American Apparel: A Leading Indicator?

Economists have a rather interesting term called the "leading indicator." It breaks down like this: economists are pretty much in the fortune-telling business. That is, they try to predict the (economic) future. In order to predict long-term patterns (growth or decline, for the most part) they often look for "leading indicators". In this sense, a "leading" indicator is some thing that tends to "lead" the economy. For instance, a spike in energy prices is a leading indicator of inflation (gas gets more expensive, so transportation gets more expensive, so consumer goods get more expensive, and voila! inflation!).

I'm starting to wonder whether the arrival of American Apparel in urban centers is also a leading indicator. It was big news when they opened a location in Cleveland Heights (Ohio) last year. AA leased space on Coventry, a used-to-be-cool retail strip in one of Cleveland's more progressive inner-ring suburbs. The future of Coventry is still very much undetermined. While vacancies persist, there has been progress in retooling the district to better attract college students. There is very little clothing retail on Coventry, however, which makes AA decision to locate there questionable. Does AA think it can tap into latent demand in that area for clothing?

AA has also recently decided to occupy space here in Uptown (in Minneapolis). The trend seems similar: Uptown is a trendy, successful retail district that in the past year or so has declined a bit (though not as much as Coventry). Vacancies are on the rise, and there's a growing trend of chainification in the retail mix. Certainly, there are differences: Uptown has a lot of clothing vendors, so it's not a stretch to think that shoppers will consider buying clothing there.

Ok, so is AA a leading indicator? Does the arrival of American Apparel in declining urban retail districts portend an urban rebirth? Or are they simply capitalizing on cheaper rents?

Coming this week:
Monday: A Paean to the Stone Arch Bridge
Tuesday: Find This Door
Wednesday: Residences for Retail
Thursday: American Apparel: A Leading Indicator?
Friday: Pedestrians Make Their Own Paths

Residences for Retail

One of the most frustrating things about shopping in America--particularly in the suburbs--is the dull banality of commercial architecture. The ubiquitous strip mall drives me totally nuts. Strip malls are bland, boring, and ugly. They communicate no personality, and they make it exceedingly difficult for their tenants to stand out as unique operations. They hide individual identity.

Of course, I'll grant you, they're cheap. And because they're cheap, strip malls can offer lower rents. Lower rents mean less financial burden on tenants, which means local / independent tenants can establish themselves more easily. So maybe it's wrong of me to complain about strip malls and how they make ordinary llife unpleasant.

But rather than just complain about cheap commercial architecture, let me offer a contrast: the residential home as place of business. Maybe you've seen it elsewhere: a street with beautiful homes, well-maintained, unique, with personality, and business signs out front. I snapped a picture of one (above) to demonstrate the effect. It's amazing--instead of feeling alienated in a concrete sea of a parking lot and a vinyl-sided emotionless edifice, you shop in a home, with trees outside and a certain je ne sais quoi.

Of course, this is only feasible in areas where such houses are already built. Developers are certainly not going to built century homes in the exurbs just because an urban planner like myself said they're a good idea. And since such areas are usually zoned for residential use, it takes governmental action to allow commercial activity there. But what an effect!

Coming this week:
Monday: A Paean to the Stone Arch Bridge
Tuesday: Find This Door
Wednesday: Residences for Retail
Thursday: American Apparel: A Leading Indicator?
Friday: Pedestrians Make Their Own Paths

Find This Door

I found this rather cool wood-carving alongside a house's front door somewhere in the Twin Cities area. Can you guess where it is? (Obviously, I've already given away the street number!)

Coming this week:
Monday: A Paean to the Stone Arch Bridge
Tuesday: Find This Door
Wednesday: Residences for Retail
Thursday: American Apparel: A Leading Indicator?
Friday: Pedestrians Make Their Own Paths

A Paean to the Stone Arch Bridge

To kick off the week, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on some of the more beautiful aspects of the Minneapolis. I live near the Stone Arch Bridge. It is unbelievably beautiful. These days, we're all very much used to civil engineering architecture to consider beauty an afterthought. After seeing countless ugly concrete overpasses and otherwise ho-hum office highrises, I'm delighted to see a beauty such as the Stone Arch bridge. If you want to read all about its history, follow the link I've given above. I'm writing today simply to meditate on its beauty.

