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Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Welcomes the Return of the Mayors' Institute for its 45th National Session
October 2009 – CHARLESTON – The Mayors' Institute on City Design returned to Charleston, South Carolina from October 21-23 for its 45th National Session. Hosted by Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. and the City of Charleston, the event was attended by San Antonio, Texas Mayor Julián Castro; Niagara Falls, New York Mayor Paul A. Dyster; Jackson, Tennessee Mayor Jerry Gist; Davenport, Iowa Mayor Bill Gluba; Richmond, Virginia Mayor Dwight C. Jones; Dallas, Texas Mayor Thomas C. Leppert; and Macon, Georgia Mayor Robert Reichert. Experts in architecture, urban planning, and transportation joined the mayors in a discussion, offering advice on how the mayors could approach the urban design challenges facing their respective cities.
The 45th National Session commenced with a walking tour throughout historic, Downtown Charleston, led by Michael Maher, director of the City of Charleston Civic Design Center. Following a reception held at the City Gallery Place at Waterfront Park, Mayor Riley, one of the MICD founder and Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. gave the keynote lecture for the evening. Discussing his successes in Charleston and their applicability in other cities, Mayor Riley set the tone for the event by stressing that, ultimately, mayors ought to view themselves as the chief urban designers of their cities.
Mayor Leppert initiated the design discussions, presenting on development opportunities within the geographical center of Downtown Dallas, and how connectivity between various, existing anchors of development needs to be enhanced. The Mayor posed the question of whether or not continuous development throughout the entirety of the Lamar Street Corridor was feasible, and how the City could strategically think of linking the Dallas Convention Center district – serving as the nexus along Lamar Street – with other nodes of activity throughout downtown; including the Victory Park district to the northwest, the historic West End district, the newly-emerging arts district to the northeast, and Southside to the south of the convention center.
Richmond Mayor Jones discussed issues of preservation and development along the James River in Downtown Richmond and how the City is attempting to balance both public access and viewsheds to the river while also supporting economic development along the river’s edge. The Mayor focused his case study, one particular development project, which, as the Mayor described, could greatly diminish the viewsheds from Libby Hill and potentially hinder public access to the river at the site. Mayor Jones described his intentions of striking a balance that would allow the development to occur in another capacity while securing the site for open space and other public uses.
Mayor Reichert presented on his City’s efforts to reestablish an underperforming arterial – Second Street – as Macon’s “main street.” As the Mayor described, although MLK/Broadway has a higher carrying capacity, Second Street, also a northeast-southwest connector, is better suited to serve as the true downtown spine, connecting activity north of the Ocmulgee River with activity along the city’s southwestern edge, including Mercer University. Reconnecting Second Street would enable the downtown core to potentially triple in size and bridge the gap between the current downtown core and the health campus, while also bringing downtown Macon closer to Mercer University’s main campus.
San Antonio Mayor Castro described his vision of a large-scale urban redevelopment project that would pay homage to San Antonio’s past while serving city residents for decades to come. During his presentation, the Mayor revealed examples of HemisFair Park’s existing design challenges and unique programming opportunities. The City’s current leadership has recently created a vision for the redevelopment of HemisFair Park that seeks to reconnect HemisFair to the surrounding street grid; enhance the conditions within the Park; and to promote mixed-use development (including mixed-income housing, commercial, institutional and civic uses) along Durango Boulevard.
Mayor Dyster focused his presentation on a redevelopment project that could result in multiple economic and environmental benefits for the city – by physically and symbolically reconnecting the City to its most important asset and resource, the Niagara River. The project is intended to realize an appropriately-scaled and sensitively-configured system of road access and park facilities along the Niagara River. The creation of a fully-usable “green ribbon” of park and natural spaces along the Upper River and the Niagara Gorge would represent the most significant expansion of park and habitat restoration at Niagara since the culmination of Frederick Law Olmsted’s vision for the Niagara Reservation in 1885.
Davenport Mayor Gluba discussed his City’s plans to implement several of the key recommendations of the recently-adopted Downtown Plan. While the City’s RiverVision project is slated to vastly improve the overall aesthetic and usability of Centennial Park, the City is equally focused on creating a new waterfront that serves as a catalyst for developing a large-scale tourism base, welcoming new residents, and greatly boosting the city’s overall economic potential.
Mayor Gist presented on the challenges and opportunities facing the East Jackson neighborhood – a neighborhood that has been devastated by a series of storms. Currently, the City is evaluating several parcels in the transitional areas between the commercial downtown and the neighborhoods as potential places where it can satisfy the demand for various types of housing. The City’s interim plans are to assemble contiguous parcels with the ultimate goal of creating a planned community after establishing an overlay zone to facilitate the steady rebuild of East Jackson.
Joining the mayors at this National Session were resource team members: Rebecca G. Barnes, FAIA, principal at Barnes Resources Group, Providence, Rhode Island; David Dixon, FAIA, principal in charge of Planning and Urban Design at Goody, Clancy & Associates, Boston, Massachusetts; J. Jeffrey Hall, AIA, LEED AP: principal at Gensler, San Francisco, California; Richard A. Hall, P.E., president of Hall Planning and Engineering, Inc., Tallahassee, Florida; Jair Lynch, president & CEO of Jair Lynch Development Partners, Washington, District of Columbia; Adèle Naudé Santos, dean of the School of Architecture & Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Massachusetts; Linda Searl, FAIA, principal at Searl Lamaster Howe Architects, Chicago, Illinois; and William Vitek, ASLA, principal and director of AECOM Design Central Region, EDAW/AECOM, Denver, Colorado.
The Mayors' Institute on City Design is a partnership program of the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Architectural Foundation, and the United States Conference of Mayors. To date, the program has assisted 800 mayors in transforming their communities through good urban design. The Mayors’ Institute conducts several sessions each year. For a list of upcoming events, past attendees, or for more information, visit www.micd.org.
www.micd.org.
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