Summer docs with heroes for urbanists

Two remarkably popular documentaries this summer offer models of how to do urbanism. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the late Public Broadcasting System host Fred Rogers surely are heroes of urbanism, both articulating and exemplifying our core values. In a summer marred by the U.S. government essentially kidnapping children and then farming them out to for-profit firms, losing track of some of them, drugging some of them... we need some inspiration!

Rogers studied for the ministry and briefly attempted a show aimed at adults, but found his calling as the host of a children's TV program for more than 30 years. Throughout the documentary he is shown taking children seriously, listening to them and speaking to their concerns, eschewing cheap laughs and practically any ornament of stage production whatsoever. His unadorned set might reflect his Calvinist background, but if so he moves past that background as he visibly seeks the good in everyone he encounters. The "neighborhood" is full of people, with the city's characteristic diversity. As the signs around town say, "All are welcome here," and he lived that.

Ginsburg was attracted to the law watching lawyers defend those accused by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s. She has used her position, particularly as a Supreme Court justice, to promote arguments for the legal equality of women. A brilliant law student in an era when few women attended law schools, once graduated she had to fight to find a job at all. Eventually, both as a lawyer and a judge, her arena was the courtroom. She was appointed to the federal bench in 1980 after spending the 1970s litigating women's rights cases; she won five of the six cases she argued before the then all-male Supreme Court. Portrayed as a folk hero, "The Notorious R.B.G.," in various scenes of cartoon combat, she is in reality the opposite of flamboyant, personally reserved and relying on her mind and the force of argument in an increasing pile of dissenting opinions.

Ginsburg in "R.B.G." is the warrior-hero, while Rogers in "Neighbor" is all about love. Yet Ginsburg follows her mother's advice never to lash out in anger, and reaches across the ideological spectrum to befriend colleague Antonin Scalia. Rogers vigorously defends federal funding for PBS, and is unsparing in his criticism of children's programs that take a sillier approach.

Jeffrey Erlanger, an early guest on the show

 (Source: archive.org)

Many similarities emerge, too, that are important to the urbanist project. Both have worked phenomenally hard at their vocations. Both are about building community, additively, mainly by including women (Ginsburg) and children (Rogers), but other types of people are included as well. Both exhibit moments of human weakness: Rogers when he insists a gay actor remain closeted as a condition of continuing on the show, Ginsburg when making some highly injudicious comments about Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in summer 2016.

Though "Neighbor" mentions--twice--that Rogers was "a lifelong Republican," he like Ginsburg drew fire from the new right. Both films feature a medley of conservative media venom, with "R.B.G." weirdly showing it as coming from statues around Capitol Hill.

And both endured late career setbacks in their efforts to shape the culture. After winning all those cases in the 1970s and early in her judicial career, Ginsburg has become "the great dissenter" as new members move the Court rightward. Rogers's late-career frustration shows as he seems to identify less with meek, hug-seeking Daniel Tiger and more with ornery King Friday XIII.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Fred Rogers are urbanist heroes because they exemplify the hopeful-inclusive ethos of the city; the need both to love extravagantly and to be militant on behalf of what we're creating; and the affirmation both of their own humanity and that of the people around them.

(Loudon Wainwright III sings his tribute song, "Hank and Fred")

Book Review: "Cities for People"

source: islandpress.org

Jan Gehl, Cities for People. Washington: Island Press, 2010. xii + 269 pp.

Jan Gehl of Denmark, best known as a leading planner of transformed Copenhagen, published this gem of a book nearly 10 years ago. I only caught up with it this week, and am here to reassure you that if you also have missed out on it until now, it's not too late. Generously illustrated with photographs from around the world, the book makes his case crisply yet with lyrical prose. Principal recommendations are catalogued in a "toolbox" at the end.

Gehl writes a lot about the importance of cities being walkable, and how to help them become so. There are various reasons why this is important, but the ones he stresses are the connections between physical design and individual well-being. For this reason I'd classify him as an "L" urbanist, though the other dimensions appear as well. For theme he compares to The Happy City by Charles Montgomery (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2013) and The End of the Suburbs by Leigh Gallagher (Portfolio/Penguin, 2013); he also relates to handbook-style works of city design like Walkable City by Jeff Speck (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2012), who cites him energetically throughout the his book, and City Comforts by David Sucher (2003).

