I thought this was an excellent photograph by 5chw4r7z, and I found it to be a quintessential ‘urban’ scene. It is a scene from the rooftop terrace on Jean-Robert’s Over-the-Rhine restaurant – Lavomatic. Check out some more photos in the same post by 5chw4r7z.
If you would like you can browse all of the photos from each one of my Florida stops. Photos are from the following cities: Miami (Downtown, Miami Beach), Naples, Tampa (Downtown, Ybor City), and St. Petersburg.
In the first part of What is a city to you? we covered the basics and overall what is thought of when we hear the word city. In that breakdown one of the items I mentioned is that cities are places of diversity. So what exactly does that mean, diversity?
Well for one thing it goes far beyond race. Diversity in cities means diversity of streetscapes, architectural styles, building heights, activities, and most importantly people. The built environment elements are fairly easy to understand and grasp. Different building heights, architectural styles, and streetscapes all help make a place interesting and unique — exactly what a city should be.
Findlay Market in Over-the-Rhine – Photo by Randy SimesPeople are the most interesting part of this equation…as their variations are limitless. It is important to have the greatest diversity of people as possible. Diversity of backgrounds, races, creeds, wealth/stature, age, and gender. The greater the variety of types of people creates a greater variety of events and encounters that might occur within a city.
No matter how great the buildings, public spaces, and venues it means nothing without the people. People are what make cities great. They make cities exciting, interesting, unique, enlightening, lively, edgy, thought provoking, and at times places of crime. But whether good or bad, these feelings are caused by the people who created the environment…and it is in cities where you get the most varied and sporadic of these feelings. What could be better than the diversity of feeling and emotion?
Local NBC affiliate, WLWT Channel 5, reported last week that the developers of The Banks are planning to release names of tenants later this year. Three tenants in particular that they did mention that they are in negotiations with are an ESPN Zone, Margaritaville, and Kroger.
ESPN Zone and Margaritaville don’t surprise me all that much…Kroger on the other hand is a pleasant surprise and gets my thoughts stirring about what they could do with an urban store in a newly constructed building in the very city they call home.
What I expect is for Kroger to step up and do something truly special. Something that incorporates all of their best store features and incorporates them into an urban model. A store that could become their flagship urban grocery store – an area in which Kroger doesn’t seem to venture too often, but one that they might want to start considering (see gas prices).
I’m thinking of a store that has lots of international foods, organic products, and generally fits with an “urban lifestyle” for those who may be buying in smaller quantities but at greater frequencies. Could there be a better location, time, and/or opportunity? I don’t think so.
Over the 4th of July weekend, the last two remaining buildings came down in the long-stalled McMillan Park project. First it was the money, then it was the property holdouts, then the bad economy topped it all off. Throughout this process the project was pretty much scrapped and put on the back burner.
That is until the remaining properties were secured. That has happened…enter Towne Properties, a renewed interest from UC, a growing UC student population, and future connection point between the Uptown and Downtown streetcar lines and you have some serious momentum.
Original rendering for McMillan Park – Source UnknownSome people have criticized the poor design of University Park (across the street), but I’m not sure anyone can complain about its impact on street activity along Calhoun Street. People can be found all over the place doing homework, eating, relaxing, and socializing. So what can be done across the street to compliment those activities and continue to expand upon them?
I think a pedestrian only Hartshorn Street (GoogleMap) would be great for large outdoor patio spaces (see Cadillac Ranch Downtown) that could also make for neat street vending opportunities for students (i.e. artwork, music, maybe even some performance type stuff).
Along with that, 8-10 story buildings would seem to work well. The first two floors should be built out to the street, and then setback for the remaining 6-8 stories…thus creating the opportunity for an amenity deck above the 2-level retail or town homes below. This would then create a new level of activity that would spill onto the street below, while also remaining semi-private for the residents above. What would you like to see?
Example amenity deck – Source, www.1010midtowncondosupdate.com