Walkable Cities

Carlos J. L. Balsas

Description

Co-Winner of the 2020 Global Division Outstanding Book Award presented by the Global Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems

Walkable precincts have become an important component of urban revitalization on both sides of the Atlantic. In Walkable Cities, Carlos J. L. Balsas examines a range of city scales and geographic settings on three continents, focusing on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), Latin America (Brazil and Mexico), and the United States (Phoenix and New York City). He explains how this "pedestrianization of Main Street" approach to central locations (downtowns and midtowns) has contributed to strengthening various urban functions, such as urban vitality, pedestrian and bicyclist safety, tourism, and more. However, it has also put pressure on less affluent, peripheral, and fragile areas due to higher levels of consumption and waste generation. Balsas calls attention to the need to base urban revitalization interventions on more spatially and socially just interventions coupled with sustainable consumption practices that do not necessarily entail high growth levels, but instead aim to improve the quality of city life.
List of Figures
List of Tables
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction

1. Commercial Urbanism

Part I. Ibero-America

2. Placemaking

3. Walkability and Downtown Vibrancy

Part II. United States

4. Revitalization and Homelessness

5. Commercial Innovations

6. Redesigning for Walkability

Part III. Portugal

7. Tourism and Consumption

8. Solid Waste Management

Conclusion
References
Index

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438476292
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Walkable Cities
Walkable Cities
Revitalization, Vibrancy, and Sustainable Consumption
Carlos J. L. Balsas
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2019 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Balsas, Carlos J. L., 1971– author.
Title: Walkable cities : revitalization, vibrancy and sustainable consumption across the Atlantic ocean / Carlos J. L. Balsas.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018052657 | ISBN 9781438476278 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438476292 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Urban renewal—United States. | Urban renewal—Europe. | Sustainable urban development—United States. | Sustainable urban development—Europe. | Walking—United States. | Walking—Europe.
Classification: LCC HT175 .B356 2019 | DDC 307.3/4160973—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018052657
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1 Commercial Urbanism
Part I. Ibero-America
Chapter 2 Placemaking
Chapter 3 Walkability and Downtown Vibrancy
Part II. United States
Chapter 4 Revitalization and Homelessness
Chapter 5 Commercial Innovations
Chapter 6 Redesigning for Walkability
Part III. Portugal
Chapter 7 Tourism and Consumption
Chapter 8 Solid Waste Management
Conclusion
References
Index
Figures 2.1 Placemaking’s building blocks 2.2 Location of the Iberian case studies 2.3 Historic center of Braga 2.4 Historic center of Guimarães 2.5 Historic center of Burgos 2.6 Historic center of Valladolid 3.1 Location of the Ibero-American walk-only commercial precincts 3.2 Analytical framework for downtown revitalization 3.3 Largo do Patriarca, São Paulo 3.4 Calle de Francisco Madero , Mexico City 3.5 Las Ramblas , Barcelona 3.6 Rua de Santa Catarina , Porto 4.1 Location of Phoenix 4.2 Woodland Parkway in Phoenix 5.1 Phoenix’s public market 5.2 Kierland Commons 5.3 Tempe Marketplace 5.4 Sky Harbor International Airport 6.1 Location of New York City 6.2 Map of the Times Square improvements 6.3 Times Square walk-only squares during the day 6.4 Times Square at night 6.5 Times Square in 2017 7.1 Location of Figueira da Foz 7.2 Figueira da Foz Urbanization Plan of 1937 7.3 City marketing poster advertising Figueira da Foz 7.4 Figueira da Foz’s harbor 7.5 Rua Cândido dos Reis pedestrian precinct 7.6 Rua Bernardo Lopes pedestrian precinct 7.7 Rota das Salinas–salgado da Figueira 8.1 Participation rates in CU projects and solid waste production in 2002 and 2014 8.2 Variation of landfill deposits in 2002 and 2014 8.3 Participation rates in CU projects and urban waste recycling in 2002 and 2014
Tables 2.1 Synthesis of pedestrian areas in the Portuguese medium-size cities 2.2 Synthesis of pedestrian areas in the Spanish medium-size cities 3.1 Comparison of the Latin American global cities 3.2 Comparison of the Latin American global downtowns 3.3 Comparison of the second-tier Iberian cities 4.1 Perspectives on poverty and homelessness 4.2 Prohibited conduct chart 6.1 Sustainable urban transportation design process 6.2 Pedestrian safety in New York City through the decades 6.3 Evolution of participatory urban design challenges in Times Square 6.4 Two perspectives on the community design of Times Square