The Stone Arch bridge spans the Mississippi, touch downtown on its southern terminus and Father Hennepin Park on the north. Although it's not particularly wide by contemporary automobile-based standards, since motorized vehicles are banned it is effectively very wide. The central lanes are reserved for bikes, and the outer lanes are for walkers / runners. On sunny Saturday afternoons, it is flooded with people. It's amazing to see how wide a variety of people use it--unlike a lot of urban leisure amenities, its use is not restricted to middle-class families. You'll see people of all colors and ages, families, couples, singles, retirees, and so on. When it gets really hot, ice cream vendors are there too.

I should also point out that the bridge serves as a vital weekday commute route for downtown workers. There are a fair number of people living in northeast Minneapolis who work downtown, and many of them commute via the bridge.

From the center of the bridge, you have an excellent view of the St Anthony falls, not to mention much of the downtown skyline. To the east lies the University of Minnesota, to the west the 3rd Ave and Hennepin bridges. To the north is a flank of former industrial buildings (soon to be condos, of course!). It's quite breath-taking.

Coming this week:
Monday: A Paean to the Stone Arch Bridge
Tuesday: Find This Door
Wednesday: Residences for Retail
Thursday: American Apparel: A Leading Indicator?
Friday: Pedestrians Make Their Own Paths

Urban Parks

Now that the weather has turned beautiful, I've had the opportunity to start exploring the region's excellent urban parks system. It's been a really neat way to get to know the city, and I've noticed that there's a distinct difference in the look-and-feel of the park systems of Minneapolis and Cleveland.

Cleveland's Metropark system is, for the most part, designed to take you away from the feeling of being in a metropolis. The great jewels of the system--Cuyahoga Valley (strictly speaking not a metropark, I believe), North Chagrin Reservation, Rocky River Reservation--make you quickly forget that you're in a county of a few million people. It's quite amazing to be driving along in strip-mall chain land, take a quick turn, park, and suddenly find yourself enclosed by tall trees and the sound of rushing water.

Minneapolis' system, on the other hand, is oriented towards urban engagement rather than urban escape. Much of the park system is designed around water: either the Mississippi, or the numerous small lakes that dot the region. The parks usually include paved paths that traverse the length of these waterways. As I've noted in an earlier post, Minneapolis has done a great job of allocating space on the pathways for pedestrians and bikers alike. Minneapolis' urban parks do not have the same extensive tree cover as those of Cleveland; consequently it is often possible to look up and see downtown buildings in the distance. It reinforces one's connection with the city center.

I'm not sure that either approach to urban parks is a superior one. I do know that there is a big difference in the firsthand experience of these parks.

Anyone care to weigh in on what they do / don't like about urban parks?

Monday: Transit Ideas
Tuesday: Scooters for Everyone!
Wednesday: Apartments Without Kitchens!
Thursday: Even More Ridiculous Transit Ideas
Friday: Urban Parks

Even More Ridiculous Transit Ideas!

Damn it, I'm going to rid our cities of the blight of the automobile if it kills me! Even if it kills the very mass transit passengers who sacrifice their dear lives on the altar of alternate transport! To the idea lab!

Mass transit is a great thing, no? Its most common forms include subways, light rails, buses, and elevated rail. But surely there are ways to transport people around a metropolis that don't require rails, gasoline combustion, Can we find a way to move people without investing billions in new infrastructure? Miles of roads that get torn up by snow every winter and have to be repaved?

I've got two ideas for you urban planners out there today:

Pneumatic tubes: Apparently, back in Ye Olde Old Timey Time Days of Yore, builders had the brilliant idea to use pneumatic tubes to deliver documents all over an office building. If you don't believe me, check Wikipedia. Why can't we extend this system to handle people as well? Imagine that instead of stepping out of your home and into the parking lot to get in your car, you instead lie down in a little hole in the sidewalk, seal yourself into a small plastic capsule, and instantly are whooshed away to your destination. Sure, you might get a little dizzy, but the cool factor is high.

