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Keith, you might be interested to know that some vacated
and under-used buildings are being transformed into day-use type office parks
for telecommuters. Boeing is one
of the latest to abandon their large and expensive office campuses (at least in
Seattle) in favor of “hoteling” most of their employees when necessary in
office space rented out by the day or hour. In small towns and the suburbs, an abandoned school
building, retail space or former dentist office, for example, could be
converted to such use. In
addition, this example of cost-efficient investment from the Restorative
Economy can also provide incubation space for small start up businesses and
members of the Creative Economy. Portland is as good a place for this to happen as
anywhere else. Besides a natural
limit of land to grow on, straddling the Columbia and Willamette Rivers with
seven bridges, it has a good attitude about restoration construction and
incorporating pedestrian-based village concepts in new developments. Another key component is a regional
government (METRO) that concerns itself with land-use planning, ie., the Urban
Growth Boundary, and municipal services such as waste management. The growth of brownfields and
restorative construction in urban and rural environments is an exciting
alternative to the dead-end of expensive new development when land is scarce
and environmental factors are in play. Ed, most of these projects have been successful because
Portland has a comprehensive mass transit system, and developers and bankers
have learned that investments along the transit line have succeeded and seeded
further economic diversity. As
simple as it sounds, by identifying where the train stops were going to be early
in the planning process, developers, property owners and bankers could all see
where the opportunities were going to be. An all-zone ticket, which includes
the MAX train, all buses and trolley costs $1.60. There are short zone tickets, senior and youth tickets and
discounts for purchasing monthly or annual passes, online or by snail mail. Many downtown businesses provide or
subsidize these costs for their employees, saving parking expenses. (There are tax rebates and federal
mandates about ride sharing and reducing commuter use in businesses that employ
over 100.) Take a virtual tour of new
developments in Portland based on “Old Europe” and village models of
communities tied to the larger population by mass transit: Eastside Fairview
Village @ http://www.fairviewvillage.com/main.html Westside Orenco
Station @ http://www.orencostation.com/home.htm Northside Interstate
MAX @ http://www.trimet.org/max/yellowline/ South Waterfront Plan @ http://www.planning.ci.portland.or.us/pl_sowa_sum.html (this is a large brownfield plan to begin soon) METRO @ http://www.metro-region.org/ Another large project adjacent to the airport has been
tabled since 9/11 and the recession, but already has the transit line in place. The airport line was completed and ran
for the first time the day before 9/11, so even though the parking garage was
closed for security reasons, travelers could board the transit train around the
city and ride into the airport terminal (long term, shuttle parking sites were open). And the MAX is very popular with the
police and sports fans who prefer to ride home after too many sports arena
beers during a disappointing Blazers game. The minor league baseball park,
where Women’s World Cup Soccer commenced last night, is also on the transit
line. More important, good mass transit means more people can hold jobs who cannot
afford one or more cars. Or choose
not to own a car. This is the future: Smart Growth for the restorative,
creative and local living economies to create a more divergent economic base
and sustainable quality of life.
KWC Keith wrote: …This didn't get
planning permission unfortunately because it was seen to be too much of an
intrusion into the "green belt" policies in this country. Previously, I'd designed a much smaller
community with a single administrative office block so that Internet-based home-workers could work from there
there (even if they had different employers) and I rather think that
this is going to be a more accurate concept for the longer-term future when
fuel costs start to rise, but this was very futuristic for its time |
- [Futurework] Infrastructure changes (was Concept Villag... Karen Watters Cole
