Urban Planning and Economic Development July 2012

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VOL

3URBAN PLANNING AND

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTNEWS MAGAZINE

A Global Publication

Tourism Planning Tools for Sustainable Economic Development

Renewal strategies and urban development The case of the waterfront of Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires

Corporate Sustainable Mobility Plans initiativePrivate Companies’ possible contribution to Urban Mobility

A Global Publication

In Association withUrban Planning and Economic Development Associates

Our Vision is to share a full range of interdisciplinary professional knowledge with community leaders, professional planners, businesses and interested citizens having a commitment to operational excellence in the public and private sectors. Contributions from our constituency will assist in facilitating sound decisions in community and economic development to promote continued commitments in creating quality places to live, work and play. Our goal is to provide educational information and services in urban planning and environmental conservation to an interconnected global community that will both enable in-dividuals and communities to adapt to new holistic techniques and solutions to resolve existing and future urban and environmental issues and foster economic and sustainable development.

General Manager/PublisherPamela Shinn, B.S. URP

Editor in ChiefDavid Weinstock, Ph.D

Assistant Editor

David Loomis

European ConsultantAndrey Maltsev

Cover Photo, ‘Off-ramp to Hemel’ contributed by Derek Bissett of Buckinghamshire, England. To see more of Derek’s work go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/deeeb/ or contact him on [email protected]

© July 2012

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“Partnering for a Brighter Tomorrow”

FEATURE ARTICLES: Scenic Byways, 4An Economic Development ToolBy Tracy Mullins AICP

Credits Photo Credits 42

EconomyFocus of Economic Development for 23Upstate New York Needs to ChangeBy Michael V. Franchell, Mel E. Ross, Harvey Price

MDS People Supporting People 10By Sheri LaPlante

Next Energy 30Millions of Dollars Saved by City as Result of Fleet & Fuels Task ForceBy Kelly Jezierski

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TransportationCorporate Sustainable Mobility Plans 13InitiativePrivate Companies’ possible contribution to Urban MobilityBy Solenne Cucchi, Msc

Two Under-developed Transportation 31SystemsWater and rail transport in the NetherlandsBy Andrey Maltsev

Urban ScapeLocal travel and interaction 20By Daniel Scharf

Wildfire Season and the 38Wildland-Urban InterfaceFire mitigation and management for a defendable spaceBy Pamela Shinn, BS URP

RedevelopmentRenewal Strategies and 26Urban Development The case of the waterfront of Puerto Madero in Buenos AiresBy Guillermo Tella, Ph.D.

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Millennium Park, Chicago

Public PolicyThe Building Eye 35Buildingeye.com By Ciaran Gilsenan

Scenic Byways

an Economic Development Toolby Tracy Mullins AICP

Scenic Byways, an Economic Development

ToolAs far back as 1995, the World Tourism Organiza-tion estimated that tourism accounts for up to 10% of global gross domestic product, making tour-ism the world’s biggest industry. For economic de-velopers, it is therefore important to smooth the progress of local community access to the tour-ism market (comprising tourists and the tour-ism industry locally) in order to maximize link-ages to the tourism markets and minimize leakages.

Since the mass production of the automobile, plea-sure driving has become engrained in the American psyche. According to the National Survey on Rec-reation and the Environment, 58.6 % of US popu-lation participated in driving for pleasure in the years 2003 -2005, and much of this traffic has been on Scenic Byways. Individual State Departments of Transportation have the challenge of designing and redeveloping highways and byways that incorpo-rate community values and are safe, efficient, effec-tive mechanisms for the movement of people and goods. The Scenic Byways program can be viewed as an attempt to align people with local economies and function as a single unit with its own sense of place.

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Tourists and travelers prefer natural views-capes and uninter-rupted vistas, agri-cultural landscapes and well maintained structures over exces-sive billboards, junk-yards and dilapidated buildings. Driving on Scenic Byways provides tourists and residents with oppor-tunities to learn about local heritage while experiencing first-hand the area’s scenic resources. For the economic development profes-sional, the enhancement of local capacity for tour

focused businesses helps to generate economic im-pacts for the communities along and adjacent to sce-nic byways. Leisure travel in the form of a “road trip” is engrained in the U.S. mindset and represents the ability to move from point to point in your very own car-branded identity. This accounts for thousands of automotive “shine and show” festivals and events across the country. Whether it is a cross country trip along Route 66 or crusing Highway 1 to Key West, scenic byways have become an integral part of the American vacationscape. In addition, the iconic im-ages of rural landscapes, America’s farms and ranches, historic sites and small towns, national parks and sea-shores are powerful motivators for international trav-elers in search of a memorable American experience. To understand this phenomenon and other aspects of what he calls Deep Travel, author Tony Hiss explores in depth “how our environment’s modes of travel and other aspects of American landscape affect our lives” in his book In Motion, the Experience of Travel (2012).

Visitor experiences along scenic drives speak to the re-lationship between transportation and driving for plea-sure. The mode of travel is an integral part of a trip and often the travel experience (sailing, canoeing, bicycling and sometimes driving) is more important than arriv-al at the final destination. Therefore roadway design, the historic significance of the route, and active inter-actions between people and landscapes are part of the unique attributes of a Scenic Byways travel experience.

This was not always the case. In the 18th and 19th centuries, American road travel was far too hard for anyone to enjoy.

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Scenic Byways


Horse-drawn coach travel over the primitive road system was something to be tolerated, not enjoyed. Railway trains were a vast improvement over horse-drawn technology and sightseeing from the relative comfort of a railway coach became widespread, es-pecially after tourism companies started to promote sightseeing as a leisure activity. As America moved into the early 20th Century, the promotion of gasoline driven vehicles and the development of good road net-works were based on the commercial transportation of goods, the movement of people to a destination, as well as the pleasures of sightseeing. In many ways, the advocates of automotive sightseeing built upon the railroad promotions of the time. In a very short time, small businesses sprang up along the roadside to service vehicular traffic; diners, gasoline stations and roadside attractions opened around the country. Americans started their love affair with the automo-bile, rejecting the notion that travel is nothing more than a “disutility”, an activity people undertake only when required to, and embracing the Sunday after-noon drive for families and eventually the Friday night cruise for teens. The pleasure trip flies in the face of travel as a “derived demand” (a means of access-ing desired activities in other locations), which be-came one of the tenets of transportation engineering.

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Not everyone involved in transportation plan-ning envisioned transportation in the same utilitar-ian manner. Fredrick Law Olmsted (1822 – 1903), the founder of landscape architecture, launched the “Railway Beautiful” movement which beauti-fied rail stations and right of ways and also influ-enced the creation of the first parkways in the 1800s.

The parkway is a highway which, like a park, is free of commercial traffic. Its restricted access enhances en-joyment of the surrounding scenery. National parks were developed in such a fashion, with engineers hav-ing to build roads within the constraints of the set-ting to maintain a scenic experience. Details of Olm-sted’s influence on roadways, railways and national parks can be found at www.fredricklawolmsted.com.

The interstate system was planned and built during the 1940s and early 1950s to support economic devel-opment, improve highway safety, and serve national defense needs. Supporters of the interstate highway system also cited the recreational value of the inter-state system, with tourist’s interests favoring its con-struction. As engineers began to work and the system of interstate highways began to grow and intercon-nect, observers criticize their dedication to function and a lack of aesthetic elements, as well as the damage to the environment. With efficiency in mind, trans-portation engineers modeled the end users of high-ways as part of a mechanical flow diagram indicat-ing the number of passenger car units per hour, thus relegating the highway design criteria to the level of service, a conduit which facilitates the efficient move-ment of effluent. This sterile design lead to a massive backlash by the public and politicians began to feel the heat. As a result, the administration of President Johnson championed the idea of beautiful highways and federal and state highway agencies began to em-phasize the blending of function with natural setting.

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Scenic Byways


It was not until the 1960s that a coordinated national scenic program effort began to evolve because driv-ing for pleasure had become one of America’s most popular outdoor recreation pursuits and the inter-state system made trip planning easy. An increasing number of families owned automobiles and possessed the leisure time, income and desire to see America’s natural scenic beauty. Substantial economic benefits generated by tourism and sightseeing were made possible by attractive roads and parkways. However, there was a gap between those promoting travel and tourism and those who live in rural areas. Rural lands were often under the control of government agencies, private firms and local citizens who were not involved in tourism but with mining, forestry and agricul-ture; the interests of small towns and rural dwellers were focused on these activities. It was rare for ru-ral regions to create the needed land use and zon-ing legislation, land use plans, or to direct planning officials to prevent the negative impacts and costs of unplanned tourism. Virtually all of the negative impacts of tourism can be avoided when communi-ties take the initiative in planning tourism growth in directions suited to the local situation. Economic Developers and Urban Planners who wish to gain some in-depth understanding of planning for tour-ism are well advised to add Vacationscape: Develop-ing Tourist Areas by Clare Gunn to their bookshelf.

What is a Scenic Byway?The concept of the U.S. Scenic Byway was introduced to Congress in 1989 and passed into legislation in 1991 as part of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Ef-ficiency Act (ISTEA). ISTEA emphasized the impor-tance of good design that is sensitive to its surrounding environment, especially in historic and scenic areas.The Federal Highway Administration’s website re-veals that the Scenic Byways program provides technical and financial assistance to help preserve America’s scenic roads and promote tourism and economic development. The Federal Highway Ad-ministration administers the program and designates Scenic Byways, recognizing them for their inher-ent natural, scenic, historic, cultural, recreational,

and archaeological resources and marketing them based on one or more of these qualities. To get the des-ignation of Historic Byway, a corridor management plan must be developed with community involve-ment to spell out a strategy for how State and local entities will maintain and enhance the Scenic Byways important features. In developing a Scenic Byway facility, careful thought must be made to create the “traveled-through experience”, which is the effect that travel and the structures built to support that travel will have either on the landscape or local community.

In the 1990’s, Congress funded the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st century, also known as TEA-21, and included $148 million for Scenic Byways pro-grams and related projects such as the recreation areas affected by designated byways. When the Act was re-authorized in 2005, as the Safe, Accountable, Flexible Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users (SAFE-TEA-LU), it included $175 million for Scenic byways. The National Scenic Byways Program also provided merit based grants for Scenic Byways related projects developed by a State Departments of Transportation for roadway planning, design, and development. In depth information on the program can be found at www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/scenichistory.cfm

Economic IssuesThe overall economic impact of Scenic Byways pro-grams have been broadly explored and remain com-plicated due to the twists and turns of economic research into tourism and the quantitative/qualita-tive methods used to measure tourism impacts. The Internet has dozens of studies on individual Scenic Byways, but much research needs to be done. Eco-nomic research has primarily focused on various as-pects of tourism impacts, consumer expenditures and economic activity while tourism research focuses on push-pull measures of attraction and aesthetics. What tourists are like and what they prefer as attractions and services represents the demand side of this equa-tion. Communities must view themselves as tourists do, (not an easy task) so they may appropriately plan and develop the supply side of the equation. The sup-ply side consists of attractions, services, information,

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promotion, and of course transportation. Tourists using Scenic Byways prefer low-cost, roadway acces-sible activities such as pull-offs that offer recreational opportunities, and they are attracted to small towns and cultural attractions. Travelers have a preference for commercial-free corridors, favoring commer-cial establishments clustered together in small com-munities and not sprawled across the viewscape.