Zip lines: Here's how we'll make it work: First, we build towers (say, 200 feet tall) all over the city. Then we install a spiral escalator that continuously brings passengers to the top. Then we connect the top of the towers to the bottom of other towers via zip lines. All you have to do to get around the city is go to the nearest tower, take the escalator to the top, grab onto zip handle, and zoom a mile or so. What could go wrong?

Monday: Transit Ideas
Tuesday: Scooters for Everyone!
Wednesday: Apartments Without Kitchens!
Thursday: Even More Ridiculous Transit Ideas
Friday: Urban Parks

Apartments Without Kitchens!?!?

As I said in yesterday's post, space in an urban center is at a premium. Certainly rents are cheap enough in Cleveland (!), but first- and second-tier American cities can get costly. Is there some way renters (and home-owners, for that matter) in densely-populated urban centers can reduce their need for square-footage and still enjoy their lives?

Here's one idea: get rid of your kitchen! That's right, get an apartment with no kitchen whatsoever. No stove, no fridge, nothing! That would eliminate maybe 100 square feet from your home, and reduce your energy costs. Less space = lower rent!

But wait a minute... don't you have to eat?

Of course you do, but you live in a district where no one has kitchens, so there's a lively 24-hour food stand market on the sidewalks. If you want to eat, just go downstairs and buy some sandwiches / dumplings / burritos from the food vendors.

Think this is crazy? It isn't--it exists in Taipei, apparently. I had the good fortune to visit Taipei about a year ago, and believe it or not there are residential districts flooded with sidewalk food vendors. You can actually get an apartment without a kitchen, and subsist entirely on street food. It's great!

Now, what would it take to make this happen in America...?

Monday: Transit Ideas
Tuesday: Scooters for Everyone!
Wednesday: Apartments Without Kitchens!
Thursday: Even More Ridiculous Transit Ideas
Friday: Urban Parks

More Transit Ideas: Scooters for Everyone!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the personal automobile is the central challenge / problem / hurdle / issue of all urban planning. Cars are essential to modern American life. They provide us with mobility, leisure, entertainment, an outlet for conspicuous consumption, freedom, and class status. They also saddle society with carbon emissions, run over pedestrians, make biking difficult (if not intolerable in places), insulate (and isolate) us from our fellow humans, encourage urban sprawl, make a lot of noise, etc.

I'm trying to think creatively these days about how to reduce our dependence on the private automobile. We cannot simply remake our entire urban (and metropolitan) systems at once. We must, instead, pursue an incremental approach. It is with this in mind that I'm thinking more about scooters (and full-size motorcycles, for that matter) as one possible solution to the problem of the car.

Scooters (mopeds, whatever) are excellent in cities that do not depend on highways for intra-city travel. They get great gas mileage (60+ mpg), cost a lot less than cars, and very importantly take up very little space. Since space is at a premium in an urban center, any device that can reduce an individual's spatial needs is great news. In the space of one parking spot (15' x 10') your can easy park a half-dozen scooters.

To be fair, there are indeed drawbacks: scooters are much more dangerous, especially at night. They require additional training to operate, and unless people buy full-size motorcycles highway travel is out of the question. Nevertheless, I think it's feasible. If you doubt that a population can, as a whole, embrace the scooter, I'll leave you with this image of scooters parked in Taiwan:



Monday: Transit Ideas
Tuesday: Scooters for Everyone!
Wednesday: Apartments Without Kitchens!
Thursday: Even More Ridiculous Transit Ideas
Friday: Urban Parks

Transit Ideas: Roving Cabs

The big difference between cabs in New York City and cabs everywhere else in the country is this: the Big Apple has roving cabs everywhere, whereas most other cities have dial-a-cab service and, if they're lucky, roving cabs in specific districts.

I got to thinking about this issue because I often wonder what it would take to reduce our rate of personal car ownership. Mass transit, for the most part, addresses the commuting transit needs of an urban population. But people still need trip-specific point-to-point travel services, especially for leisure & entertainment. Cabs are perfect for this kind of service; unfortunately, however, in areas where cabs can only be obtained by calling in advance (and then waiting 20+ minutes), it's not a very desirable option.

