail space per person.7 In the post-recession economy, consumers are separating wants from needs. The shrinking family size and smaller homes with less disposable income point toward conservation and less consumption in the future.8

Income Concentrated at the Top

The U.S. middle class is shrinking, with the rich getting richer. In the post-recession economy, the poor and middle class have less disposable income to spend on consumption. Robert Reich in his book,

Aftershock, indicates the middle class lacks purchasing power to buy what the economy can produce. The top 1 percent who control over one-fourth of the nation’s wealth continue to spend their money on speculation — not retail goods.9

Economics of Plenty

Online retail offers near limitless choices. Companies like Amazon.com have virtual inventory — products stored in warehouses and only displayed on the unlimited shelves online. The “long tail” of online retailing offers virtually unlimited variety besides the mainstream brick-and-mortar rental stores with filters and recommendations to make informed purchases.10 Providers of goods on the Internet have captured the market in books, electronics, linens, and pet supplies, and the list continues to grow.

Online retailing begins to level the playing field by making it easy for small mom-and-pop stores to

compete head-on with big-box retailers. Online retailing stretches beyond the physical location of the

store, allowing main street retailers to reach a wider audience. Small stores may have an advantage. Their size makes them nimble and easy to adapt to market changes without approvals that big boxes typically need from their parent corporations.

Human Scale

The big boxes have come to symbolize the standardization, mass production and distribution, and

specialization of the modern retail industry. Increasingly, large corporations (parents of many big boxes) are taking a beating on Wall Street and Main Street, and are either shrinking or closing down.11 Walmart Market Stores, CityTarget and Best Buy Mobile stores are some of the smaller urban store formats being pursued by large format retailers.12 Small independent retailers, those that carry less risk and are more nimble to market shifts, continue to grow; despite the large number of failures, many survive and grow.

The more personal and local retail is, the more likely it is to provide a more intimate and richer shopping experience. Shrinking city and personal budgets will have cities and consumers favoring local retail that keeps a larger share of the dollar circulating within the community, instead of large corporations that tend to move wealth out of the community. The implications of this new retailing trend may include more human-scaled and walkable urban physical environments, such as more engaging storefronts, wider sidewalks, and streets designed for people as well as cars.

THE FUTURE

The trends in retailing may prompt a complete devolution of the big box into smaller specialized Main

Street-type retail shops.

The word retail is derived from the French word “retaillier,” meaning to cut a piece off or to break bulk.13

Retailing is therefore a process or system by which large quantities of goods are broken down and

repackaged into a form that is readily usable by the end consumer. The process involves manufacturing, wholesaling, and finally, retailing.

Online sales, also known as “e-tailing,”14 along with catalog and television sales bring the manufacturer or wholesaler directly to the consumer. The intent has been to eliminate the retailers and thus secure more profits. Consumers are using their purchasing power to push retailers to provide better merchandise, better shopping experiences, and convenience that is not easily found in big box stores or provided with impersonal technology.

Retailers are catching on that the “more is better” approach backfires. Less and small may be better than more and big. Emily Nelson in a Wall Street Journal article quotes Mark Lepper of Stanford University, who studied customer preferences and concluded that “people feel bad when choosing from a broad selection because they second-guess their pick and worry they have made a poor selection.”15

What Happens to Big Boxes?

A recent study conducted by Sarasota County found that compact urban development produces more sales and property tax compared to sprawling big box retail development. To sustain big boxes in tough times will require higher subsidies than cash-strapped cities may be willing to offer.16 Some of the big boxes occupy key sites along freeways. If big boxes go out of business, cities will have a unique opportunity to examine the deficiencies and transform the sites by creating walkable block and street structures, attracting mixes of land uses, and better connecting the center to the surrounding area.

CONCLUSION

Consumers want value, but not at the expense of personal and community values as they relate to

sustainability, authentic experience, and social responsibility. Small Main Street retailers should emphasize local identity, quality merchandise, and social experience.

The small urban store is more likely to be owned and operated locally; support local production, purchase, and consumption; retain a larger share of the profits within the local economy; reduce vehicle miles traveled, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy consumption; and support sustainable and vibrant urbanism.