Aesthetics research leaves little question that the quality visual environment is a valuable resource. Throughout history, aesthetically pleasing gardens have been used to aid in the healing process, and psy-cho-physiological research by Roger Ulrich at Texas A&M Center for Health System and Design reveals that positive reaction to scenery has a sound scientific basis. Viewing natural scenes or elements cultivates stress recovery by evoking positive emotions and re-ducing stressful thoughts. By undertaking initiatives to improve the appearance of their communities, lo-cal officials can not only improve citizens’ quality of life, but also their community’s potential for economic development. Because of this preference, Scenic By-ways that connect scenic, natural, and cultural sites with a minimal amount of visual blight are highly desirable amenities. These amenities are of signifi-cant importance and are associated to regional eco-nomic growth. Rural residents, especially newcomers, identify scenic natural and water-based resources as well as recreational opportunities as significant indi-cators of local economic performance, such as jobs, income, and property value and a good quality of life.

Travelers who choose a private vehicle as their mode of transportation are concerned with route charac-teristics such as directness, safety, congestion, and distance. The choice of using a scenic byway is gener-ally of a secondary importance to travelers in choos-ing a route on long-distance and duration trips for non-vacation activities like business. Making use of a Scenic Byway is more important to tourists on vaca-tion, who plan to camp rather than stay in hotels and plan a trip well in advance. This is often discussed in transportation/tourism discussions as “tourist” versus “traveler”. Travelers often become tourists as some-thing triggers their need to explore more often than a tourist becomes a traveler, which generally involves an emergency which shortens the leisure experience.

Scenic Byways


Senic Hwy US 89 crossing Glenn Canyon Dam neaer Page , Arizona

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For those interested in measuring the economic im-pact of Scenic Highways on tourism, en-route tour-ists can be grouped into three categories: 1) paid ac-commodations, 2) unpaid accommodations, and 3) day trippers. People who pay for accommodations generally stay at a hotel, motel, inn, bed and break-fast, resort, rented vacation home, private camp-ground, or RV Park or possibly in a national, state, or County Park and tend to spend the most money. Unpaid accommodations travelers are broadly classi-fied as “visiting friends and relations” who stay with relatives or in their own vacation homes and are more moderate spenders. Day trippers generally are just passing through and may not spend any money at all.

Tourists and travelers who pass through with-out stopping and spending are just traffic; thus visitors must be encouraged to stop, leave their vehicles and enjoy the amenities on foot.

So how do you measure the economic impacts of a Sce-nic Byway? The economic impact of tourists has three components. These components are direct impacts, indirect and induced impacts, and total impacts. Di-rect impacts trigger the initial economic activity, the expenditure of funds by the Scenic Byway user. Direct impacts are generally measured by entering them into input – output modeling software such as IMPLAN which can create a localized model to investigate the consequences of projected economic transactions in a defined geographic region. Input- output modeling software traces the flow of goods and services through the local economy and makes it possible to quantify the ripple effects created by new spending in the area.

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Scenic Byways


These ripples are called the indirect and induced ef-fects. Indirect effects are those effects associated with business-to-business spending such as a restaurant purchasing meat from a wholesaler. Induced ef-fects of those associated with business-to-consum-er spending. Total impacts equal direct plus indi-rect and induced effects. Money spent by a Byway user is new money in the local economy. In other words, these dollars would not have been spent in the area’s economy if it wasn’t for the Scenic Byway.

Significant portions of traveler spending are for re-tail items and on gasoline purchases. Retail and gas purchases should be margined in an impact analysis. The process of margining involves assigning a dollar value to all the individual components of a retail sale. When a person makes a retail purchase they pay a price that includes the raw cost of the item, along with a markup for the retailer and a cost for transportation and storage of the product. Typically, the item is not produced locally, so the only portion of the spending that benefits the local economy is the markup to the retailer and perhaps a portion of the transportation and storage expenditure. To make the greatest impact economically on a region requires that goods and ser-vices are produced locally and exported through sales to the traveler. To have the greatest impact on the local economy, economic developers who wish to maximize the benefit of the scenic highway designation should encourage local businesses to create local goods and services from local resources and not encourage fran-chises who export the profits from the local economy.

Don’t Think Big

Many politicians see the creation of new highways as a salvation for their struggling economies as new con-struction can create short term jobs and temporarily boost the local economy (until the end of construction). Urban Planners know that proposing a new highway violates “Fix it first”, a key element of Smart Growth.

attract jobs and tax revenue. Policies that em-phasize proper maintenance and relative-ly minor improvements to existing roads are likely to be more cost effective strategies for eco-nomic development than expensive highway projects.

Studies of the economic impacts of highways followed the development of the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s and 1960s, and many studies on the economic impact of controlled access high-ways were conducted in the 80s and 90s. Not sur-prising, the greatest economic impact from rural highway construction comes from the one-time ac-tivities associated with the actual construction of the road. Any long-term economic impact tends to be regional in scope and is not sufficient by itself to create long-term increases in economic activities.

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With infrastructure dollars dwindling and simultane-ously more thinly spread, it is more efficient and effec-tive to put those dollars towards existing roads and in-frastructure, much of which is in critical need of repair.Embarking on new road projects spreads resourc-es thinly and passes higher costs to the tax will

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The construction of the Interstate Highway Sys-tem has showed that highway development can produce more costs than benefits to rural commu-nities in those communities are bypassed by new construction. What’s more, the kinds of homog-enized aesthetic businesses that do spring up along interstate interchanges – franchise restaurants, franchise hotels, franchise gas stations, and the limbo described by Gertrude Stein as “there is no there there” will likely draw economic activity away from bypassed communities, rather than to them.

In late January 2012 Rep. John Mica (R), Chairman of the House transportation and infrastructure com-mittee, introduced legislation that would eliminate the national Scenic Byways Program. As pointed out here, the National Scenic Byways have been an integral part in developing and strengthening the economy is of our rural communities. National Sce-nic Byways are an important international tourism marketing tool. This author believes that abolish-ment of the successful National Scenic Byways Pro-gram would eliminate a prime marketing asset that supports economic development efforts in count-less rural communities and regions. Communi-ties across the country have leveraged the National Scenic Byways Program designation to attain funds from other federal, state and local funding resources to make a significant impact on transportation plan-ning, rural tourism development, preserving small town quality of life, and protecting natural resources. As the economic picture of this country slowly im-proves, it seems ill-advised to eliminate roads that actually generate major tourism related revenues.

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About the WriterTracy Mullins, MS, AICP attended Lakehead Uni-versity where he completed simultaneous degrees in Outdoor Recreation, Geography and Tourism Man-agement. After a short time with the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Mullins started his career in consulting. Working from Ontario, he provided economic devel-opment capacity building services to entrepreneurs and nonprofit organizations in both Canada and the United States. Notable projects included the fields of tourism, recreation, telecommunications, historic preservation and small business start-up.

After being awarded a full scholarship from Eastern Michigan University, Tracy graduated with a Master of Science in Geography, major in Urban Planning. While writing his Master’s thesis, he was retained as a Professor of Geography at the University of Michi-gan. Mullins subsequently received professional cer-tification from the American Institute of Certified Planners and moved to Florida where he consults in Urban Planning/Design and Sustainable Economic Development. Expertise includes community rede-velopment, urban design, tribal planning, tourism development, and professional services business planning.

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Mesa Developmental Services on a mission

For over 45 years Mesa Developmental Services has provided assistance and support to individuals and their families in Mesa County (Colorado) who live with the challenges of developmental disabilities.

We are fortunate in our lifetime, to witness a progressive shift in treatment and support for people with disabilities and their families.

Prior to the late 1960s, many children born with devel-opmental disabilities were regarded as conundrums and were institutionalized, and effectively cut off from participating in their communities. Those few who did remain in their homes had very limited resources.Through the majority of the 20th century, families in Colorado who had a child with developmental disabil-ities had two choices; stay at home with limited options or be institutionalized and sent to a state-run facility.

Who we areMesa Developmental Services (MDS) is one of 20 service agencies called Community Centered Boards, subcon-tracted in Colorado to provide a NEW model of service. That growth has been significant in changing for the better the quality of lives for people with disabilities.

Within caring environments, MDS promotes op-portunities that nurture personal growth, im-prove self-esteem, support community inclusion and advance the independence of those we serve.

Who we ServeMDS serves approximately 720 people from birth through senior citizens with a full continuum of services customized to meet the needs and assist each person in living as independently as possible. The agency operates seven days a week, 24 hours a day, employing approximately 360 people.

There is no “typical” profile for the children and adults we assist. Therefore, a full spectrum of services for individuals reaches from infants to elderly and from those who require around-the-clock services, to those who many only have minor disabilities. For example, they may be married, have a home and a job, and just need assistance with budgeting and planning choices.

Our ServicesSome of the services and resource coordination MDS offers to individuals include Individual Com-munity Supports. This option addresses the needs of people who do not want or need total care. An-other support service for adults in the MDS pro-gram is our Community Vocational Supports.

In an effort to help integrate individuals with de-velopmental disabilities into our communities, this program objective is job and work related. Customized to the needs and capabilities of each person with an emphasis on integration- work-ing in a typical work-setting and interacting with other workers and people in the community.

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Uniquely YoursA wonderful example of this is a retail extension of MDS called Uniquely Yours. Like many non-prof-its nationally, MDS has struggled over the last few years with significant budget cuts. It became im-perative to consider other sources of revenue. Hav-ing a retail extension whose proceeds go toward the organization is not uncommon in non-profits.

Uniquely Yours is a charming specialty gift shop op-erated by MDS and is currently a fixture of our local downtown shopping center in Grand Junction Colo-rado. Uniquely Yours moved to its Main Street loca-tion in 2006 and business has been booming since!

Uniquely Yours began simply as an outlet for selling toys, birdhouses, Christmas crafts and other wood-pieces made by MDS clients in our wood-shop. Eventually the operation grew and merchandise began to expand to larger furniture pieces, and birdbaths. As it grew, it became an excellent vo-cational option for individuals in services. They are able to experience a variety of skills experi-ence an every-day work environment, working along with others and enhancing self-sufficiency. Uniquely Yours occupied three other locations in more industrial areas before finding its Main Street home. As the business began to change and grow, MDS decided to invest in a store manager with years of retail management experience. Uniquely Yours was previously run mostly by vocational specialists and trainers of people with developmental disabili-ties. They weren't as knowledgeable about retail work. These steps have helped transform Uniquely Yours into a genuinely unique blend of retail and vocational opportunities, and, it is quite successful in doing so!

