In the video below, Dr. Brendan Williams of the University College Dublin School Of Geography, Planning & Environmental Policy speaks about the importance of urban planning for sustainable development. He breaks it down to two issues: the need to regenerate city centers (which have suffered from underinvestment and neglect) and the need to contain the outward spread of the city (urban sprawl). Urban sprawl can be seen as the opposite of sustainability. Its effects include a high dependence on cars (with resulting pollution and dependence on fossil fuel, and loss of time and productivity due to long commutes); high per-person infrastructure costs; high per-capita use of energy, land, and water; and a loss of rural land and biodiversity.
While Williams is in Dublin, this is not an issue local to his city, nor to his country — it is the same issue being addressed around the world. The question is: Can Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania change our economic and development strategies to meet the global challenge or will we be left behind? Williams asks us to consider what our cities will look like in 20 years. What will the consequences of our planning — or lack of planning — be to our environment in the future?
And speaking of urban sprawl, the Center for Neighborhood Technology has a new mapping tool to assess a neighborhood’s average household transportation costs. One of the reasons that people chose housing in the suburbs is because it’s often cheaper than housing in cities. However, they may fail to fully account for transportation expenses — the second highest expense for working Americans. While, typically, housing costs are considered affordable if they consume no more than 30% of income, the index factors in transportation costs into the mix and and comes up with a defined affordable range of 45% of income for both. You can go directly to their Housing + Transportation Affordability Index here.
The magazine The Atlantic is currently running a special series on the Future of the City. This report looks at ongoing policies and projects in cities around the country and examines how they are working to build better cities. These interesting articles provide a great source of information for those who want to learn more about how we can improve our cities in the future.
One article, “Here Comes the Neighborhood,” focuses on the current trend towards a desire for urban, walkable living, versus a suburban lifestyle, and how improved public transportation can play an integral role in encouraging this shift. Multi-modal transportation models can draw people back into the city, and can transform the economic conditions of the area. Transit lines create huge economic opportunities along their routes and raise property values. The article states that as people begin to look away from suburbs and instead to the cities as the neighborhoods of the future, transportation investments will become more important than ever, and will also help to heal our economy. The author writes that “…investment in rail, bike, and walking infrastructure, laying the groundwork for developing the kind of housing that is now in demand, is essential if we want to restore the economy to health.” Check out the article to learn more.
Recently, several cities around the country have begun to look at the possibility of creating streetcar transportation systems. According to an article on Inhabitat, 22 US cities are considering instituting streetcar systems. Streetcars have appeal to several cities not only as a convenient, more environmentally friendly method of transportation, but also as a tool to spark economic development. The Inhabitat article states that in Portland, Oregon, which was the first city to build a streetcar system, “53 percent of the area’s downtown development has occurred along the streetcar line” since 1997. In 2007 USA Today also looked at the reemergence of streetcars as a tool for green transportation and economic stimulus.
A Streetcar Name Forbes-Fifth
Imagine getting onboard a trolley at Market Square and being connected to:
Point Park University – Art Institute – Downtown – City and County Government – Duquesne University – Mercy Hospital – Palumbo Center – Uptown – Magee Hospital – Oakland – Carnegie Museum – Carnegie-Mellon University – Squirrel Hill – Chatham University – Frick Park – Penn Avenue – Homewood – Point Breeze – East Liberty – Shadyside – Shadyside Hospital – Hillman Cancer Center – University of Pittsburgh – Montefiore Hospital – Presbyterian Hospital – Petersen Event Center – Carlow University – Hill District – Consol Energy Center – Robert Morris University – and back downtown to Market Square.
This Thursday, April 15, the Guyasuta Fellowship Program will be holding a panel discussion for the 10 year anniversary of the Fifth/Forbes development program.
Panel speakers will include Rob Stephany (Executive Director of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh), Bernie Lynch and Pat Clark (Fifth/Forbes Community activists) and Chris Potter (Editor of the Pittsburgh City Paper).
10 Years After – The Lessons of Fifth/Forbes Piatt Place, 301 Fifth Avenue, Room 3023 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Please RSVP by calling (412) 361-1111
This community discussion is free and open to the public. For more information, read the press release.
The Post Gazette’s Tim McNulty’s report can be found here. Tim wanes nostalgic for the old days in City Hall when he covered this story a decade ago.
Learn more about the Guyasuta Fellowship and Thursday’s 10 year anniversary session here.
OnTuesday February 9th and Wednesday February 10th, CSX will hold public meetings to provide residents with information on the National Gateway Project.
