St. Louis’ Gateway Arch is one of the great symbols of an American city. So it’s unfortunate that for much of its life, its grounds have been isolated from downtown St. Louis by freeways. Some observers have credited the construction of highways, which bisect downtown St. Louis and cut off access to the Mississippi river, with ushering in city’s decades-long decline.

Now St. Louis is planning a major overhaul of Gateway Park and pedestrian access is finally getting the attention it deserves. Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition has been following the …

In the name of protecting water quality in Lake Erie and the state’s streams, the State of Ohio has developed a voluntary, incentive-based program for sustainable development.
It’s full of really good stuff, for example:

Identify priority development and conservation areas.
Offer incentives like density bonuses, streamlined review processes, and design flexibility for development in priority areas.
Evaluate existing zoning codes, review processes, and regulations for disincentives to desirable development practices, and set policy for correcting the disincentives.
Establish regulations that prohibit construction in the wetland and riparian setback area.
Encourage compact neighborhood development, historic preservation …

Why can’t Youngstown redevelop its downtrodden neighborhoods the same way Philadelphia has?

Willy Staley asks Youngstown Community Organizer Phil Kidd this question in the latest issue of Next American City.

“The most straightforward, and obvious problem for cities in decline is the way that the Department of Housing and Urban Development doles out its funds,” Staley writes. “The grants are not competitive; cities must apply, but the size of the grant is determined by a formula.”

The formula is weighted by population, so as Youngstown bleeds population, its HUD money shrinks as well. Meanwhile, the destruction caused by vacancy and abandonment cries out for attention.

That’s Bruce Fisher’s question, posed in this piece for Buffalo’s alt-weekly Artvoice.
What do you think?
-KG

The Atlantic magazine has a special section on ‘The Future of the City.’
There’s  lot of really interesting stuff here, from local currencies to Robert Moses.
-KG

Check out these before and after pictures of St. Louis’ Crown Square, provided by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The once dilapidated commercial plaza has been restored as part of a larger neighborhood revitalization strategy led by the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, and it’s attracting national attention.

For more than two years, this revitalization effort has centered around an eight-block area in city’s Old North neighborhood.

“The new Crown Square will be mixed-use and walkable, containing apartments as well as commercial spaces, some sensitive new

Check out Shrinking Cities from Virginia Tech’s Dept. of Urban Affairs and Planning.
The blog comes from the Shrinking Cities – Sustainability studio in Virginia Tech’s School of Urban Affairs and Planning, Alexandria Campus.
It  “aim(s) to explore the opportunities and challenges of shrinking cities in the context of contemporary urban planning. We will evaluate strategies and commentary on shrinking cities, including urban agriculture, storm water infrastructure, pocket parks, vacant property reclamation, land banks and community energy generation.”
Lots of good stuff here on Baltimore, Cleveland, Youngstown and more.
-KG

Leadership in the city of Cincinnati has been campaigning to develop a streetcar line, for quite some time, and it has been a controversial issue.
Here is the mayor and city manager promoting the initiative. During the last week, the city assembled $86 million for a rail and streetcar line that will connect the University of Cincinnati to downtown. Yesterday, city officials approved $64 million in bonds to support the project, according to The TransportPolitic.
City voters endorsed the measure this fall, despite an effort to block the initiative.
It is hoped that …

The city of Columbus has overhauled legislation on parking at new developments, seeking to limit parking spaces and expand amenities for cyclists, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

Here’s a rundown of the new requirements:
- Every type of building — bowling alleys, churches, shopping centers, restaurants, office buildings, etc. — must provide a minimum of two bike-parking spaces.
- Bigger places must provide an extra bike parking spot for every 20 car-parking spaces, up to a maximum of 20 bike spaces.
- Bike racks must be anchored to the ground …

From the Flint Journal via Flint Expatriates:
Former Genesee County Treasurer Daniel Kildee is pushing for reforms to allow local governments to sue property owners who don’t take care of their homes- the proposed system would allow the Genesee County Landbank to recover costs of cleaning and fixing up homes, according to Flint Expatriates.
I’m curious to see if this idea goes further. A few years ago, when I was writing stories about vacant properties in Lorain, Ohio, Kildee’s Genesee County Landbank was often cited as a model other cities should copy.
Kildee …