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By Sheri LaPlante

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Along with offering the items that MDS clients craft, Uniquely Yours established a relationship with Ten Thousand Villages, and carries their merchandise as well. Ten Thousand Villages is a fair trade organiza-tion which guarantees a living wage to artisans in Third World countries. Their merchandise is a beautiful and diverse cultural collection of house wares, jewelry and décor from all around the world. This blend of mer-chandise only enhances the uniqueness of this store.

Shopping at Uniquely Yours feels good. Not only are you improving the living conditions of people living in third-world countries, you are helping sup-port local programs for people with disabilities. You are helping promote self esteem and integra-tion. You are also purchasing a specially made item that will make a lovely gift for you or a loved one. Yes, shopping at Uniquely Yours feels good. Mesa Developmental Services (MDS) is located in Grand Junction Colorado. Although it has many off-site locations, its main office is at 950 Grand Avenue, 81501. Their office phone number is 970-256-8640.

To learn more about MDS and the variety of services and programs, visit their website at www.mesadev.orgUniquely Yours is located in Grand Junction, Colo-rado. 443 Main Street, 81501. It's hours of op-eration are Monday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. To learn more about Uniquely Yours, click on its link at the MDS website at www.mesadev.org.

Sheri LaPlante works in Public Relations and Develop-ment at Mesa Developmental Services in Grand Junc-gion, Colorado. She comes from a strong background in print/pre-press and design. She worked for many years as a graphic designer for an agency in New York City. Sheri has also worked for several publications lo-cally, regionally and nationally. Her work includes de-sign, page layout and writing. Sheri's background also includes public relations and marketing for a variety of non-profit and for-profit organizations and businesses.

About the Writer

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By Sheri LaPlante

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Corporate Sustainable Mobility Plans Initiative:

Private Companies’ possible contribution to Urban Mobility

By By Solenne Cucchi, Msc in Urban Planning and Urban and Territorial Strategy

With more than 50 percent of the world’s popula-tion residing in cities, and the meteoric rise of mega-cities, the 21st century truly is the urban age. The boom of cities with populations greater than five million has positive benefits: an increase in den-sity provides for a more efficient allocation of goods and services to a city’s inhabitants; however, it also introduces new challenges in transport issues.

While the number of cars in emerging countries is ex-ponentially increasing with economic development, the infrastructure needed to support this new automo-bile traffic is not keeping up. But the mobility problems are far more complex than just a lack of infrastruc-ture, they also involve insufficient regulatory schemes and control mechanisms; inexperienced and under-trained citizens — whatever the mode of transport they are using; and technological failures. As many public transport institutions argue, newly slashed budgets in times of economic crises only make things worse, thus delaying the implementation of clear plans, or sap-ping political will altogether, for an effective solution.

In this chaos, what is the role of private companies in offering a solution? It is surprising to see how little private corporations are considered as serious partners by governments when it comes to finding solutions. Politicians rarely think about asking for their direct collaboration in these matters. However, it would be logical to try to forge a strong public-private effort on an issue with as much impact as mobility. After all, private companies are the ones who produce wealth, manage their own finances and decisions, and, equally important, have a cap-tive audience whom they can influence to change their transportation habits: their employees. So, who more than private companies can start working on some of the mobility issues that big cities are facing?

It becomes increasingly obvious that the need for enhanced mobility in cities cannot be the sole re-sponsibility of often shortsighted elected officials; it requires the commitment of long-term stakeholders as well. In particular, the greater the proportion of commuters who are using a city’s infrastructure to get to and from work, the greater the possibility for impact of strategies implemented by big companies

in business hubs. Even in places such as the United States where less than 20 percent of trips in urban areas are for work commutes, the ability to get one-self to work and back plays a key role in terms of de-fining peak mobility demand and congestion across transportation systems. (McKenzie & Rapino, 2011).

In some countries, big companies consider mobility as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy, sometimes due to legal obligations, like in Catalonia or in the United Kingdom. Sometimes it is also done as a response to incentives from public authorities, but rarely does a company act by itself without some form of necessity. The following article will take the example of Bogota, capital city of Colom-bia, as a case study for the potential of private action in the urban mobility field, with a movement driven by the private sector for the private sector, with the goal of better quality of life for citizens in general.

A first step before exploring what the private sec-tor can do in this matter is to better understand what we mean by “sustainable mobility,” a term quite en vogue nowadays but rarely clearly defined.

Rather than the classical World Business Coun-cil for Sustainable Development’s defini-tion directly derived from Brundtland’s defini-tion of sustainable development, the definition given by Rory Williams (2007), based on the follow-ing principles, is more concrete and politically usable:

1. Preservation of the natural environment; 2. Care for human health and safety; 3. Compatible with the transport needs of the population (reliability, variety, affordability, and integrated transport systems); 4. Support for economic growth that will lead to greater social equity; 5. Minimum transport costs for greater access; 6. Minimum infrastructure costs; 7. Maintenance energy security; and 8. Assurance of a long-term viability of the transport system.

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by Solenne Cucchi, Msc in Urban Planning and Urban and Territorial Strategy

In other words, “sustainable mobility” re-lies on a transportation system that is ac-cessible, affordable, efficient, financially sus-tainable, environmentally friendly, and safe.

Clearly, responsibility for some of these prin-ciples is directly in the hands of public authori-ties. However, companies might have the poten-tial to contribute to environmental preservation and to the accessibility of transport in terms of cost and time, at least regarding commuting trips.

Indeed, commuting trips generate negative ex-ternalities on three different actors: on the em-ployee as single individual, on the company as a productive entity, and on society as a whole.

First, commuting has a direct effect on the person making the trip, the employee. Especially in con-gested cities, it generates additional stress and ex-haustion that can be attributed to different factors like noise, bad infrastructure, road rage, congestion, etc. With all those elements, commuting also in-creases the likelihood of injury in an accident. The increased level of stress also creates bad working conditions in terms of productivity. From a medical point of view, commuting trips create health prob-lems, as people get out of the habit of walking and commuting gives them less time to exercise—this, coupled with the increased time one spends in the car, leads to an overall sedentary lifestyle and obesity.

On another level, these commutes also have a nega-tive effect on companies. Aside from the decreased productivity of their employees, a company has to assume a certain amount of costs directly associ-ated to employees’ mobility, such as the costs as-sociated with work-related trips and the very high cost (depending on the city and the price of land) of parking lots. For example, an average com-pany in Bogota has to pay about $7,000 per park-ing spot, or a monthly rent of about $60 for each.

The aggregation of individual commuting trips also has a negative impact on the overall society,

in terms of pollution, congestion, public health, and increased demand for energy. In Bogota,private transportation CO2 (carbon dioxide) emis-sions are 63% of the total of mobile emissions (Sec-retaria Distrital de Ambiente, et al., 2010). The rise in automobile accidents and the associated costs is also a concern. In Bogota, this cost is es-timated to be 1.17% of GDP per year, amount-ing to $681 million (BID-Uniandes, 2011).

In Bogota, the contribution that the private sec-tor can make in order to achieve a more sustain-able mobility is apparent when observing the high rate of trips generated by commuting to the city. In 2005, 45% of daily trips in Bogota was comprised of commuting workers, more than all other traffic such as shopping, students traveling to school, etc.

In 2011, the young corporate foundation from the au-tomotive sector for which I currently work, the Chev-rolet Foundation, and one of the most prestigious Colombian universities, Universidad de los Andes, began working on a project in Bogota to involve pri-vate companies as active contributors to the mobility solution. The Corporate Sustainable Mobility Plan project, el “Plan Empresarial de Movilidad Sostenible”, best known as PEMS initiative, was born. A “PEMS” is a plan involving the company as an active stakeholder in the search for a more sustainable urban mobility, through the implementation of strategies reducing the negative impact of their employees’ commuting trips. It was a big challenge, as nothing similar existed in Colombia, and private companies tended to be ig-nored when it came to mobility policy development.

Considering the lack of solid data for corporate mo-bility statistics, the first step was to create a set of indi-cators to understand how the employees of a specific company are commuting, to get a general picture of the mobility situation in the company, and then to be able to measure the impact of our project in the future. Given that, as described earlier, mobility has a direct impact on society and the environment, a twofold approach was chosen: to measure the im

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pact of commuting trips on the micro level—their impact on individual employees; and on the mac-ro level—the overall effect on the city itself. From this approach, four main indicators were defined.

The impact of the company’s commuting trips on the city’s environment is measured by the now classical carbon footprint and by the energy footprint. Both indicators consider the aggregated result of all employ-ees, depending on the distance from their residence to their working place and on the mode of transport used to commute, data collected during the diagnos-tic phase through individual surveys in the company.

The carbon footprint refers to the amount of green land necessary to absorb the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced by human activity, in this par-ticular case by commuting trips. Greenhouse gas-es include carbon dioxide (CO2) and other gases such as methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), sul-fur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons and perfluo-rocarbons, which are often referred to as “the six Kyoto gases” and are translated in CO2 equivalent. To be more relevant to company managers, the to-tal of CO2 equivalent emissions can be translated from tons of CO2 equivalent to acres of wood, with about 1.58 tons of CO2 absorbed per hectare of woods, according to the Norwegian Pollution Con-trol Authority (see Holden & Georg Hoyer, 2005). The energy footprint measure refers to the quantity of fuel consumed by the employees just in commuting trips, considering the same information as the carbon footprint and considering the number of passenger for each transport mode. Therefore, a person riding a bus will be consuming much less fuel than someone commuting by car, even if in absolute numbers the bus consumes more fuel per mile than a car, because the fuel consumption has to be divided between all pas-sengers of the bus, who in proportion are much great-er than the driver of the car. Smilingly, a carpooler, or driver sharing his car with other colleagues, consumes less fuel proportionally than a single, lone commuter.

The impact of commuting trips at a social level, this is to

The last indicator we used is the equity footprint, which measures the average amount of income dedicated to commuting. The traditional pattern, whichever city you look at, is that the higher the income, the lower the weight of transport cost is in the total income. However, when considering the real cost of transpor-tation, we can also observe that the higher the income, the higher the real cost of commuting is. Bogota is not an exception, as seen in the following graphs.

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say on the employee, is measured by two other indicators: the quality of life footprint, and the equity footprint.

The quality of life footprint has been, for us, one of the biggest surprises in the programme. It mea-sures the average time that an employee spends in commuting from his residence to his working place and return. If the diagnostic gives us a per-centage of free time used in commuting, consid-ering an average free time of 6 hours a day, the re-sult is more striking when considering the real time spent in transportation, expressed in days by year. In Columbia, workers are legally entitled to 15 vacation days per year. According to our current study, an em-ployee in Bogota spends about 18 days (or more) per year, just commuting back and forth to work, regard-less of the company’s location. Therefore, the average worker in Bogota spends more time in traffic com-muting to work than he or she spends on holiday. And rarely are those commutes made by healthy alterna-tives such as walking or cycling. Worrying data, isn’t it?




Graph 1 Percentage of income spent in transport and average cost of transportSource: Built from Observatorio de Movilidad, Cámara de Comercio, 2010

The reason why the cost of daily transport in-creases with income in Bogota is because richer people (stratum 4, 5 and 6) tend to prefer pri-vate vehicles and taxi as a mode of transportation, whereas the poorest citizens (stratum 1, 2 and 3) have no choice but to take the bus, walk or cycle.