Fast traffic and parking lots make for poor walkability

Gehl begins at a familiar starting points for urbanist critiques of contemporary cities: the mid-20th shift to designing places to maximize the movement and parking of motor vehicles, along with modernist architecture's individual spectacular buildings. As a result, "[T]he traditional function of city space as a meeting place and social forum for city dwellers has been reduced, threatened or phased out" (p. 3). We might get to our destinations faster--or we might not, as anyone caught in congested traffic can attest--but we lose something fundamentally human: contact of many varieties with many varieties of people.

Even from their cradles babies strain to see as much as possible, and later they crawl all over their homes to follow the action. Older children bring their toys into the living room or kitchen to be where the action is. Outside play takes place not necessarily on playgrounds or in traffic-free areas, but more often on the street, in parking lots or in front of entrance doors, where the grown-ups are. Young people hang out by entrances and on street corners to follow along with--and perhaps join in--events....

Throughout life we have a constant need for new information about people, about life as it unfolds and about the surrounding society. New information is gathered wherever people are and therefore very much in common city space. (pp. 23, 25)

 "Good cities for walking," then, do more than provide opportunities for pleasant exercise or an alternative means of short trips. They are good cities for life.

Red's and Blue Strawberry are part of one of the best blocks in CR's downtown

One of the most important ideas in the book, both for designers and citizens, is the need to restore human scale to cities. In chapter 2, he presents a few data that serve as the basis for the design ideas later in the book: "man is evolved to move slowly and on foot" at about 3 mph, so we can notice details when moving at that speed. Sight, hearing and touch operate at short distances. At car speed and skyscraper height, we're limited in what we can absorb, so streets designed for cars must be at a pretty basic level, and whatever features might adorn skyscrapers are lost except for aerial photography. So cities must restore the small scale: Cities must provide good conditions for people to walk, stand, sit, watch, listen and talk (p. 118). This means providing enough space, easy street crossings, interesting sights, soft "edges" and places to sit, while minimizing obstacles like signs and "interruptions" like driveways.

The lawn at New Bo City Market is a multi-use space providing plenty of cause for staying

Another interesting feature of his argument is the amount of stress he puts on "staying," as opposed to walking or bicycling, by which he means "sitting down and spending time in the city" (p. 147). Staying activities can often be used as a measuring stick for the quality of the city as well as of its space.... In a city like Rome, it is the large number of people standing or sitting in squares rather than walking that is conspicuous. And it's not due to necessity but rather that the city quality is so inviting. It is hard to keep moving in city space with so many temptations to stay. In contrast are many new quarters and complexes that many people walk through but rarely stop or stay in (pp. 134-135). Data he collected in the 1980s show "staying activities last an average of nine times longer and therefore contribute 89% of life in the streets" (p. 72). Attractive places to sit, pleasantly soft edges and cafes are essential to the street life we--at least many of us--crave.

People walk to this grocery store, but it's a battle

Throughout the book, Gehl argues getting the design right is fundamental to making cities for people. Early in the book, in a section entitled "First we shape the cities--then they shape us," he asserts "urban structures and planning influence human behavior and they ways in which cities operate" (p. 9); in particular, the effort to accommodate driving led to more driving but also less city life. Citing studies from Copenhagen and Melbourne, as well as examples from other cities, he concludes The conclusion that if better city space is provided, use will increase is apparently valid in large city public spaces, and individual city spaces and all the way down to the single bench or chair.... Whether people are enticed to walk around and stay in city space is very much a question of working carefully with the human dimension and issuing a tempting invitation (p. 17).

Garages make for a hard edge to the street

My only quibble with Gehl's book is it spends so much time on (in?) the city center. Its lessons need to be carried to the surrounding neighborhoods as well. If people aren't walking and/or cycling in their own neighborhoods, they will inevitably be driving to work, school and downtown, which starts the vicious cycle. Even if they break those habits to walk around the city center, their cars will need the gobs of accommodation that makes walkability so difficult to attain. I don't imagine that Gehl disagrees with this point at all, and totally understand his emphasis on the city center, but would have liked to have seen the point addressed that "cities for people" means the whole city.

CR Municipal Band performs in Bever Park. This magnificent park is one of the few attractions within a mile of my otherwise-walkable neighborhood.

SEE ALSO: Allison Arieff, "Let's Reconnect with Our Streets," New York Times, 3 July 2018

Do bicycle boulevards need a purpose?