Structures in Western Pennsylvania will be affected as CSX works to increase the vertical clearance along rail lines. This meeting will allow those in attendance to see the plans for the affected structures.
An open invitation has been extended to all for these meetings.  The February 9th meeting will be held in Somerset, PA, and the February 10th meeting will be held in Pittsburgh.
On Monday, November 16th, the Northstar Commuter Rail trains made their first trip shuttling commuters into downtown Minneapolis.
The rail line was first conceived in 1993, and finished this year $10 million dollars under its original budget. This is the second rail system that Minneapolis has seen in recent years – in 2003 Hiawatha, a light rail system, was introduced there.
Earlier this year, Councilman Bill Peduto presented to Council the findings from a six-month study on the possibility of a commuter rail line in Pittsburgh. This city line would connect Hazelwood on the Monongahela River to Lawrenceville on the Allegheny River. It would pass near The Technology Center, Schenley Park, CMU and Oakland, The Baum-Centre Corridor, Bloomfield and Lawrenceville.
But this line would also be just one link in a multi-county regional system. Not only would it connect to the Mon Valley and Westmoreland County – via Norfolk-Southern -and the Allegheny Valley and Armstrong County – via the AVRR (which are two projects being pushed right now), but the CSX line itself extends North along Route 8 all the way to New Castle in Lawrence County, and South to Washington, PA. This leaves many possibilities open for further expansion in the future. Investment in this rail line for Pittsburgh would be a long-term investment in regional transportation.
On Wednesday, Councilman Peduto presented the findings from a six- month study investigating the feasibility of creating a commuter line system in Pittsburgh. This city line would connect Hazelwood on the Monongahela River to Lawrenceville on the Allegheny River. It would pass near The Technology Center, Schenley Park, CMU and Oakland, The Baum-Centre Corridor, Bloomfield and Lawrenceville.
Just as this line was critical to the rise of Pittsburgh’s industrial age, it is now the lynchpin in a transit-oriented development plan for our new economy. Oakland is a job creator, and it needs the help of this line to allow those jobs to expand to neighborhoods that have not seen growth in a long time. This line does just that, and it does even more.
This commuter line has the capability of creating a much larger, regional commuter rail system and a multi-modal transportation vision for Southwestern PA. It connects to the Norfolk Southern line, which runs through the Mon-Valley, to Greensburg and beyond. It connects to the AVRR line, which connects the Allegheny Valley to Armstrong County and Downtown. It creates the possibility of having park-and-ride garages off of Route 28 and the Parkway East, as well as a link downtown to the T-line (which would connect south) on Second Avenue. Finally, it also connects with the MLK Busway connecting many neighborhoods and eastern suburbs.
At the beginning of October the International Urban Development Association held their INTA33 Congress in Taiwan to discuss the topic of “Innovative Urban Environments.” Â The mission of INTA is to bring together public and private urban practitioners in a series of conferences, seminars, peer-to-peer panels and yearly conferences to promote an exchange of ideas, and to create strategies to work towards achieving the goal of sustainable development.
Councilman Bill Peduto has been involved with INTA since 2003. Â He was granted a scholarship by the group to travel to The Hague in the Netherlands to study “regional governance” from a global to local perspective with this organization. In 2005, Councilman Peduto joined the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation in welcoming them to Pittsburgh.
INTA helps us all to understand that the problems facing cities are the same worldwide, and so are many of the solutions.
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On Wednesday, Councilman Peduto presented the findings from a six- month study investigating the feasibility of creating a commuter line system in Pittsburgh. This city line would connect Hazelwood on the Monongahela River to Lawrenceville on the Allegheny River. It would pass near The Technology Center, Schenley Park, CMU and Oakland, The Baum-Centre Corridor, Bloomfield and Lawrenceville.
This commuter line has the capability of creating a much larger, regional commuter rail system and a multi-modal transportation vision for Southwestern PA. It connects to the Norfolk Southern line, which runs through the Mon-Valley, to Greensburg and beyond. It connects to the AVRR line, which connects the Allegheny Valley to Armstrong County and Downtown. It creates the possibility of having park-and-ride garages off of Route 28 and the Parkway East, as well as a link downtown to the T-line (which would connect south) on Second Avenue. Finally, it also connects with the MLK Busway connecting many neighborhoods and eastern suburbs.
At the beginning of October the International Urban Development Association held their INTA33 Congress in Taiwan to discuss the topic of “Innovative Urban Environments.” Â The mission of INTA is to bring together public and private urban practitioners in a series of conferences, seminars, peer-to-peer panels and yearly conferences to promote an exchange of ideas, and to create strategies to work towards achieving the goal of sustainable development.