It is important to mention that the four indicators of the programmes, even if initially measured for each individual company or entity, have a common interest

for measuring the global impact of the programme, for now on Bogota’s metropolitan region, but later on as well in the country, when implemented in other Colombian cities, or eventually at a regional level.

The diagnostic gives us a panorama of the com-pany’s situation in terms of employees’ mobil-ity in the first place and helps us identify its weak-nesses. Starting from there, the project’s workinggroup proposes a mobility plan composed by

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companies while having a big impact on mobil-ity, such as education campaigns to prevent roadaccidents, or ecodriving promotion to provide drivers with tips to achieve more economical and environmen-tally friendly driving habits. Finally, the relatively recent movement of car sharing—the car as a service and not as a good—also offers a good option for companies to promote a change in their employees’ driving culture.

This rationalization of private vehicles’ use leads to the promotion of transport alternatives: walking trips in short distances, bicycling when a safe envi-ronment allows it, or public transport, sometimes combined with a feeding system (by bus, by bicycle or others) when the stations are not at a walking dis-tance from the company’s offices. In case of insuffi-cient public transport options, the implementation of private routes, either paid by the company or fi-nanced by the users, is an interesting option, although quite expensive and logistically more complex. The incentive to use alternative modes of transport encourages examination of the infrastructure needed to support that policy. To maintain a good consisten-cy, a company promoting cycle use will have to make sure that the provision of cycle parking is sufficient, and that the employees will have the commodities to follow that policy; for example, having good shower facilities and lockers to be able to change their clothes. Nevertheless, the infrastructure chapter goes beyond this point and tries to take into consideration the neg-ative externality that the company’s activity and traffic might generate in the roads around the headquarters. The movements implied by the entity should not cre-ate traffic jams, for example, or interfere with the pub-lic space or neighboring communities in a bad way. It is also important to ensure safe access to the company to all employees, regardless of their mode of transport.

The final set of actions for a company is maybe one of the most interesting and certainly the most mod-ern since directly influenced by the development of new technologies of information communication (NTIC). It touches more deeply on the structure of corporate culture and organization, since we of-fer to reformulate the very way employees’ work is evaluated. By promoting a home office (telecommut

ing), for example, we intend to make a switch from a “classroom culture” where the number of working hours is the most important criteria of evaluation, to a target culture where employees are assessed ac-cording to their performance regarding specific ob-jectives more than on the time they spent on them.

The brief description above indicates to us an im-portant aspect and advantage of the PEMS project: it offers an umbrella to fragmented initiatives led by different areas of the company, that sometimes al-ready exist but, without a unique methodology, are not related nor evaluated on the same criteria. The adoption of a plan, with the aim to reduce the indi-cators in the future all along the different actions implemented, gives the whole company a common direction, and in this sense promote an unusual in-ter-area collaboration, offers a greater unity, and the reduction of fragmentation between different depart-ments. In this sense, we understand why the initial involvement of all the areas is important and espe-cially human resources, CSR, environmental man-agement, employee benefits, communication, secu-rity, and HSE. It is, as well, fundamental to name an internal PEMS leader in the company in charge of coordinating the teamwork and inter area meetings.

During the first phase of the project, three pilots where implemented. Their selection was the fruit of a care-ful process. The idea was to show through this imple-mentation that any company is able to participate in the project, wherever its headquarters are in the city, whichever kind of business it is. Therefore, the pilots were distributed as follow: an industrial plant located in the southern part of the city, a service center in the center occidental area, and a third company in the northern part of the city, in which we focused on the administrative employees. A mobility diagnostic was conducted in each pilot, the first step for the company in the project besides a previous strong commitment at corporative level. This diagnostic aimed to charac-terize the mobility of the company’s employees’ un-derstanding of how they commute and to get a firstresult regarding our four indicators. Focused only on employees and neither on clients nor suppli-ers, it was done based on three central elements:

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several alternatives personalized to each specific case, and within the same company, to each head-quarter as the different locations usually face different types of mobility issues. We can clas-sify those alternatives into four different intervention fields, described in the following graphic.




Graph 2 Possible field of intervention of a company to improve the mobility of its employeesSource: Personal elaboration

This construction is certainly not exhaustive but yet gives a good idea on the set of actions that a company might work on to improve its em-ployees’ mobility and therefore its indicators.In the first place, we find that cars are often respon-sible for the main traffic issues faced in dense urban areas. I have to partly disagree with that statement, and rectify it by saying that the car is only a means, an object, so the real problem is the users who choose to use cars over any other mean of transport. One can own a car and only use it to go out on the weekend, forexample. Therefore, the first concern should be educating people so they will use their car more efficiently, combining their journey of mobil-

ity scheme with other modes of transport whenpossible, and therefore more rationally. In some countries, especially developing countries, the stigma of non-motorized transport and pub-lic transport as mode of transport “for the poor”,doubled by the aspirational desire of owning a car, do not help this awareness. Companies can encourage good practices like carpooling (or sharing one’s car) that do not imply a big cost for them but have strong and direct effects on reducing per capita GHG emissions and oilconsumption, and also present the advantage of diminishing the parking demand that usu-ally represents a big cost for companies. Oth-er options are available and very inexpensive for

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1. A survey directed to all the employees or the one located in the headquarters that the company wants to focus on. This survey covers topics like distance resi-dence-work, commuting time, salary and commuting cost, principal mode of transport, disposition to use alternatives such as carpooling, cycling activities…

2. A questionnaire for the human resources department, in order to better understand the cor-porate culture, to keep track of previous mobility initiatives, their results, success and difficulties, to acknowledged current mobility policy or disposi-tions in the company. These pieces are important to adjust the proposed mobility plan depending on the existing restriction opposed by the company, in terms of working flexibility, hours, and routes…

3. A questionnaire for the security depart-ment in charge of the facilities management, to evaluate the existing infrastructure in the company (parking lot for employees, for visi-tors, for motorcycles, cycle park, accesses…)

We are currently in the second phase of the project, which specific objectives are the generalization of PEMS adoption in the city of Bogota and beyond, and the creation of a corporate network for exchange of best practices. It is astonishing to see the success the project is having, gathering more than thirty multinational companies in only six months with-out inverting a dime in publicity but only by word of mouth. And it is only a start. This initial success proves the need and expectations that big compa-nies have in terms of being part of the solution. They are ready. Ready to be involved and ready to invest for achieving together a better mobility. The ques-tion now is whether the public authorities will know how to take advantage of this fantastic will and energy to improve urban mobility options working hand in hand with the private sector. We can just hope that our experience, aggregating efforts and results and separate initiatives, will help support the adoption of an official policy to promote the adoption of corpo-rate mobility plans through legal and administrative

advantages, and to encourage the creation of stron-ger public-private partnership in the mobility field.

Bibliography:

BID and Universidad de los Andes. (2011). Estrategias de mejoramiento de la seguridad vial en transporte urbano en América Latina. Caso de estudio: Bogotá. Bogotá.

HOLDEN, E., & GEORG HOYER, K. (2005). The ecological footprints of fuels. Transportation Research Part D 10, pp. 395-403.

MCKENZIE, B. and RAPINO, M. (2011). Commuting in the United States: 2009, American Community Survey Reports, ACS-15. U.S. Cen-sus Bureau, Washington, DC.

WILLIAMS, R., A definition of sustainable mobility, available on http://www.carbonsmart.com/mobility/2007/03/a_definition_of.html , last update 15th March 2007, accessed 30th June 2012

Secretaría Distrital de Ambiente, Universidad de los Andes, Universi-dad de la Salle, Transmilenio S.A. (2010). Plan Decenal de Descontami-nación del Aire para Bogotá. Primera edición. Bogotá, Colombia.

Secretaría Distrital de Movilidad. (2005). Encuesta de movilidad 2005. Bogotá.

About the Writer

Solenne Cucchi works as a mobility and environment project coordinator. Solenne Cucchi’s professonal educational background includes Msc Regional and Urban Planning - LSE as well as Master Stratégie Ter-ritoriale et Urbaine - Sciences Po Paris.

You can contact Ms. Cucchi at http://co.linkedin.com/in/solennecucchi or Follow her on Twitter: SolenneCucchi

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How local economy and ourselves can be victims of

our own spacesWhen citizens are congregated in as large a number as they are in modern cities, their ability to express individuality can be suppressed by the societal norm. It is to this that the questions of how best to orgainze a neighborhood to benefit all citizens which reside and visit the area arise. Historical planning in this regard has encountered many changes: improvements, poor judgements and unrealistic expectations. The great-est period of these emerging changes occurred dur-ing the expansive development after World War II. Many decided on cul-de-sac developments, where a notion that community neighborhoods would be im-proved, outweighed basic design principles ease of access, single usage static spaces, public and private spatial relation. The flexibility of a good public space in any area would enable a system of wide uses to many while also encouraging human powered travel. Communities that that allow for a safer environment often prosper while those neglected continue to de-cline. As the numbers of citizens in our neighbor-hoods expand, and our ability to travel further dis-tances becomes far easier, there must be a focus on the local area and its ability to function for all citizens.

Governments enacted regulations which that al-lowed massive growth during the war boom as they were quick and large scale with minimal risk to local budgets as developers took much of the burden. This change proved to be in detriment of good community growth, where city governments themselves produced social and spatial exclusion as a result of the inappro-priate laws and regulations that they adopted (Watson, 2009). Within cul-de-sac developments under these regulations, many people are forced to use motor ve-hicles on trips they could walk less than a half mile for otherwise. Traditional grid systems can provide a much clearer orientation and easier defined public place, but as we move forward toward a higher density of living it is important to consider the impact that apartment buildings will enforce on their communi-ties. Watson also argues that the emphasis of planners

to accommodate the middle class has ostracised many low groups. Indeed, structures have also been used to try and define public perception. Enact-ing a 1am curfew, trying to curb reckless behav-ior and loitering of homeless, at a prominent New York community park in August 1988 led to ma-jor riots and a community backlash at the govern-ment’s ideology that it could control people by force.

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The principles of Crime Prevention Through Envi-ronmental Design [CPTED] (Jeffery, 1971) are the most widely used principles to providing a safe en-vironment for interaction. With permeability to al-low casual surveillance playing a significant part of CPTED principles, cul-de-sacs can fail as community interaction areas, as they are inherently impermeable with their dead ends. A traditional grid layout, which can allow prosperity of CPTED principles, generally ignores design aspects of these principles as home-owners and builders are generally unaware and not held responsible on a community level. A well de-signed apartment building can successfully apply all of the principles, but it is not dependent to foster an internal social interaction. The principles of CPTED that should be checked among neighborhoods and incorporated into their future plans as most impor-tant to promoting social interactions and capital are:

• Landscape designs that provide surveillance in proximity to designated points of entry and opportunistic points of entry.

Local Travel and Interaction by Daniel Scharf

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• Usetheleastsight-limitingfenceappropriate for the property to control access and encourage surveillance.