I was surprised last weekend to find the place where we were staying was on a bicycle boulevard. A bicycle boulevard is "a street with low motorized traffic volumes and speeds, designated and designed to give bicycle travel priority" (NACTO 2012). Cycling magnets like Berkeley and Portland aspire to city-wide systems of bicycle-priority streets either as separate from or alterations to auto thoroughfares. I haven't been to either city, so I don't know how well these systems are working, but they seem to have measurable goals and to be using the term in a meaningful way.

My complaint, and I do have one. is that in other places the term bicycle boulevard is being slung around like "cool" or "love" to mean whatever the city wants it to mean, which sometimes isn't very much. Merely stenciling a sharrow sign on a street and adding the letters "BLVD" does not a bicycle boulevard make.

On Charles Street in St. Paul, there are also special street signs...

signs indicating distances...

and this roundabout...

(although I think this feature, found elsewhere in this section of the city, predates the bicycle boulevard designation).

The interface of Charles Street with Snelling Avenue (average daily traffic count=33,500) takes bicycle boulevarding to the next level.

The intersection is blocked for cars, but bicycles and pedestrians can cross.

Some effort has obviously gone into making Charles Street a bicycle boulevard. My question is: Why? It is a residential street that runs parallel to the University Avenue (ADTC=13,800) with its monster shopping plazas, so would certainly make for a quieter ride with less competition for the street. But so would any residential street, with or without special designation or decoration. Given the volume of traffic on Snelling, a car on Charles trying to cross or turn left would be in for a very long wait anyhow.Whatever money was spent on Charles would probably have been better spent making Thomas (ADTC=3100) a complete street, or even taming University.

If I were biking in St. Paul, the only reason for me to be on the bicycle boulevard that is Charles Street would be to visit someone on Charles Street. If my destination were the transit stop at Snelling and University, or one of the stores on University, I'd sooner or later be biking on University. If I needed to cross Snelling, I'd go by Thomas Avenue (ADTC=3100) for the traffic light, or else (gulp!) University again, instead of waiting and waiting for a break in traffic at Charles.

Not every city, to be Mr. Obvious here, is Berkeley or Portland. Or Amsterdam, or Copenhagen. Each city has its own culture, population density, and existing built infrastructure to deal with. Bicycle boulevards that fit the definition and contribute to a crosstown network of cycle-friendly streets may (or may not) be important contributors to overcoming the auto-centric design we all went in for back in the day. But calling something a bicycle boulevard for the sake of calling it a bicycle boulevard, or to be able to claim that you have them, seems silly.

SEE ALSO: Bill Lindeke, "Jefferson Crashes Rekindle Bicycle Boulevard Debate," Streets.mn, 24 November 2015. This blog post provides extended discussion of the Charles Street bicycle boulevard, providing quite a bit of local expertise and policy history my post lacks. He observes that in my experience the Charles medians are very safe to use for pedestrians and bicyclists. Car traffic slows down and, even on extremely busy Snelling Avenue, tends to stop for people crossing the street. On top of that, they provide a "refuge" halfway through the street that allows the vulnerable non-drivers to focus on one direction at a time. On the other hand, see the first several comments. "Scott" says I'm as likely to skip Charles and go over to Marshall if I'm eventually heading south because Charles just isn't worth the hassle.

Lindeke's lengthier discussion of Jefferson Avenue in the same post argues that empty designation can be not merely pointless but dangerous. A federal grant was apparently the motivation in both places.

What is the future of Iowa's small towns?

Former Audubon County courthouse, Exira (Source: Wikimedia): county population has fallen from 8559 (1980) to 5578 (2017)

A recent column in the Cedar Rapids Gazette highlighted the angst small town residents have about their future. Bill Menner, executive director of the Iowa Rural Development Council, argued that statewide candidates of both parties should put forth "meaningful rural-specific policy initiatives" as they campaign in the state; by "meaningful" he means "targeted policies and investments" addressing "issues that limit [rural Iowa's] ability to grow."

Iowa developed as a predominantly agricultural economy. In 1890 it was the tenth-largest state in the Union, even without any large cities. (Des Moines' population that year was 50,093; Cedar Rapids had only 18,020.) Our two million residents were spread evenly across the state, with hundreds of small towns serving the surrounding farms with necessities, schools and gathering places. Changes in agriculture, transportation and commerce put that model away long ago: farms are now corporate or similarly huge operations, and use machinery rather than hired labor. (For more on contemporary farm life, see Fox 2018). Some small towns have reinvented themselves as bedroom communities, college towns or tourism/recreation centers, but the majority that lack that option have seen population and economic prospects decline. Both the industrial and post-industrial phases of American economic development took place elsewhere.