Abbreviations 3Rs reduction, recycling, and reuse BID business improvement district CCA centro comercial abierto CNG compressed natural gas CU commercial urbanism DCP Department of city planning EEC European Economic Community ENDS National sustainable development strategy EU European Union GTL Technical advisory committee HORECA hotel, restaurant, and cafeteria sector IDB Inter-American Development Bank LULU local unwanted land use MSC medium- and small-size Iberian cities NIMBY not in my back yard NYCDOT New York City Department of Transportation PAYT pay as you throw PERSU Strategic plan for urban waste PNPOT National Program of Territorial Management Policy SRU urban rehabilitation societies TCM town center management schemes UAC unidade de acompanhamento e coordenação UK United Kingdom US United States WB World Bank
Acknowledgments
Multiple chapters of this book were presented in various forms at scholarly and professional conferences. Specifically, parts of Chapter 1 were presented as a keynote speech entitled “Urbanismo comercial: Mitos e boas práticas na revitalização de centros urbanos” at the International Conference of the Research Center on the Technology of Architecture and Urbanism—NUTAU’02 at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. A revised article based on the proceedings paper was subsequently published in Sociedade e Território: Revista de Estudos Urbanos e Regionais in 2003.
An earlier version of Chapter 2 was presented as “Commercial Urbanism in Iberian City Centers: A Study of Pedestrian Precincts in Portuguese and Spanish Cities” at the 13th NECTAR International Conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2015. A different version of Chapter 3 was presented as “Walking and Urban Vibrancy: An International Review of Commercial Pedestrian Precincts” to the IIIrd Seminário Internacional Cidade , Comércio Urbano e Consumo in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2012 and published in a subsequent issue of the journal Cidades.
Chapter 4 was presented at the 2007 International Conference Eradication of Poverty and Exclusion, Strategies for the 21st Century, in Lisbon. Chapter 5 was presented at the 2008 Conference Comércio e Cidade: Uma Relação de Origem (CinCci) in the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism (FAUP) at the University of São Paulo (USP) and appeared in Portuguese in urbe: Revista Brasileira de Gestão Urbana in 2017. The chapter benefited from additional field work research in Phoenix at the end of 2015. I would like to thank urbe ’s editors for suggesting the publication of this research in English.
An earlier version of Chapter 6 was presented and published in the proceedings of the IIIrd Place Management and Branding Conference in Poznan, Poland, in 2015 and was subsequently presented at the 2016 APA NY Upstate Chapter Conference in Buffalo, New York. An earlier version of Chapter 7 was presented at the 2002 International Conference Partnerships for Economic Development in Small Port Cities: The Case of Figueira da Foz. Chapter 8 was presented as “ Urbanismo Comercial, Consumo e Resíduos ” to the sixth International Seminar City, Retail and Consumption at the University of Lisbon in 2017. Finally, some of the recommendations presented in the conclusion were initially distilled in the author’s dissertation at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
I would like to thank the Universidade de São Paulo, Editora Afrontamento, Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho,” Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná , Manchester Metropolitan University, Poznań University of Economics, and the Gabinete de Estudos e Prospectiva Económica do Ministério da Economia (GEPE) for publishing some of the aforementioned original materials and partially updated in this book. Unless otherwise noted, illustrations are my own.
I would also like to thank the following colleagues, friends, and family for their conference invitations, readings of earlier versions of these chapters, sponsoring some of the research and travel, and providing logistical and emotional support: Heliana Comin Vargas, Lineu Castello, Teresa Barata Salgueiro, Herculano Cachinho, João Freitas, Maria Marques, Magarida Pereira, José Teixeira, José Fernandes, Silvana Pintaudi, Sidney Vieira, José Gasca, Duarte Silva, John Mullin, Zenia Kotval, Meir Gross, Piper Gaubatz, José Lúcio, Sherry Ahrentzen, Katherine Crewe, Hemalata Dandekar, John Meunier, Tom Angotti, Nan Ellin, Paulo Pinho, José Gavinha, Richard Smardon, Carlos Rodrigues, Artur da Rosa Pires, Miriam Fujita, Constantino Rodrigues, Maria da Luz, and José Carlos. I would also like to thank the participants at the various conferences where this research was presented, the two anonymous manuscript reviewers, and the acquisitions editor, Michael Rinella, for their thoughtful and encouraging comments.
Introduction
Retail is one of the most dynamic economic sectors in cities with important impacts on the habitability of urban areas. Traditionally, city centers have occupied a privileged position in the urban hierarchy of city functions. However, with the suburbanization of housing and jobs, soon, thereafter, retailing also relocated to the suburbs from the downtown’s CBDs. Although this phenomenon has been occurring in the United States practically since the end of World War II, this trend was only experienced in Southern European countries much more recently. Furthermore, the scale of an agglomeration tends to dictate the number of subcenters and their relationships, usually via higher-density developments near expressway interchanges and railroad/subway stations.
This book is concerned with the revitalizatio