Urban planner renews Atlanta, praises Des Moines urbanism
Atlanta-based urban planner and book author Ryan Gravel, who is in the heart of the work to create the Atlanta Beltline, surveyed Des Moines from a rental bicycle and the Des Moines Embassy Club on Tuesday.
He liked what he saw. A lot.
“It’s surprisingly beautiful, not that I didn’t think it would be,” Gravel said in an interview. “The rivers, in particular, are great, and the trails are emerging and really spectacular. There is an obvious opportunity to build off that, and I know a lot of people are building on that. The size of the city, the downtown area, the East Village — there is a lot of opportunity. There is plenty of space for a lot of improvements. There are enormous assets everywhere.”
Gravel was promoting his book, “Where We Want to Live,” during a stop at the CEOs for Cities conference at the Des Moines Embassy Club. The sessions were about collaboration and big-thinking economic development tied in with recreation and giving people options beyond cars to get to work.
Continue reading to learn more about Gravel’s lessons for city leaders.
In Atlanta, that means the 22-mile Beltline, which is turning an old rail line route circling downtown into a $4 billion public-private partnership mixing transit with businesses, recreational trails and urban getaways.
The Beltline touches 45 neighborhoods, and 100,000 people live within walking distance. Gravel calls it a “transit greenway” but the streetcars are still on the way. A local sales tax proposal may finish financing.
The route ties into parks, subway stations and other area trails. The inspiration for the Beltline was Atlanta native Gravel’s own master’s thesis.
“It’s fairly close to the central city, but when you are on it, you feel like you are in the country,” Gravel noted.
What other projects stand out? Gravel’s list includes:
- New York City’s High Line, a public park.
- Rail Park in Philadelphia.
- Midtown Greenway, a park on an old rail line in Minneapolis.
- The Greenway in Singapore, with trails along abandoned rail line modeled after Atlanta Beltline.
Eight urban lessons, according to the Book of Gravel:
1. Think big. It gets you past election cycles and budget cuts.
2. Include everyone. Not everyone rides a bike.
3. Promote authenticity. (Sprawl makes everything look the same.)
4. Compel change. You want people to invent new lives for themselves, and to attract private development.
5. Inspire life. Design matters.
6. Stay focused. Don’t focus entirely on where the money will come from.
7. Emphasize people. Include members of small nonprofits.
8. Band together. Join together to support an idea.
Why are Americans moving back downtown?
“I think they want to live somewhere that has some meaning and is special. They are tired of their time being consumed by sitting in cars in traffic. The physical outline of the sprawl that we’ve been building, you have to be in a car to go anywhere — to the park, to church, to the store. It’s not just the commute trip. It’s also incredibly expensive. Driving and commuting takes a long time. The water lines are longer. The sewer lines are longer. The school bus routes are longer. The emergency response takes longer. Literally, the cost of it is highly inefficient.”
Trending News