Contrast this with New York, where generally speaking you're always within a few blocks of a road swamped with cabs. It's a sea of yellow much of the time! In this situation, you really don't need a car at all. Between the subway, buses, and cabs, most of your transit needs are supplied without having to own your own automobile. Fantastic!

I'm not sure how to get such a system in place outside of New York. Even if some enlightened billionaire invested a huge amount of money to blanket a city with roving cabs, it would take years before the per-capita car-ownership rates would decline sufficiently to ensure a stable profit margin. Any ideas?

Monday: Transit Ideas
Tuesday: Scooters for Everyone!
Wednesday: Apartments Without Kitchens!
Thursday: Even More Ridiculous Transit Ideas
Friday: Urban Parks

Reader Responses

There have been some really great comments in the past month or so, and I'd like to offer some thoughts on them:

• Regarding my diatribe on the much-talked-about Muslims-won't-scan-your-bacon story, G points out that if you take a stand on an issue you have to live with the consequences. It's a good point: if you are morally opposed to some widespread practice in your community, then you certainly have to realize that actively opposing it means putting yourself in a significantly awkward position to say the least.



• Tara is really nice and agrees with me that teenagers can indeed be annoying and, when gathered in groups, present potential security problems. Just because kids making a ruckus isn't criminal doesn't mean it doesn't scare off ordinary folks who otherwise want to shop and lead an adult life!



• Anonymous points out that in my article on airport accessibility I didn't include mass transit travel times. Good point! I'll look into it and see if I can get numbers for y'all...



• A couple folks also share my frustration with coffee shops that are reluctant to use mugs instead of disposable cups. I guess we're not alone, what with San Francisco and the plastic-bag-ban thing. Progress!



• Bonnie also is annoyed by a lack of clarity in real estate advertising. She asks what the word "flat" really means. I've got no idea at this point. I think it means "expensive", or at least "British". Maybe if you live in a "flat" you drink scotch and talk about the glory days of the colonies?



• My friend in DC writes that DC residents are content with 30-to-90 minute one-way commutes. He points out, and I agree, that that is totally insane. He also asks whether people calculate commutes in terms of drive time, or door-to-door time. That's indeed interesting--I wonder if the census bureau stat (average one-way commute = 24 minutes) takes that into account.
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Coming this week:

Monday: Blogabout!
Tuesday: Blue Sky Guide
Wednesday: Getting Around: Highway Access
Thursday: Downtown Living
Friday: Reader Responses

Downtown Living

The great dream of urban economic development departments is the ever-elusive residential downtown. Pointing to New York as the classic example, city planners make fast deals with real estate developers to turn unused warehouses into high-end tax-abated condos. One can only imagine the hoped-for demographic: 20-something childless professionals and dual-income empty-nesters prowling the streets in search of sushi, Eames furniture, and $10 cocktails. Life will return to the city core! If only more rich people move in, surely the city's coffers will overflow with new income tax (though none of that abated property tax!), improving education and thereby attracting the middle class back to the city.

But as I look at the prospects of a residential downtown, I'm skeptical. The vast majority of downtown housing, at least here in Minneapolis, is luxury housing. And the existing office buildings are sufficiently densely packed that you can't intersperse them very effectively with residences. I suspect that downtown office districts are going to remain 9-to-5 office districts for quite some time. While there may indeed be hope for the less dense but still "downtown" portion of the city, the office core is probably going to persist as an area primarily for office use.

How about repurposing those downtown office buildings for mixed use? The lower half could be designated for offices, and the upper half could be converted to residential use? A pie in the sky idea, maybe, but at least it would cut down on the single-use density problem...

Coming this week:

Monday: Blogabout!
Tuesday: Blue Sky Guide
Wednesday: Getting Around: Highway Access
Thursday: Downtown Living
Friday: Reader Responses

Getting Around: Highway Access

You move into an urban area. You buy a scooter. You ditch the car. You walk to the local coffee shop. The automobile is a thing of the past! You're living the perfect pedestrian-friendly life, where mass transit and population density combine to make private car transportation unnecessary. Ah, the pure bliss of the urban wonderland!