Downtown Decorah (pop. 7918, down 217 since 2010) is supported by Luther College

Iowa has grown slowly since the 2010 census, adding just under 100,000 residents by the Census Bureau's 2017 estimates. Ten urban and suburban counties added 127,943, which means the other 89 counties lost more than 25,000 residents. Growth is concentrated even within the Census Bureau's metropolitan statistical areas: in the Cedar Rapids MSA, Linn County has gained 13,000 residents so far this decade, while Benton and Jones Counties have seen marginal declines. The ten urban-suburban counties now account for 58.8 percent of the state's population, but have added 74.5 percent of the state's new jobs in this decade, attracted 228 percent of people moving into the state, and account for over half of people aged 25-44.

[NOTE: That "228" is not a misprint. The other 89 counties have a combined net out-migration, so the number of migrants into the core 10 more than doubles that of the whole state.] 

Some degree of resentment at these disparate outcomes is understandable, and has received attention as Iowa has shifted politically from purple to red in the 2010s. Donald Trump won easily here in 2016, and Republicans dominate both federal and state offices. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds refers to small towns as "the real Iowa," while lambasting "far-left liberals in Des Moines and Iowa City." (By the way, Governor, Johnson and Polk Counties, which contain Iowa City and Des Moines respectively, together comprise 20 percent of Iowa's population. They have added 70,000 residents since 2010, along with 35.3 percent of the state's job growth, 32.3 percent of the state's GDP, 147.1 percent of people moving into the state, 26.9 percent of college graduates, and 29.3 percent of those with graduate or professional degrees. Without them Iowa is truly in a world of hurt.)

Washington (pop. 7424, up 154 since 2010) has restored its historic downtown square

Menner's column plays to this resentment: Federal and state funding flows easily to urban areas, where elected officials and staff know how to maximize their success. Rural places don't have that same capacity and are often left behind. He calls for the state to [m]easure the disparities in project funding between rural and urban places and put in place remedies to address them. 

But data to confirm or refute federal/state unfairness to small town Iowa don't exist. According to the American Community Survey census of governments, transfers from the federal and state governments amount to 26 percent of county government revenue, 17 percent for cities, 21.6 percent for special districts, and 51.4 percent for school districts. But those numbers are not broken out by county, town, &c.  What we can say for sure: The biggest items in the federal budget are Social Security, Medicare and defense. The former goes to individuals, predominantly elderly people who predominate in small towns and rural areas, so it's not surprising that the 52.1 percent of the state's population that lives in the ten urban-suburban counties receives only 46.9 percent of federal benefits to individuals, and 46.9 percent of federal awards. The biggest item in the state budget is education, which is going to follow the population as well. The state has not undertaken county consolidation, which has been batted about since I've lived in Iowa, so we have counties with less than 10,000 population which nevertheless receive government spending that accrues to (and maybe props up) county seats. Still, it must be hard to see the state allocate a paltry $1.3 million to expand broadband access while a single interchange on I-380 north of Cedar Rapids is going to run upwards of $20 million.

Cities have succeeded in this century--well, they're not all succeeding, but those that are succeeding are building on three factors: the advantages to firms of clusters of knowledge workers, social and cultural amenities that come with dense population, and broad attitudes of tolerance and inclusion. To those we should add better access in cities to mobile broadband as well as venture capital, as firms in those fields see a greater likelihood of returns on their investments where population is denser. That's why urban areas are growing and small towns and rural areas mostly are not. It's nothing sinister, and there's no point in being resentful. The young and hip will always command an outsize share of media attention, but we shouldn't let that affect a cold-eyed assessment of what's working for successful places.

Em's Coffee Co., downtown Independence (pop. 6018, up 52 since 2010)

Small towns and rural areas have advantages, too--strong community identity, easy access to natural places, and often compact walkable business districts--though probably not enough entirely to ensure "the survival of Iowa's 900-plus small towns," as Menner advocates. One of my sons lives and works in Seattle; if he could find a similar job in Decorah, or Clear Lake, or Red Oak, he'd move in a minute. Menner's column suggests some state policies that could build on those advantages: expand the broadband grant program, create a state rural housing initiative, better funding for existing agencies.

