urbanOut

This past weekend, I traveled to Chicago, Illinois for a weekend trip, something that only takes 2.5 hours from my home in Indianapolis.  As always, I was blown away by the city’s urban forms, street life vitality, and sheer scale, both vertically and horizontally.  Chicago is a world-class city to a degree not matched by any other Midwest City.  In the mid-to-late 1800’s, a number of circumstances, decisions, and situations ultimately elevated the Windy City past Cincinnati and St. Louis to become the regions node of activity, culture, and industry.   Because the city was able to develop pre-car, its urban forms developed around modes of mass transit and pedestrian activity, a fact reflected in the city’s present density, linear neighborhood-oriented commercial streets, and a strong, healthy Central Business District (CBD). 

Pre-Car Urban Forms

Chicago shares these urban form patterns with other pre-car cities in the region such as Cincinnati and Pittsburgh (although to a lesser degree in scale and vitality to Chicago of course), each enjoying numerous unique, neighborhood commercial centers, and dense, walkable CBD’s.  In these two examples though, urban vitality seems more neighborhood-centric, as each region’s local commercial strips and districts (think Squirrel Hill and Shadyside in Pittsburgh and Clifton and Hyde Park in Cincinnati) thrive while their regional urban centers (downtown) fall short of expectations.  The difference between these three cities CBD’s has a lot to do with Chicago’s world-class status, mass transportation system, sheer size, and tourism opportunities that ultimately allow Chicago to enjoy both successful neighborhood centers as well as a regional and international center. 

Post-Car Urban Forms

Meanwhile, newer, post-car cities like Indianapolis and Columbus take on still yet another urban form.  These cities are not located in geographically advantageous locations along rivers, lakes, or oceans, and thus began growing only after a mode of transportation (the car) allowed them to do so.  As a result, these places enjoy fewer neighborhoods with pedestrian-oriented commercial centers than their older counterparts.  What Indianapolis and Columbus do enjoy, however, are strong regional centers that are vibrant, full of life, and have the ability to draw people from far distances.  This ‘regional centric urban form’ is likely because these cities regional centers haven’t dealt with neighborhood-level competition and thus have been able to maintain a level of vibrancy not matched in Cincinnati or Pittsburgh. 

In Indianapolis, two such urban regional centers exist – Broad Ripple and downtown.  In Columbus, High Street from German Village through Clintonville acts as a regional center, attracting people and activity from around the area.  These regional centers have maintained a pedestrian orientation despite being plagued with parking woes, as they are located in each cities traditional urban core.  But once again, these two cities fall short of enjoying the gamut of urban forms as they are not of the world-class status, did not develop in dense enough ways, and most importantly, do not have notable public transit systems like that of their big neighbor Chicago. 

Each Offers Opportunities, Challenges

When I talk to Cincinnatians, they tend to be very proud and boastful of the neighborhood they live in, often bragging about what makes their neighborhood unique and what restaurant, bar, coffee shop, or clothing store is located there.  I’ve talked to people who have relocated to Cincinnati and time and time again, the city’s neighborhood-centric built form is always brought up as one of the qualities most enjoyed.  On the other hand, Cincinnati seems to have an uneven reputation with out-of-towners and visitors who have never spent much time in the city.  Likely, these people have only experienced downtown and perhaps a few surrounding areas, places that don’t quite live up to other regional centers across the Midwest, leaving people with a negative perception of the city as a whole.  On the contrary, people who visit Indianapolis tend to rave about the city and its vibrant downtown while residents seem more concerned about the lack of services within walking distance of their home and the lack of overall neighborhood identity.  This proves that, based on my personal experiences, encounters, and conversations, the two cities opposite urban forms result in opposite experiences for out-of-towners and residents alike.      

For those cities like Cincinnati and Indianapolis that only have a neighborhood-centric form or only a regional-centric form…what do you do?  Do you build on your existing assets or do you attempt to develop the form you currently lack?  Well, it’s always my opinion that a city or a region ought to build off their existing assets and make great what they have good.  And it seems Indianapolis and Cincinnati has both been doing this for decades, as Cincinnati has great neighborhoods and Indianapolis has a great downtown. 

So what to do now, should each city focus on developing the urban form and experience they lack since it seems their respective forms have reached a critical mass?  In Cincinnati’s case, the city seems to be doing just that.  With the streetcar, the Banks, the Fountain Square makeover, the Gateway Quarter, the Washington Park renovation, and the rejuvenation of Main Street, it definitely seems Cincinnati is starting to take the focus off its neighborhoods and reenergize its regional center.  Can Cincinnati have strong neighborhood centers and a strong regional center?  This remains to be seen, but hopefully the impending streetcar and its phased connections can create an environment where the neighborhood and regional centers complement one another instead of competing and create a city that features both.  After all, with a strong mass transit system, it seems you don’t have to be a Chicago to have both.

As for Indianapolis, I think there is a definite potential to create neighborhood-oriented commercial strips and districts throughout the city.  Irvington, College Avenue, and Fountain Square are all areas that have what it takes to become neighborhood centers for Indianapolis.  What is needed are urban transit options such as streetcars and light rail that places urban development as a priority and commuting patterns as tertiary.  Time will tell on the fate of Cincinnati’s and Indianapolis’s urban form models, and really, I’m not sure if one is preferable over the other or if one city is likely to create an environment where both neighborhood and regional centers can co-exist.  But based on my experiences in Chicago and other world-class cities, having both healthy neighborhood and regional centers is ideal and the best way to go about achieving this is through urban-oriented mass transit.    

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