• Usingasingle,clearlyidentifiable,pointofentry.

• Amenities such as seating or refresh- ments in common areas in a commercial or institutional setting to promote interaction.

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With areas in which people feel safe and secure, they are much more likely to be open to interac-tion as well as helping deter crime and encouraging local mobility. While walking down a dark street with no relatable buildings or places, people become more likely to behave aversive or confrontational. The opportunity to assimilate uses of space within de-sign of public spaces is simple, though often ignored. Large parklands are ideal for people to walk dogs, but regulations to protect local fauna normally ensure this is done by leash. Dog off-leash areas have now ap-peared all over Brisbane, Australia which allows dog owners to release their pets in a safe and controlled environment, while also exposing the owners to peo-ple who share a common interest. Their popularity is clear as the number of areas have grown to 110. The success of these areas has been well noted alongside cycling centers community arts facilities, libraries and public events. To provide an area for common interest to come together to share stories and experi-ences is vital to improving general social interaction.

There are a number of situations in which design can negate social interaction, whether intentional or not. The largest design flaw that can negate social inter-action is poor maintenance. It is known that boring places can cause impassiveness and that “if people don’t want to be in a place, there is little chance that there will be any benefit ... after safety, the main con-cern should be to provide a variety of affordances for play in the same location, rather than any specific equipment” (Castonguay & Jutras, 2009). The previ-ous article was designed in relation to children’s in-teraction with places, though the same principles are easily extrapolated to adults. A variety of affordances with the opportunity to engage in conversation is necessary. Environmental psychologists have sug-gested that these elements of the built environment can create a situation in which people can recognize the signs that remind them of “proper” or expect-ed behavior This does not ensure compliance, and could even be met with resistance, but it is a simple method of enabling a better sense of community. At its most basic, “social capital has mostly been op-erationalised as social participation/social networks and trust” (Lindström, 2004), and can be ranked by this relationship. The most commonly used rank-ings of social capital are: high-social capital [high trust and participation], traditionalism [high trust, low participation], miniaturization of community [low trust, high participation], and low-social capital [low trust and participation]. The theoretical nature of social capital is that both participation and trust mutually benefit or disadvantage each other. It was also found by Lindström that if either participation or generalized trust were considered to be low, the self-reported mental health of community members is significantly affected. When one finds themselves in a friendly area the level of community participa-tion to keep things tidy and approachable will often make one more comfortable to part with their money. In contrast finding shops you feel safe to enable eco-nomic activity in an unkempt downtown is far lower.

Public spaces have become a place of high inter-est for many local communities. Previously the re-sult of left over development land, public space is quickly becoming a major part of local communities.


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Though greatly favorable favorable to the commu-nity, “the beneficial properties of public spaces are not solely reducible to a set of design-based, natu-ral or aesthetic criteria” (Cattell, Dines, Gesler, & Curtis, 2008). They are instead an area of inclusive space. If a person feels up to interacting, they are presented with the opportunity to do so,; howev-er, if they wish to remain in solitude, that privilege should also be granted upon them. Indeed “since ur-ban parks are inclusive spaces, they can be seen as possibly favorable spaces for stimulating social co-hesion, [and] conclude[d] that most social interac-tions are cursory, for example, people have a short chat or just say hello” (Peters, Elands, & Buijs, 2010).

The role of public space is not just limited to parkland of course, as “people need a variety of spaces within an area to meet a range of everyday needs, spaces to linger as well as spaces of transit; spaces which bring people together and spaces for escape” (Cattell, et al., 2008). This understanding leads us to incorporate a public space atmosphere to transport nodes (bench-es for seating), pseudo-private areas within spaces to relax, and a space that can be utilized by a group.

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So, as our cities continue to expand with continued growth, a societal norm for dependence on the motor vehicle can continue, or be curbed by a further im-portance placed on local spaces and transport to rein-vigorate communities again. Government regulations

that lack critical oversight of impacts must be trans-formed. The design of public/private areas and im-proved attention to environmental aspects that that affect reactions of citizens must be addressed. Public spaces that only influence a particular set of residents or severely limit usage must be redesigned. The abil-ity for one to communicate and travel openly within their community will always be entirely their choice. To provide an area in which to safely and effectively do so, however, requires us as a society to pay more attention to the environment in relation to all citizens.

Reference

Castonguay, G., & Jutras, S. (2009). Children's appreciation of outdoor places in a poor neighborhood. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 29(1), 101-109.

Cattell, V., Dines, N., Gesler, W., & Curtis, S. (2008). Mingling, observ-ing, and lingering: Everyday public spaces and their implications for well-being and social relations. Health & Place, 14(3), 544-561.

Jeffery, C. R. (1971). Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.

Lindström, M. (2004). Social capital, the miniaturisation of commu-nity and self-reported global and psychological health. Social Science & Medicine, 59(3), 595-607.

Peters, K., Elands, B., & Buijs, A. (2010). Social interactions in urban parks: Stimulating social cohesion? Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 9(2), 93-100.

Watson, V. (2009). [`]The planned city sweeps the poor away...': Urban planning and 21st century urbanisation. Progress in Planning, 72(3), 151-193.

About the Writer

Michael Schraf is from Brisbane Australia and at-tended Queensland University of Technology and has a Bachelors degree in Urban Development - Regional and Town Planning with experience in econominc development and regional planning.

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The Upstate New York economy has been declining in jobs, wages per job, personal income and population since the early 70s and the outmigration of our popula-tion continues. Apparently our funding approach has not worked. Why have our economic development ef-forts failed? The economic develop approach has not included community small businesses and it has been too narrow in scope. In 2006 New York had the second highest amount of grant money in the U.S., totaling 4 billion dollars, and the results have yet to be seen. Somehow in the past 20 years creativity seems to have been captured by the Universities, and the billions of dollars pouring in as grant money was earmarked to create new concepts, new ideas and possibly new products. The simple fact is a University only has a few great ideas and the rest of the concepts will never create enough jobs. It is often the case where a brilliant idea lacks the pragmatic experience to implement the concept. CBBIC.org would recommend a two-pronged approach of funding: both Universities and community small businesses. Historically, economic development efforts have avoided funding the largest segment of society that creates most of our new jobs and that is the community-based small businesses.

The data from the SBA and the Kaufman Foun.dation clearly points out that the small firms and startups are the key to reinvigorating our economy.

Small firms have a very important role in our economic growth:

• Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms.

•Employjustoverhalfofallprivatesector employees.

•Pay44percentoftotalU.S.privatepayroll.

•Havegenerated64percentofnetnewjobsoverthe past 15 years.

•Createmorethanhalfofthenonfarmprivategross domestic product (GDP).

•Hire40percentofhigh-techworkers(suchas scientists, engineers, and computer programmers).

•Are52percenthome-basedand2percent franchises.

•Madeup97.3percentofallidentifiedexportersand produced 30.2 percent of the known export value in FY 2007. NY ranks 3rd in the value of ex ports by small businesses, over $58 billion. NY exports increased 16.8% in 2010.

•Produce13timesmorepatentsperemployeethan large patenting firms; these patents are twice as likely as large firm patents to be among the one percent most cited. NY ranked 3rd in patents awarded.

•NY’sentrepreneurialincome,despitethe recession, increased 16% between 2000 and 2009.

•TwomillionsmallbusinessesinNY,7%of national total, are located in every region, community and neighborhood contributing to making NY a great place to live and conduct business.

•SmallBusinessesemploy51.5%ofNYnon-farm, private sector workforce in 2008.

•NewYork’srealgrossstateproductincreased1.6% in 2009 while U.S. GDP grew just 0.7%.

•537,838minority-ownedbusinessesand594,492 women-owned businesses in NY.

Focus of Economic Development for Upstate NY Needs to Change

by Michael V. Franchell, Mel E. Ross, Harvey Price

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A manufacturing renaissance will reverse our economic trends. Manufacturing brings high-er job multiples than any other type of indus-try, so we need to focus our energy and intellec-tual talent on creating more manufacturing jobs that will stimulate additional community jobs.

Products made in China have an uncertain future. It is historically understandable that as China's middle class grows so will the social unrest grow; that unrest will disrupt their manufacturing base that has been dependent upon low paid employees. The perfect corollary is Lenin did not want the peasants to own farms because they would then become members of the bourgeois. China is creating many new mem-bers of the bourgeois and they in turn will demand more freedom. The issues of social unrest, higher la-bor and fuel costs, combined with mediocre prod-uct quality, create an opportunity for Upstate NY.

What Do We Change?Recognize the value of small business and fund entre-preneurs/intrapreneurs/ enterprisers with GAP fund

SummaryCentral NY can become the hub of new manufacturing facilities because it is close to major North American markets. From a transportation perspective our target cities for our locally produced products would be: Al-bany, Boston, Buffalo, Cleveland, New York City, Mon-treal, Philadelphia, Pittsburg and Toronto by ground transportation. For international distribution we can ship out of the ports of Albany, New York City or Boston.

ing just as you would provide grant money for research.Use a not-for-profit such as the Community BasedBusiness Incubator Center, Inc ™Incubator and make it wall-less so it can cover the entire geography of our area.

Provide mentors who are real entrepreneurs with experience to back them up. Provide our local entrepreneurs/intrapreneurs/enterprisers with computersand appropriate software that you can communi-cate to so we can help them overcome the obstacles that are holding them back. Have a team of Entre-preneurial Advocates trained to help them move through the process of starting a company and charge them nothing. Accelerating economic development will happen when a combined approach of technol-ogy, communication and consultation is utilized.

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Upstate can be a thriving, growing region again be-cause we have the land, the housing and the knowl-edgeable labor to create new innovative manufactur-ing facilities that will enhance the wealth of our local communities. What we lack is capital and vision to create the new economy and our next new job. The chart below illustrates how our concept will boost the economic development cycle in upstate New York.



What Do We Change?Recognize the value of small business and fund entre-preneurs/intrapreneurs/ enterprisers with GAP fund-ing just as you would provide grant money for research. Use a not-for-profit such as the Community Based Business Incubator Center, Inc ™Incubator and make it wall-less so it can cover the entire geography of our area.

Provide mentors who are real entrepreneurs with ex-perience to back them up. Provide our local entre-preneurs/intrapreneurs/enterprisers with computers and appropriate software that you can communicate to so we can help them overcome the obstacles that are holding them back. Have a team of Entrepreneur-ial Advocates trained to help them move through the process of starting a company and charge them nothing. Accelerating economic development will happen when a combined approach of technol-ogy, communication and consultation is utilized.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg summarized the con-cept: “The essence of innovation is you don’t know what you’re going to build, what it’s go-ing to be called, how much it’s going to cost.”

Central NY can become the hub of new manufacturing facilities because it is close to major North American markets. From a transportation perspective our target cities for our locally produced products would be: Al-bany, Boston, Buffalo, Cleveland, New York City, Mon-treal, Philadelphia, Pittsburg and Toronto by ground transportation. For international distribution we can ship out of the ports of Albany, New York City or Boston.

