Urban Redevelopment And Planning Infrastructure To Accomplish Many Communities’ Needs And Interests

A community is comprised of so many different elements. I think a good community is one that views its residents as an asset and the residents view the community as an asset. Having a sense of community means coming together as a whole and taking care of one another… providing resources for each other to grow and become better and then giving back to that community. Churches, schools, libraries, parks, public resources....do the residents value the resources and take care of them? It's truly a give and take equation in order to maintain it! A community needs a sufficient number of caring, compassionate individuals who maintain both self respect and respect for others. It needs a physical center where people can meet with others, a marketplace both of commerce and of ideas. As communities continue to grow in Tacoma, Wa a plan for significant growth in housing and jobs and values is much needed.

A neighborhood where residents of a community are able to walk short distances from their home to their place of destination in under 10 minutes is a great place to start. Eric Schmidt from Cascade Design Collaboratives specializes in urban redevelopment and infrastructure to accomplish many communities needs and interests. One of his accomplishments is Park Lane Woonerf and is located right here in kirkland, washington (Making cities livable 2018). The plan was to build a 10 minute neighborhood. A 10 minute neighborhood is “ a community where residents can walk short distances from their home to place of destination” (City of Kirkland 2015). It is believed to be the future of all neighborhoods in the years to come. The idea behind “10 minute” represents how much time it takes a pedestrian to walk half a mile.

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There are 2 important characteristics these types of communities are composed of: Destinations: to consider a walkable community it needs places to walk to and must include places that meet commercial needs, recreational needs, or transportation needs (City of Kirkland 2015). Accessibility: Residents need to be able to conveniently get to these certain destinations. (City of Kirkland 2015). And the third component although not mentioned as one of the important ones is still important to me and many others: 3. People: developing these communities in commercial areas where many people reside is a plus. This means that the areas are highly walkable and have a population base that supports the destination and makes use of the sidewalks (City of Kirkland 2015).

Below is a small presentation of how a 10 minute neighborhood should look like: Ottawa is one of many also diving into this neighborhood concept and believes the core elements of community planning include, “ Zoning for local businesses, preserving green space and funding community services”(CBC 2018). Ottawa councillors believe the people play a key role in this. We must listen to the ideas of the people and what their needs are. If we build that sense of trust and support we can make anything happen. It allows everybody to contribute, it allows everybody to learn about perspectives, and focus on solutions, rather than resort to 'us v. them' thinking. The city of Tacoma is rapidly growing at a very fast rate over the past several years. We need to look at this from a traffic perspective as we gain more residents.

This means more needs need to be met. Like pediatrician and public health expert Richard Jackson puts it, a community must ” support healthy child development, a healthy way of life for all, promoting walking and biking over dependence on the car. It must provide access to healthy local food, and easy access to the health benefits that nature offers for the poor as well as the rich” (Making cities livable 2018).These are a few of many needed to successfully create a strong sustainable environment. Neighborhoods must be designed to satisfy and strengthen the social life of every individual. Designing areas where engagement is implemented is beneficial as “loneliness and social isolation may be even more damaging to health and well-being than lack of exercise, poor diet, or smoking (Making cities livable 2018).

When u walk your level of stress is reduced. Your blood circulation improves as your whole body is involved in the process of walking, improving your overall health and energy. “When living in a walkable neighborhood you get about 35 to 45 more minutes of moderate- intense physical activity and are less than likely to be overweight and obese”(City of Kirkland 2015). Other benefits include not having to pay for gas or keep changing your oil. That reduces oil leakage which benefits our environment from the dangers to our environment. A 10 minute neighborhood would be a great idea to pursue due to its many health and social benefits and what better way to test it out then in the heart of downtown Tacoma, better known as the business district (picture below). (editor) Downtown Tacoma holds many great landmarks like the Tacoma Art Museum, Glass museum, union station and right across is the University of washington campus.

You will find students, entrepreneurs, businessmen and many more roaming the sidewalks on a daily basis. Although there are restaurants and such surrounding the area, I believe we can do a better job in implementing grocery stories and small clothing stores to better satisfy the people ( especially the younger generation coming up) and locally owned business shops. Downtown is especially becoming more gentrified because of the UW of Tacoma campus, Museum of Glass, etc. and we have come a long way over the past several years. This is the future of our communities and what I believe will create a better life for all individuals in keeping our neighborhoods clean and prosperous.

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