detroit is cool. hamilton can be too.

Andres Duany, the father of New Urbanism, states that Detroit is cool. Which is, itself, a way cool thing. Detroit has suffered a lot in recent and not so recent years, so it's great to observe, as Duany does, that it is, in fact, not a total sinkhole of unrequited dreams.

What I like about Duany's conclusion, writing for Model D in the article "Andres Duany: Community building through 'Lean Urbanism'", is that Detroit is cool because it is letting young people get on with it. That is, get on with the business, inadvertent though it may be, the business of revitalization. He makes the case in this video too; a speech for the Michigan Municipal League.

Urban Thoughts - Why is Detroit the coolest city on earth? from Michigan Municipal League on Vimeo.

Admittedly, chunks of Detroit's good fortune are due to the Knight Foundation and Dan Gilbert (Chief of Quicken Loans) both of whom are investing heavily in the city, but, Duany points out, the young are there too. They are willing to take risks, fly under the radar, sell a cookie baked in a kitchen with no commercial licence, engage in tactical urbanism practices. And this reminds me of Northeast Hamilton. It has the elements you would want to see in a city: activities at the front door, new and young businesses, artists making a living - collectively building vibrancy. We have the elements but haven't cracked it yet.

Seeing the good in Detroit, Duany has started the Project for Lean Urbanism in an attempt to recreate that "Go west, young man" feeling elsewhere. As he terms it "...revitalizing cities by finding ways for people to participate in community-building -- specifically, by enabling everyday people to get things done." This is an excellent idea - a combination of New Urbanism and Tactical Urbanism? - and I look forward to learning more about it and seeing what we can adapt and use here in Bermuda.

a new way for local government

Watching the Corporation of Hamilton saga over the past year was depressing. Questions regarding the allocation of funds. Confusion over a lease. Takeover and then restoration of financial controls. Resolution couldn't come fast enough.

Assuming the business of city hall is back on track, it occurs to me that it is probably time to reconsider "the way we do things".

hamilton circa 2007I have written before about participatory budgeting. This time, though, I want to highlight co-producing the commissioning of public services, something the blog Polis introduced to me in the article Commissioning Democratic Renewal by Joe Penny.

It's a radical notion: planning for public services with people instead of just for them. Where participatory budgeting involves the community voting on the allocation of funds for projects, usually from a short-list of agreed options, co-producing the commissioning of public services takes the planning of those services a step further. It is a space "where professionals and citizens share power to plan and deliver support services together, recognising that both partners have a vital contribution to make" (source: new economics foundation).

In this world, the co-producers are public servants and citizens working together to decide what service is required, develop tender documents and take part in the selection of the successful bidder. This is hands on stuff. It seems tailor-made for an entity suffering from reduced financial controls that, nonetheless, must provide city services. Framed that way, the Bermuda Government might want to consider this option itself.

And what are the benefits? Get more from the services. Better value for money. More involvement on the part of the those providing the service and those using the service. In short: truly inclusive decision-making at a local level. So, instead of participatory budgeting, where the community votes on a project to receive funding, co-production means the community is a crucial part of the project. Radical indeed.

reflections on park(ing) day and healthy cities

On 20 September 2013, the Department of Planning and Corporation of Hamilton, as well as businesses, community groups and individuals, collaborated to celebrate PARK(ing) Day for the first time. PARK(ing) Day began in San Francisco in 2005 when one metred parking space was converted into a mini-park for two hours. It is now a worldwide event where artists, designers and citizens transform metered parking spots into temporary public open space in 162+ cities (last count in 2011).

reid street, hamiltonThe Department of Planning took the opportunity to ask the public for answers to this question: "If this wasn't a space for parking cars, I would use it for _______". Planning received 90 responses, six of which essentially said "Keep the parking. We need it and more!". Other, more interesting, responses included: have a promenade, plants and benches, busking, open air cafes and so on. Click here to review the full list.

This made me think. What is it about Bermudians and parking? Hamilton must be the tiniest capital city in the world and yet there is near hysteria at the thought of less parking in the City. Of walking from a car parked, say, at Bull's Head to Church Street. Or from a car at Cavendish to Burnaby Hill. Really? You can't make it?

Now, clearly, those with physical challenges are restricted in their options but what excuse do the rest of us have?

Which led me to another consideration. Why do we think automatically in terms of vehicular travel? Why is there no habit of walking? Of cycling? The Dutch automatically pedal cycle everywhere - in all weather - with multiple children, groceries and book bags.

Do Bermudians avoid walking around Hamilton because we are lazy? Unfit? (Not sure which is worse.)

I studied and worked in Canada at a time when the Healthy Cities movement was just starting. My initial reaction to the "Keep car parking" advocates of PARK(ing) Day was to advocate, in turn, in favour of embracing the Healthy Cities/Healthy Communities movement. This is much more than a hospital-based approach to individual healthful living; rather, it is a comprehensive view of community health.

The movement is based on precepts set out in The Ottawa Charter (a declaration developed during a World Health Organisation conference in the Canadian capital in 1986), which are: peace, shelter, education, food, a stable ecosystem, social justice and equity.

These are meaningful, though challenging, rules to live by but we should embrace them. Concepts like walking will become less scary.

Wonder what reflections PARK(ing) Day will stimulate next year...?