Upstate can be a thriving, growing region again be-cause we have the land, the housing and the knowl-edgeable labor to create new innovative manufac-turing facilities that will enhance the wealth of our local communities. What we lack is capital and vi-sion to create the new economy and our next new job. The chart below illustrates how our concept will boost the economic development cycle in Upstate.

We can rapidly grow our new companies if we commit to the idea. If we continue to use the same ideas with the same people then you will get the same results.

Sources (see the Office of Advocacy’s Research and Statistics page):• U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census and InternationalTrade Admin.•Advocacy-fundedresearchbyKathrynKobe,2007•CHIResearch,2003•U.S.Dept.ofLabor,BureauofLaborStatistics.•SlidePresentationbyJimL.KingStateDirectorofSBA.• Original concept: “The Virtuous Cycle” byMcKenzie & CompanyModified by George Huang, http://IDEASolutions.biz•HarvardBusinessReview:Wanted:AFirstNationalBankofInnova-tions by Edmund S Phelps and Leo M. Tillman

Michael V Franchell is the Executive Director for the Community Based Business Incubator Center, Inc™. Contact him at [email protected]

Mel E. Ross is the Chief Financial Officer for the Community Based Business Incubator Center, Inc™. Contact him at [email protected]

Harvey Price is a Board Member for the Community Based Business Incubator Center, Inc™. Contact him at [email protected]

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by Guillermo Tella, PhD, Institute of the Conurbation, National University of General Sarmiento (Argentina)

Introduction

Since its foundation, the port of Buenos Aires –showing its back to the central area, on the estuary of the River Plate– has been one of the main links of the national economy for more than four cen-turies, channelling the exportation of raw materi-als and the importation of elaborated products.

Nowadays, the attempt of using that space, by appeal-ing to its strong evocative power, and in such a way as to expand laterally the central area, has led to re-func-tionalizing an industrial sector no longer destined to port use and has also led to a re-ensued debate on the necessity of structural planning with a capacity of decision on the development of new centralities.

Buenos Aires is the capital city of the Argentine Repub-lic and it is situated in the south cone of South Amer-ica, on the estuary of the River Plate. It is the central district of a metropolitan conglomeration which has over thirteen million inhabitants and which is insert-ed globally among the non-central economic spaces.

Since its foundation in 1580, its port –showing its back to the central area– has been one of the main links of the national economy for more than four centuries, channelling the exportation of raw ma-terials and the importation of elaborated prod-ucts. Moreover, it has left its imprinting in the cultural identity as a referential landmark and defined the axis of urban growth in the region.

Nowadays, the attempt of using that space, by appeal-ing to its strong evocative power, and in such a way as to expand laterally the central area, has led to re-func-tionalizing an industrial sector no longer destined to port use and has also led to a re-ensued debate on the necessity of structural planning with a capacity of decision on the development of new centralities.

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A port born old

Towards the end of the 19th century, the Argen-tinean National Government recognised the ne-cessity of providing Buenos Aires with a new port capable of managing efficiently the increasing com-mercial flow. Even though there was no doubt as regards the modernization of port technologies, the methods of construction and, mainly, the site of location were debated. The out-coming proj-ect consisted of four docks organized linearly over the muddy banks in front of the foundational area and political-administrative center of the country.

Once the port had been inaugurated, strong dis-approval of the project gained momentum, such as the phrase: ‘the port was born old’. Therefore, in 1908 the construction of a new port was authorised, which was designed in a sequence of five docks with-out locks, perpendicular to the bank, and which was situated to the north of the installations of Puerto Madero. Finished in 1925 and named Puerto Nuevo, the new port quickly doubled the functioning ca-pacity of the old Puerto Madero, thus, this one fell into disuse and hurried its vertiginous decadence.

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The plan of urban development


by Guillermo Tella, PhD, Institute of the Conurbation, National University of General Sarmiento (Argentina)

After several decades of abandonment, in 1989 the National and the Local Governments agreed to pro-mote the urbanization of Puerto Madero area, through the constitution of a joint-stock society called ‘Cor-poración Antiguo Puerto Madero’ (‘Former Puerto Madero Corporation’), in which they were both equal partners: the former contributed to this project with the lands of the area; the latter, with the urban regula-tions for its development; and, together, they promot-ed a plan for the zone and laid out the necessary infra-structure, as a way to orientate the real estate activities.

Following as a model the experience gained in the recovery of the waterfront of the London Docklands, and after an intense debate, the master plan was de-fined for the urbanization of the 170 hectares (ap-proximately 18.300 million square feet) of the former port seeking to achieve these five structural aims:

- the reconversion of the area so as to recover it from its state of deterioration;- the reconstitution of its character, preserving its strong evocative power;- the allocation of land for tertiary activities which re quire a central location;- the re-conquest of a new and effective approxima tion of the city towards its river;- the contribution to re-centring the central area, bringing balance to its northern and southern sectors.

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Motivations of the master plan

Consequently, the proposal sought to recover the area for urban uses and to capitalise the demands for new equipments, increasing the value the pre-ex-isting ones. From the ideas contest –in which more than a hundred projects took part– the winning team produced the master plan for urban develop-ment, which draw up structural lines along which the project is still running nowadays after two decades.

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Even though the zone is an industrial and port area no longer in use, and is highly conditioned by the low accessibility of its bridges, the objective aspired to generate a site of prestige as a lateral expansion of the central area and –without unbalancing the pres-ent urban fabric– absorb the demand of new-gen-eration offices, which efficiency required broad and flexible areas. The urban codification defined mor-phological indicators block by block, accentuating the criterion of preserving its intrinsic characteristics.


By Guillermo Tella, PhD, Institute of the Conurbation, National University of General Sarmiento (Argentina)

The scope of the proposal

With a buildable area of 1.5 million square meters (ap-proximately 16.150 million square feet), the proposal consisted of a narrow urbanised strip between the four docks and a big park, formed by natural green reserves. The transverse connection –coinciding with the exist-ing boat-breadths waterways between the impounded docks– is made by wide boulevards which link to the city. Between these axes, upon the said park, high-rising buildings were disposed to frame the civic axis.

The group ended up structured as follows: the system of avenues and the modulation of the docks, which characterises differential stretches; the fills and gaps of the docklands, which do not respect the rhythm in the layout of the city; the sheaf of high-rising tower-like buildings upon the intersections of the fabric; and the cranes and grain mills and elevators, which define the imprinting of the former port. Then, the plan comprised the restoration of the old docklands of the western side, the conservation of those buildings with patrimonial value, the construction of a narrow strip of seven-story residential buildings in the east-ern side, a group of towers and a big park in order to re-establish the relation between the city and its river.

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The process of managing the area

The Corporación Antiguo Puerto Madero leaded all the planning process and the management of the area, promoting the development of a master plan and setting up the land subdivision, the sale of lots and the execution of the infrastructure works. First, the

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By Guillermo Tella, PhD, Institute of the Conurbation, National University of General Sarmiento (Argentina)

recycling of the brick buildings of the docklands, which were distinctive of the port identity, was undertaken in the western sector of the docks. These buildings, of historical and architectonic value, had been built to-gether with the port and served as goods warehouses.

In a few years the recycling process was finished and therefore it gave rise to the formation of a sough-af-ter space for the settlement of companies and a new gastronomic commercial district. The success in the development of the western sector strengthened the launch of the eastern sector, with tracts of greater building possibilities. Differently from the western side of a wholly historical profile, the eastern side al-lowed the development of a more modern architec-ture and the incorporation of state-of-the-art technol-ogy, which triggered a frantic real estate speculation.

Effects of the renewal operation

Nowadays, the renewal of the waterfront of Puer-to Madero goes through its final stage, after twenty years of development, with the filling of the last par-cels. From this perspective, it is possible to set in value some distinctive features of the operation. On the one side, a new model of territorial management was proposed in the local environment, which al-lowed the requalification of port lands which were useless for quality urban land use. On the other hand, given its longitudinal character, the piece trig-gered off a reconversion process of the old centre for the allocation of economical, services and tour-ism-related activities. Services have been brought in, streets have been opened, squares and parks have been built and urban equipment was provided.

However, the development of the eastern sector proposed a heterogeneous kind of intervention, un-equal morphological results, with no character, and governed by the strong pressure of the real estate market. Finally, it must be underlined that a strongprocess of gentrification has started in the

whole area of influence, which expulsed popula-tion and also traditional shops were replaced for new brands stores. And, from a global point of view, the operation generated a surplus which urban rent was wholly withheld for itself, without promoting the transfer of it to other zones of the city in need, such as the impoverished southern neighbourhoods.

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Guillermo Tella is an Architect and Philosophy Doc-tor (PhD) in Urban Planning. In addition, he has developed the Postdoctoral Program in Social Sci-ences and Humanities. He has been Professor and Researcher in Urban Planning since 1989. More-over, since 2005 he carries out academic activities in the Institute of the Conurbation in the Univer-sity of General Sarmiento (Argentina). In his pro-fessional experience, he takes part and coordinates the development of strategic plans and of urban ordinance and local development for public as well as for socio-urban and environmental consult-ing firms. As a result of this theoretical production and professional practice, he has published numer-ous sciences and outreach works on the processes and effects of the metropolitan trans-formation.

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Millions of Dollars Saved by City as Result of Fleet & Fuels Task

Force

Founded in 2002 as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, NextEnergy is headquartered in Midtown Detroit’s Inno-vation Center and serves to accelerate energy security, economic competitiveness and environmental responsi-bility through the growth of advanced-energy technologies, businesses and industries. For more information about Next Energy visit: www.nextenergy.orgor find them on Twitter @NextEnergyMi

Detroit's fleet of 4,000-plus vehicles and equipment consumes more than 13 millions gallons of fuel yearly. An opportunity existed to drive optimization across all City of Detroit departments by sharing best practices, leveraging common approaches and tools, and aggregating resources work in fuels, fleet, finance and behavior. With a grant from the Kresge Foundation, the the City of Detroit Fleet & Fuels Taskforce (FFTF) was formed to achieve these objectives.

NextEnergy and CEC collaborated with representatives from the City's Department of Transpor-tation, General Services Division, Department of Public Works, Department of Water and Sewer-age, Department of finance (Purchasing), and the City Council/City of Detroit Green Task Force.

As a result of the task force, the City will not only receive the $2 million in grant funding but will eventu-ally see a total $6 million cost savings. Importantly, more than 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents will be saved, improving the health of the communities at large through the reduction of harmful emissions.

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By Kelly Jezierski

Kelly Jezierski is Manager, Alternative Fuel Based Energy Programs, at NextEnergy, a Detroit non-profit orga-nization founded in 2002 whose mission is to advance alternative-energy technologies, businesses, and industries. Kelly holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and an M.S. in Alternative Energy Technologies.