The crisis of the great recession has changed our consumer behavior. In this change is a tremendous

opportunity for planners and economic developers who know where the economy is headed. As

consumers, we can bring greater value to our lives by reconnecting with retailers that share our beliefs.

Together, we can reconstruct our economy to be creative and restorative rather than destructive.

Kaizer Rangwala is the founding principal of Rangwala Associates, a town planning firm that practices the principles of smart growth and walkable urbanism. He has lectured extensively on smart growth, new urbanism, form-based codes, and regulatory reform at planning conferences, planning schools, and at the Form-Based Codes Institute, where he also serves as the organization’s chairman. He holds a master’s in architecture from New Jersey Institute of Technology, a master’s in city and regional planning from Rutgers University, and a certificate in Economic Development from the Economic Development Institute at Oklahoma University.

NOTES

1 “Best Bet for Tax Revenue: Mixed-use Downtown Development.” New Urban News, 15, 6: 1-5.

2 Talley, Karen. 2010. “Walmart Takes Small-Store Concept to Maximum Degree. The Wall Street Journal, December 22.

3 http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=pages&sp_id=1242. Accessed on May 7, 2011.

4 Hale, Stewart. 2010. “A Closer look at the G.D.P.” New York Times, December 16.

5 http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=pages&sp_id=1242. Accessed on May 7, 2011.

6 Condon, Patrick. 2010. Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities: Design Strategies for the Post-Carbon World. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.

7 http://www.icsc.org/srch/faq_category.php?cat_type=research&cat_id=3. Accessed on May 7, 2011.

8 U.S. Census Bureau. November 10, 2010. “U.S. Census Bureau Reports Men and Women Wait Longer to Marry.” Press Release.

9 Reich, Robert. 2010. Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future. Knopf.

10 Anderson, Chris. 2006. The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More. New York: Hyperion.

11 Hudson, Kris and Miguel Bustillo. 2011. “Malls Face Surge in Vacancies: Fallout From Boom and

Downturn, Change in Habits, Hit Local Shopping Areas.” Wall Street Journal, April 7.

12 Misonzhnik, Elaine. 2011. “Big-Box Giants Downsize to Drive Productivity with Smaller Urban Stores.” Retail Traffic, March 30.

13 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retailing.

14 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/e-tailing.

15 Nelson, Emily. 2001. “Too Many Choices — Nine Kinds of Kleenex Tissue, Eggo Waffles in 16 Flavors: Blame Brand Managers.” The Wall Street Journal, April 20.

16 Ibid.

RECOMMENDED READING

Coyle, Stephen. 2011. Sustainable and Resilient Communities: A Comprehensive Action Plan for Towns, Cities, and Regions. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Gerzema, John, and Michael D’Antonio. 2010. Spend Shift: How the Post-Crisis Values Revolution Is

Changing the Way We Buy, Sell, and Live. Jossey-Bass.

Mouzon, Stephen. 2010. The Original Green: Unlocking the Mystery of True Sustainability. The New Urban Guild Foundation.

Shell, Ellen Ruppel. 2009. Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture. New York: Penguin Press.

Tachieva, Galina. 2010. Sprawl Repair Manual. New York: Island Press.

©Copyright 2011 American Planning Association All Rights Reserved

by Kaizer Rangwala, AICP

Civic Center Park is Denver’s hallowed ground. The park is the civic heart of the community. Ringed by Denver’s most important government and cultural institutions and a century’s worth of architectural icons, the Park and its surrounding district are in the midst of a significant revitalization. New programs and events are activating the Park like never before, and millions of dollars of rehabilitation work and new infrastructure have put the sparkle back on the Park’s physical features. New museums and infill developments nearby continue to enliven the surrounding area.

Hosted by Ken Schroeppel, creator of DenverUrbanism.com, our roundtable conversation about Denver’s Civic Center includes Lindy Eichenbaum Lent, executive director of the Civic Center Concervency, and Mark Bernstein, Downtown Area parks planner for the Denver Parks & Recreation Department. Our discussion covers the Park’s history, current efforts to rejuvenate the Park, and what the future may hold for Denver’s treasured Civic Center.

Architecture 2030 founder Edward Mazria discusses the status of Architecture 2030 and provides insight into the powerful role of the Building Sector in both creating and alleviating many of the crises facing America and the world today.

Charles Shifflett, LEED AP BD&C, PMP