Then you wake up and realize it's still a dream. Let's face it: you need a car if you live in America (ok, car-free bloggers and New York City residents, I'll grant you an exception). How else can you get your IKEA bookshelves and Target footstools back to the apartment? How else can you get to work if the existing transit system isn't convenient for your work location? How else can you visit friends on the other side of the city?

Furthermore, since cities function more as metropolitan regions than self-contained municipalities, car transportation demands that a viable regional highway system be available. Consequently most urban regions have large and complex systems of highways connecting center cities with their respectives suburbs. In Cleveland, I-90 runs along the shoreline of Lake Erie, with I-77 and I-71 heading south and southwest and I-480 and I-271 functioning as beltways. In Minneapolis, I-694 and I-494 form the outer beltway, while I-35E and I-35W run north-south through Minneapolis and St Paul and I-94 acts as a direct inter-city connector. Without these highways systems the network of suburbs could not function. Commuting would take an unacceptably long time. The metropolitan economy would not work.

The quality of life of any metropolitan resident, then, is in large part determined by his proximity to a highway access point. If you live close to an on-ramp, you're in good shape: you can probably get to work more quickly, and you can travel to visit friends, family, and other businesses easily. If you don't live close to an on-ramp, your commute is likely long, and your social and retail choices are severely geographically limited.

Although community and local-retail advocates may very well point out that this lack of highway access can strengthen a community (by encouraging its residents to shop locally), I would argue that it hurts the metropolitan region as a whole. Metropolitan residents participate in metropolitan economies, and lack of convenient highway access means longer commutes and an inefficient metro economy. Cities should consider their highway networks carefully, and remember that they are indeed the lifeline that drives any given region.

Coming this week:

Monday: Blogabout!
Tuesday: Blue Sky Guide
Wednesday: Getting Around: Highway Access
Thursday: Downtown Living
Friday: Reader Responses

Blue Sky Guide

At the Living Green Expo this weekend, I had the good fortune to meet one of the people behind Blue Sky Guide, the rather nifty coupon book that you've probably seen for sale around the city. Previously, I hadn't really thought much about the relationship between urban policy and a coupon book, but on this occasion I realized that there is indeed a connection. Bear with me, and I'll try to explain.

The Blue Sky Guide is not simply a coupon book. It's a coupon book that seeks to bring together retailers and service providers who have a shared commitment to sustainable business practices and community involvement (big surprise they're at the Living Green Expo, huh?). The Guide, to some extent, brings together people who are interested in sustainability, and by marketing itself primarily in metro areas it promotes an urban perspective on said sustainability.

The Guide is doing well in the Twin Cities (six years running, apparently) and they're seeking to expand into other markets. We got to talking about whether Cleveland-Akron has enough vendors (at least 300 ideally) who meet the criteria for participation. I suspect that the region does indeed have that many, but without an existing institutional framework connecting them all (formally and informally) it's difficult to rustle them together. There's definitely a solid population of people interested in sustainability in the Cleveland-Akron area, but are they organized and self-aware as a group?

Moreover, can a market-driven institution--such as Blue Sky--be a driver of that self-realization? What forces can bring together like-minded people who have not yet fully grasped how many people in their region feel similarly?

Coming this week:

Monday: Blogabout!
Tuesday: Blue Sky Guide
Wednesday: Getting Around: Highway Access
Thursday: Downtown Living
Friday: Reader Responses

Blogabout!

Wait a minute... "Blogabout"? What is Steve talking about?

A blogabout is just like a walkabout, only instead of wandering around Australia in search of unique flora and fauna, we'll wander around the Internet in search of cool urban planning blogs. I thought it might be interesting for my readers to see which sites I visit regularly to keep up on urban planning. So here goes:

• Planetizen is an excellent blog covering all things urban. It works primarily as a link site, providing a few new links every day to urban planning articles in the mainstream press. It reliably delivers fascinating articles every day. Particularly cool is the fact that Planetizen covers urban planning news from around the world, so you get a great international perspective on the field. For instance, today's article list includes stories on Perth's water shortage, the US Congress' efforts to address parking problems, and how European cities are encouraging people to drive less.