Kelly Jezierski is responsible for executing projects funded by foundations, industry (including automotive OEM’s), and state and federal government agencies (DoD, DOE, EPA, etc.) that relate to alternative fuels or ve-hicles. Examples of the projects she has worked on include: thermochemical conversion technologies, biofuels, hydrogen, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, the New Economy Initiative and Kresge Foundation work with the City of Detroit, and Smart Grid work for MEDC. Since joining NextEnergy in 2007, she has managed more than ten projects with a net worth that exceeds $10 million.

About the Writer

Two Under-developed Transportation SystemsWater and rail transport in the Netherlands

By Andrey Maltsev

Just as it is worldwide, useful transportation system is critical and necessary condition for economic growth in the Netherlands. Most cities rely on public trans-port to keep citizens moving and economies working while, at the same time, working to reduce the nega-tive environmental impacts of too many automobiles. Future public transport demands will be increas-ingly diverse. Although automobile travel in any country will not disappear, many populations are showing a decided preference for walking, cy-cling, and public transport, provided those op-tions are convenient, comfortable and affordable.

Water transport makes an important social contri-bution to the Netherlands because it connects the country’s islands and mainland. They include fer-ries operating between the island of Texel and the mainland; service to Ameland and Schiermon-nikoog; fast and regular ferry service to Vlieland, the car-free island, and Terschelling; and ferries be-tween the Waddeneilanden: from Texel to Vlieland, from Vlieland to Terschelling, from Terschelling to Ameland and from Ameland to Schiermonnikoog.

Fig.1 Ferry-ways around Netherlands.

Netherlands ferries are confronting a number of chal-lenges and problems. A major one to consider is the cur-rent state of public transportation funding in the region.

Both ferry systems between islands and internal city water traveling have a history of inconsistent support. Rising costs against a relatively flat budget threaten the viability of current operations. One problem they have seems to be a lack of political clout. All too often, ferry services, because they serve smaller populations than larger volume mass transit systems, find themselves

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Fig.2 Free of charge ferry from Amsterdam to IJplein.

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By Andrey Maltsev

much lower on the funding priority list. Historically, water taxi and ferry initiatives have experienced only limited financial success, with many evolving into excur-sion-focused enterprises, operated as a public service.

These challenges can be overcome through careful planning and design. Additionally, governments can aid the cause by seeking out private enterprise partners.

At least two private companies are doing well in this sec-tor. Both work, not only like travel boats between towns in the Netherlands, but also resolve transportation shortfalls between hard-to-reach cities on the islands.

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Teso is a long-time private operator of fer-ries between the islands of Texel and Den Hel-der working for a long. The boat sails every hour and crosses the Marsdiep in about 20 minutes.

The modern ferry port in Horntje has only been in place since the 1960s. Before that, the ferries came out of the harbor of Oudeschild, which caused much longer cross-ing times. The crossing and waiting times threatened the region’s burgeoning tourist trade, which forced the change in harbors. Even with the harbor change, long waiting times still remained, especially in the 1970s

Another small company—Wagenborg—is a part of Koninklijke. Located in Delfzijl, the company employs 90 people and provides ferry services from Holwerd to Ameland and from Lauwersoog to Schiermonnikoog.

Fig.3 Teso

Considering current way in the water transportaion point for country or just for sea-based regions in-side country we see that much greater research and development activity will also be needed to extendid develop and deploy this issue. Government and pri-vate companies need to extend of the human capaci-ties and financial resources to impove investment and modernization of the water transport sector. Govern-ment and private investment in fuel saving technolo-gies will be more effective in nowadays when fuel price is comparatively high; it is only one way from many to make ferry system more attractive for bus lines. City administrations and local governments have

an especially important role to promoting ferry transport at the local level. Increases of in-vestment in water transport infrastructure and services are urgently needed, in par-ticular, in the cities of countries lie on the sea line and having big river or channel systems.

Rail transport is an environmen-tally friendly alternative to the use of the auto or the plane for a broad range of occupancy rates and technologies used (Button and

Rietveld, 1999). In terms of speed, the aver-age car and train are about equal, and in par-ticular cases—congestion in metropolitan areas and high-speed rail—the train is clearly faster.

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32Fig. 4 Netherlands train


By Andrey Maltsev

Yet the share of the train in passenger transport is modest in most countries. For a balanced devel-opment of public transport systems, it is neces-sary that investments in higher speed rail lines be compared to investments in the local road network and environmental costs around auto networks.

Holland has one of the most extensive and modern public transportations systems in the world. Visi-tors can get to almost any part of the country within a matter of hours traveling only by train and/or bus. The NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – Dutch, Neth-erlands Railway - English) covers most of the coun-try, with almost all small and big towns connected in one network, most of them have a service frequen-cy of two trains an hour or even more (and at least 4 trains each hour between the biggest five cities: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Eindhoven as well as some larger cities: Amersfoort, Arnhem, Hertogenbosch, Dordrecht and Leiden).

The Netherlands has a very broad rail net-work with a very high occupancy. The rail net-work of the Netherlands has a density of 41.5km of line per square kilometre with an extremely high occupancy of 4,801 passenger-km/km of line, compared with European average of 1,773.

Some statistics from Dutch railways:

• 6,830kmtrail,managedbyNS

• TheGreenHarttunnel(HSL)isthelongest railway tunnel in The Netherlands (7.1 kilometers) • 75%oftheDutchpopulationliveswithin 5 kilometers of a station

• 1,157,260peopleinTheNetherlandstake a daily train (Annual Report 2010)

• 62%ofDutchpeopletravelingonceayear or more by train

• 13%ofDutchpeopledothisatleastonce a month

The high occupancy of the Dutch network indicates the need for increasing the network’s capacity. How-ever, because the country is small and densely popu-lated, the space available for expanding the network is scarce and expensive.

Dutch authorities responsible for the management of the network do their best. Over the past decades, as the economy continued to grow, readiness to invest in the expansion of the transport infrastructure evapo-rated. It became a popular belief that as more infra-structure capacity merely generated new demand, why was there a need to build more infrastructures? The budget spent on increasing the capacity of rail and road infrastructure has been around 0.8 percent of GDP and was well below the European average.Fig.5 Map of the rail network in The Netherlands

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by Andrey Maltsev

Soon, the Dutch government will decide on a major infrastructure project involving the construction of a new rail link between Amsterdam/Schiphol airport and the City of Groningen in the North of the coun-try. Amsterdam is part of the Randstad region, the economic core of the Netherlands. Government has been provided a several descriptions of the possible rail connections between Schiphol and Groningen across the Afsluitdijk. They should decide and choose which type of transport techniques may be used: 1. intercity railroad (IC) - variants are relatively slow (a maximum of 160 km/h) but will use existing tracks

2. high-speed railroad (HS) and Maglev system (ML)- variants are faster (about 300 km/h) but need modifications of existing tracks to reach higher speeds

Advantage of the last two systems is high speed, but there is main disadvantage - they need relatively long distances to reach their maximum speed and to slow down again.

In all of the countries the creation of a strong rail in-dustry has depended from large and steady invest-ments in rail and public transport.

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Fig.6 Amsterdam train station

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Investments need to be supported at a high level, providing a stable of long-term commitment to building a public and modern transport system. A short-term commitment of funds will not work here. Critical point in the investments is that in-vestments need to be undertaken intelligently. It is mean that they need to build public transport sys-tems that work well, provide easy-to-use alterna-tives to automobile or plane travel. Intercity rail needs to be connected with urban transit systems

because so many passengers do not end up traveling from one city to another only to be off at their des-tination. High-speed rail can play an important role and often displacing short distance air travel. But high-speed lines need to be a consentaneous together with conventional rail lines. Within cities, different bus and rail lines also need to be well-coordinated with each other. This includes a high degree of fre-quency and reliability of service, and well-designed, easy-to-understand passenger information systems.

Fig.8 New train from NS

About the Writer

Andre Maltsev works in IT Technology and is a free-lance photographer/journalist from Almere, Nether-lands. Born in Russia, Andrea’s career has taken him from Russia, to working in Her Majesty’s service for the British Embassy, to Italy to where he is located today in the Netherlands. You can view many of An-dre Maltsev’s works at http://www.flickr.photos/ry-zhik/

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The DreamAll building and planning permits…sorted, mapped and linkedEvery day, all over the United States, people are applying for building permits. In city halls, con-tractors, architects, consultants and homeown-ers are both pulling and applying for permits. The new norm that arrived alongside the huge in-crease in data online is that we all expect to gain access to the data we are looking for within sec-onds. Try searching a city hall web site for plan-ning and building information and the experi-ence will very likely redefine the word “opaque.” Fortunately, the veil can be lifted with a new web ap-plication, which allows users to see what building or planning permits have been applied for in San Francisco, Seattle or New York without having to go through the city hall web sites. A mobile version is cur-rently in development and to be released very soon.

It’s called buildingeye.com.

Permit mapper and moreFounded in July 2011, buildingeye.com is the creation of practicing civil engineer Ciaran Gilsenan of Dublin, Ireland, and Philip McNamara of San Francisco. The California company’s application takes government planning and building permit data from different cit-ies and visualizes it on a map, making it easy to see what’s happening in local neighborhoods right now. It identifies each permit application with a small site icon on a map. There is also an information win-dow providing a full description of the proposed project and a link at the bottom, providing direct.

access to city documents associated with that file. Icons are color-coded to reflect the permit status; for example, blue is received and green is granted. Still in beta, the platform will be released with more cities as the database grows.

Figure 1. Overview of the Buildingeye app

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By Ciaran Gilsenan

Why Now?Company co-founder Gilsenan envisioned a mo-bile device app that offered greater transparency than is usually available in typical city hall web sites.

Recently, the city of San Francisco joined the ranks of the Internet’s burgeoning open data movement. In June 2012, San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee announced the Open Government Innovation Part-nership – a call to action to help cities advance and prioritize innovation to drive job growth, economic development, improved efficiency and collaboration.

“This is a time for cities to confront challenges by taking risks and embracing innovation,” said Mayor Lee. “In

San Francisco, we are using technology and innovation to improve city services that impact our everyday lives, from transportation to education to civic engagement.”

In the past, start-ups would not have had the advan-tage of the data being made freely available to them. This is the kind of transformation and open think-ing that gave buildingeye.com the confidence to build its new app, which delivers the following ben-efits to the U.S. planning and building communities:

• User-friendlyaccesstoavailablecityhall information

• Areal-time,low-costdataapplication with no public procurement protocols to be adhered to.

Figure 2. Screen shot from Buildingeye.com showing San Francisco Data.

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By Ciaran Gilsenan

What does it cost?From Building Eye’s perspective, for an applica-tion to be an effective use of open data, it needs to provide some service for free to members of the public. To facilitate this, there needs to be a business model to sustain this service. Thus, the application provides the following features:

• A search facility. free of charge to the public

• A more detailed search for subscribers, whose subscription fees, in part, underwrite the cost of making the access to the data free for the public.

Subscription prices range from $50 per month to $250 per month.

This is just the first strand of what the company can do. With additional data layers, we will be able to ser-vice more authority-specific information to users in sectors other than building and planning.

Figure 3. Buildingeye.com planning list extract: search for new retail permits in San Francisco

Outside the USA some European countries—the United Kingdom, for example—are out in front in the open data community. Data sets for transporta-tion, health and crime top of their open data list, with building permits slated for future release. The key to getting the system right is for the data pro-viders – Government Bodies- providing an ongoing, machine-readable data feed in a common format. As a user of the data we would rather see it put out there in raw format rather than waiting for it to be perfect, at least there is something we can do with it.

Contact informationTo contact BuildingEye:The Hub, 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704 Please Call (510) 684 7750Email [email protected] or [email protected] @buildingeye

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By Ciaran Gilsenan

Wildfire Season and the Wildland-Urban InterfaceFire mitigation and management for a defendable space

By Pamela Shinn, BS URP

The Driest Season on Record

As the 2012 wild fire season is upon us, it is only ex-emplified by continued prediction of drought. Ac-cording to the National Oceanographic and Atmo-spheric Administration (NOAA), drought has been increasing both in extent and intensity across the country and is expected to persist and expand across the nation. In NOAA’s May to June 2012 reports, many regions across the country are being report-ed as dryer than normal. NOAA also has reported that over a three month time scale as being the dri-est on historical record. Those areas that are not to normal and fall below normal, with the most severe being in the Central Rockies and the Ohio Valle, hav-ing landmarked as the two dries areas on record and in ranking (figure 1). Sixteen other states fall in the driest third as well in the historical record. During the month of May 2012, the Palmer Drought Index (PHDI), indicates that 44% of the contiguous US falls within the moderate to extreme drought categories. The Palmer Hydrologic (figure 2) and Metrologic Long Term Index (figure 3) for the month of June 2012 shows not much of an improvement for many areas.

These weather conditions contributing to the recent outbreak of fires that have plagued many areas from Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, California and those oth-er areas in the draught areas are now of dire concern to many communities. To date the state of Colora-do alone has had a number of major fires bordering the wildland-urban interface. At the time of writing this article the Colorado fires had been contained and still under the monitoring of Colorado office ofEmergency Management who report that the High Park fire is 100% contained, Waldo Canyon is 98% contained, Weber fire is 90% contained, Little Sands is 40% contained. The losses alone reported from these fires remain at 6 lives lost, over 127,000 acres destroyed, and urbanization on the fringe of these wildland-urban interfaces (WUI) has lost an estimat-ed 600 homes. As the fire season is far from over, it

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is imperative that fire prevention measures in are put into motion to assist is protecting urban areas, plan-ners, contractors and homeowners can use preventive measures to help homes build in vulnerable areas.

As we strive to preserve open space and curb ur-ban sprawl, across America every year many homes are subject to fire-prone areas. While some of these homes survive, others do not survive a major wildfire. Those homes that do survive these fires is primar-ily due to having been prepared in assuring location, construction and landscape as assisting in making a defendable sustainable living area. Although this does not guarantee the survival of a home, wildfire mitigation that can be taken on the public and pri-vate level may help to save your home or community.



Wildfire Mitigation Planning

From the city planning standpoint, zoning and building regulations can play a major role in assist-ing to assure that those homes built on the fringe of the wildland-urban interface (WUI) have de-fendable buildings as well as a defendable building space. Construction materials and landscaping can increase the potential for a more positive outcome.

Local officials and planners can assist in the mitiga-tion of wildfire damage protective measures. One method for city officials and planners is to assist the community in the development of a Commu-nity Wildfire Protection Plan (CWFPP). The CW-FPP is one of the best tools to begin with for com-munities located on the wildland-urban interface. By developing a CWPP, communities can develop a fire mitigation plan tailored to their specific com-munity and the communities needs. Key partners in the plan may include; local government, local fire authorities, representatives from your local federal land managing agency, and other non-governmental agencies. The key partners should assess the com-munity and develop a very specific community plan.

A CWFPP can be developed at the community level such as with a homeowners association, town, county, or city level. This should be developed in collabora-tion with community members and relevant partners. .All the information that will be contained within the plan should be appropriate and community spe-cific. There should also be a county level plan, which should provide a wide umbrella type of plan which should be set up to include CWPP’s on the county level and should be considered as an alternative plan since they will not include community specific plans.

A plan include:• Adescriptionofthecommunity’sWUIthat will identify problematic areas utilizing a map and narrative

• Informationonthecommunity’sprepared- ness to respond to a wildland fire

• Communityriskanalysiswhichshould include: the risk of wildfire occurrence, fuel hazards and community assets to be protected in the immediate vicinity and the surrounding zone where potential fire spread poses a threat

• Identificationoffuelstreatmentpriorities on the ground and methods of treatments

• Waystoreducestructuralignitability

• Planimplementationmeasures

Codes for wildfire prone areas

While during wildfires where homes and build-ings are exposed to the threat of fire, there are three basic types of wildfire exposures. • Burningembers• Directflamecontact/exposure• Radiantheat

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While embers are the number one major cause of homes being lost during wildfire sea-son, the major considerations of wildfire miti-gation also include the threat of embers to ig-nite near-by vegetation as well as the structure.

Of course the required use of non or low combustible building materials is also a very large consideration.The state of California since 2008 has mandated that any new construction done in a wildfire prone area of that state are required to comply with fire mitigation re-quirements instituted in the California , building code. The provision in Chapter 7A of the California build-ing code provides regulations for “Materials and Con-struction Methods for Exterior Wildfire Exposure” and applies to building materials, systems and assemblies that are used in all exterior design and construction for buildings that will be located within a WUI area.

Local zoning regulations are also another tool that can be used in fire mitigation. These regula-tions are generally site and land use specific plans that can assist in regulating by identifying addi-tional development and control standards. Some tools to consider for regulation may include:

• providefortwolaneroadaccesstomainroads and fire lanes

• requiringbufferzonesaroundanyhomeora planned unit development

• mandatingwithinthatbufferzonefire retardant materials and vegetation

• Providingforlowerdensitybymeansof idetinfying minimum residential lot depth as well as structure placement from buffer zone

These regulations and methods have already been tak-en into consideration in many areas. Many building codes utilize fire-resistant ratings, being the period of



time a building element, component or any assembly maintains the ability to confine or restrict fire while con-tinuing to give full structural performance and man-dated the use of non to low combustible materials into their building codes. These materials range from roof-ing, vents, soffits and eaves, gutters, windows, decking, siding, calking, fire barriers and walls, joint systems and a whole lot more. All requirements take into con-sideration three fire related standard characteristics:

• First,theabilitytoresistthespreadoffire• Secondisflameresistance• Thirdtheabilitytoresistgenerating burning embers

You can find more about the “Materials and Con-struction Methods for Exterior Wildfire Expsure” ofthe California building code at: http://publicecodes.citation.com/st/ca/st/b200v10/st_ca_st_b200v10_7a_section.htm

Homeowners and Wildfire MitigationIt is important for homeowners to know and recognize the areas that they can assist in improving upon miti-gating their homes against wildfires and providing for a more defendable space. Homeowners can take two areas into consideration in the approach to help protect against the treat of wildfires in regard to their homes. The first and primary consideration to assist in helping to provide a defendable living space would begin with the structure of your home, utilizing materials recom-mended as low-combustible materials as we discussed previously. The second would be making the space around the structure is on as high a defendable space as possible. The goal here would be to reduce fuels that may aid in the spreading of the fire to the structure.

Homeowners can mitigate their landscapes and still maintain the natural setting of their property. It is important that not only is the physical logistics of the landscape important, but the live vegetation as well.

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The term Defendable Space in landscape (or Fires-cape) the area and is considered as a 100 foot zone area which would surround a structure. The area may have vegetation, and consideration to low height as well as non to low combustible materials and vegeta-tion should be used. Fire resistive plants should be spaced and maintained to minimize any fuel mass that may ignite due to fire. The first 30 feet around the structure is considered the Defensible Space Zone should be kept free of vegetation and any combus-tibles that may fuel a fire. From 30 feet to 100 foot zone extension from the home should be considered as the Reduced Fuel Zone. This area is where any fu-els and vegetation should be separated both verti-cally and horizontally. This can be accomplished by:

• Thinningandpruningtolimitovergrowth and to eliminate dead growth

• Removalofvegetationtoeliminatedead material and to ride the area of highly combustible vegetation. This can be done to also provide separation between plants

• Trimmingtreesupfromlowervegetation and also to provide lateral separation within the canopy.

According to Analysis of the Utility of Wildfire Home Protection Strategies, studies have recommended that “bush clearance of between 10-19 feet to the north and west was best correlated with homes sustaining structural damage while a tree clearance of 0-4 feet to the north and west resulted in a greater probabil-ity of structural damage. These findings indicate that the recommended 30-foot brush clearance the 15-foot tree clearance were effective in protecting homes as these suggested vegetation clearance distances were not correlated with homes sustaining wildfire damage.”

Types of vegetation are dependent upon your area. There are types of vegetation that are fire non or low plants and others that are highly combustible.

Vegetation and Clearance Examples of low combustible vegetation are:

• Plantsthatgrowclosetotheground• Havealowsaporresincontent• Growwithoutaccumulatingdeadbranches, needles or leaves• Plantsthatareeasilymaintainedandpruned• Aredrought-tolerant

You can find a specific list of plants suggested for high risk fire mitigation at:http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/dplu/docs/Suggested-Plants.pdf

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2002 Hayman Fire Disaster burned 133 homes, 138,114 acres, and forced the evacuation of 5,340 people- Pike National Forest, Colorado. Photo taken June 2012.

Phot

o by

Pam

ela

Sinn

Michael Davis is an aviation and urban enviornment pho-tographer formerly based out of Nashville, Tennessee. Hav-ing grown up in a small town in Kentucky, Michael always dreamed of living in a bigger, more urban, environment. Michael is pleased to share his passion of the built environ-ment in the form of photos. Michael has had numerous pho-tos published in some of the world's most respected publi-cations and is a published author of one book. Michael can be reached directly at [email protected] and his photos can be seen at www.flickr.com/perspectivephotography.com.

Cover Photo, ‘Off-ramp to Hemel’ contributed by Derek Bissett of Buckinghamshire, Eng-land. To see more of Derek’s work go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/deeeb/ or contact him on [email protected]

Andre Maltsev works in IT Technology and is a freelance photographer/journalist from Almere, Netherlands. Born in Russia, Andrea’s career has taken him from Russia, to working in Her Majesty’s service for the British Embassy, to Italy to where he is located today in the Netherlands. You can view many of Andre Maltsev’s works at http://www.flickr.photos/ryzhik/

Michael Schraf is from Brisbane Australia and attended Queens-land University of Technology and has a Bachelors degree in Ur-ban Development - Regional and Town Planning with experience in econominc development and regional planning.

Highway A1A photo provided by Joseph Babyak. You can view more ofJoseph’s work at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/llnesinthesand/3651104461/

Historic Highway 89A sign by Ellen Jo Roberts.

Adam Prince is a travel enthusiast that resides in North Carolina. You can follow his travels at his blog "Sure, Why Not?" at: http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/.

Urban Planning and Economic Development News Magazine

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Urban Planning and Economic Development July 2012