• The Project for Public Spaces is an excellent organization devoted to promoting public spaces. They have tons and tons of case studies, and their recent issue on urban waterfronts is particularly insightful.



• St Paul Real Estate and Real Estate Snippets, both of which are blogs about Twin Cities real estate (and the real estate world in general). In the academic world of urban studies and urban planning, it's easy to ignore the market forces that fundamentally drive the construction (and destruction) of buildings, and instead ponder the abstract philosophy of the field. I find it useful to keep myself grounded by keeping up on actual, quotidian, residential real estate.



• The Next American City, to be fair, is not a blog (though it does have a web presence!). It's an excellent quarterly academic journal that regularly looks at the development of American cities. Dare I say it "challenges dominant paradigms"? Well, buzzwords aside it does an excellent job of fully investigating the dynamic life of cities. The most recent issue was all about historic preservation. Quite awesome.



• An affair with urban policy takes a practical look at urban policy at the ground level. The author recently relocated from Minneapolis to New York, and I'm eager to hear his perspective on the Big Apple.



• Urban Places Urban Spaces looks at a wide variety of urban planning issues. Featured on the blog today is an article on flea markets (and public markets).

Coming this week:

Monday: Blogabout!
Tuesday: Blue Sky Guide
Wednesday: Getting Around: Highway Access
Thursday: Downtown Living
Friday: Reader Responses

Bus Safety Vol. II

Last week, I suggested that the folks in charge of the MSP bus system consider a volunteer enforcement system to improve security on the buses. My thinking goes like this: if a significant percentage of ordinary folks want to ride the bus in peace, and at least a small number of those responsible types would be willing to face down the unruly ne'er-do-wells making life hell for the rest of us, then maybe those responsible types should get organized! Similar to a neighborhood watch group, these volunteer enforcers could work with law enforcement groups to identify repeat offenders and ensure that buses remain safe.

I was pleased, then, to read that I'm not the first person to think of such an idea. Currently, the following groups are actively working with Metro Transit:

• The Guardian Angels: according to Daily Planet, The organization’s members wear red berets and white T-shirts as they patrol communities in an attempt to deter violent crime. They don’t carry weapons, but they are trained in martial arts, first aid and citizen-arrest law.. Nothing says "safe and secure environment" like tough dudes in berets. Seriously, check out the article. These dudes look scary.



• MAD DADS: A community activist group promoting responsible behavior. According to their website: MAD DADS members have mobilized communities, trained residents to be positive “REAL Models” and, secured neighborhoods, via organized Street Patrols; positive community events, along with crime and violence reduction projects, for and with our youth for more than 16 years. These facts are part of our organizational ministry and mission.. They also will be establishing a presence on the buses.



• Therefore Go, a Christian group. I haven't been able to find a website for them yet, but again, according to Daily Planet, it would appear they too will be riding the buses and trying to reduce violence.

Where Do You Spend Your Money?

Earlier this week, I posted an entry on MNSpeak, also titled "Where Do You Spend Your Money?". Having recently signed up with a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture, a.k.a. a local farm), I got to thinking about how well (or badly) the interest in local & regional economies intersected with consumers' actual spending habits. That is, I hear a lot about keeping my money local, but does anybody actually commit to spending their money that way?

The MNSpeak post went well (over a hundred comments--woohoo!), and I'd like to use today's post to summarize and analyze those comments. Here's what I found:

• Restaurants: Lots of people spend money on local restaurants. This doesn't come as much of a surprise, but it's good news anyway. I saw very few chain restaurants mentioned, although I've been given to understand that Americans by and large are big fans of chain restaurants. I suspect that the readers (and posters) on MNSpeak are skewed in favor of local restaurants over chains. I did see fast food places mentioned a few times.



• Groceries: People seem to be very committed to their local groceries. No one mentioned shopping at Walmart, even though it's the nation's largest grocer. Posters were very supportive of Lunds, Kowalskis, and the various co-ops in the area.



• Media: When it comes to books and music, there were people on both sides of the fence. Some posters preferred to buy their media from a local store (Cheapo, for instance), while others favored online retailers like Amazon.