But there's the rub, you see: all of that costs money. So do education, health care, and public institutions. The state of Iowa is not building fiscal capacity to make these sorts of public investments possible--quite the opposite, in fact, as the legislature annually delivers substantial tax cuts, and the governor dips into contingency funds to pay the bills. Menner would like to see someone at the state level designated as rural liaison-advocate, but in a state government run by Republicans elected on the strength of rural and small town votes, there already is that someone: the Governor, an acknowledged fan of "the real Iowa." Republicans at the state level, however, have decided to play culture war instead, producing bills to defund Planned Parenthood, bar "sanctuary cities" (of which the state has zero), and ban abortions after six weeks one year after banning abortions after twenty weeks (for laws taking effect this year, see Murphy 2018). None of that helps rural counties out of the doldrums; nor does it help the cities that are the state's economic engines compete for talent.

Rural and small town Iowans, stop voting for policies that help you feel good, and start voting for policies that help you live well.

Some ideas (see also Benfield and Epstein 2012, Brown 2018, Gilmartin and Hurley 2018):

1. Support Menner's group's advocacy for more state investment in your community, while recognizing that investment is not going to happen without tax revenue. Don't wait for the 1 percent, or urban residents, or the magic of supply-side economics, to produce a windfall, but be willing to pay for the services your community needs. 
2. While you're waiting for the state to act, improve your own capacity and attractiveness: Invest in human capital, specifically education and small business development, including the library and adult education opportunities. 
3. Buy local, and avoid national big-box chains, whenever you possibly can; your money will stay in your community and help it grow. 
4. Take advantage of your assets, be they natural, existing institutions or fortuitous location; as Aaron Brown notes, recreation is a bigger industry now than agriculture or mining. And...
5. Do whatever it takes to earn a reputation for openness. The next great idea might come from a Lesbian, or a Mexican immigrant, or a Muslim. If rural Iowa continues to be perceived as the last bastion of grumpy old white people, it will be irrelevant to the 21st century. 

Even a well-funded state government can't afford to buy everyone a pony, but towns can position themselves to use whatever they can get to best advantage.

SEE ALSO:
"Small Business and the Ideological Divide," 2 February 2018
"Condition of the State 2018," 10 January 2018
"Adam Smith and the Road to Correctionville," 8 March 2015 [by the way, I just found out the highway featured in this post was named to this list of top highway boondoggles of that year!]

SOURCES: I owe particular thanks to 

• Dr. Liesl Eathington at Iowa State University's Iowa Community Indicators Program. She advised and guided me through the thicket of numbers on this subject. She is, of course, not liable for what I've done with them.
• Martin Smith, faithful reader and concerned citizen, who pointed out some errors in the original version of the statistical data.

 Kaid Benfield and Lee Epstein, "The Death--and Life--of Small Town America," City Lab, 7 September 2012 [LINK IS DEAD AS OF 2023]
Paul Brennan, "Gov.Reynolds Signs So-Called 'Sanctuary Cities' Bill, Which She Says Was Aimed at 'Far-Left Liberals in Des Moines and Iowa City," Little Village, 10 April 2018
Aaron Brown, "Rise of the Rural Recreation Economy," Minnesota Brown, 25 May 2018
Russell Arben Fox, "What Do Farmers Want?" In Media Res, 6 July 2018
Dan Gilmartin and Daniel J. Hurley, "Column: Invest in Talent That Drives Economic Growth," Detroit Free Press, 25 January 2018
Phil McCausland, "Rural Communities See Big Returns with Broadband Access, But Roadblocks Persist," NBC News, 11 June 2018
Bill Menner, "Rural Matters: Small Town Voters are Looking for Big Ideas in 2018," Cedar Rapids Gazette, 24 June 2018
Erin Murphy, "New Laws Affect Drunken Driving, Opioid Abuse," Cedar Rapids Gazette, 1 July 2018, 1A, 11A

SOME DATA (I have wads more if anyone would like to see it):

	IOWA	10 COUNTIES (PCTG)	REST OF STATE
Population 2017 (1)	3,145,711	1,637,905 (52.1)	1,507,806
Pop Growth 10-17 (1)	98,842	124,192 (125.6)	(25,350)
Jobs 2016 (2)	2,076,231	1,171,595 (56.4)	904,636
Job Growth 10-16 (2)	124,298	92,644 (74.5)	31,654
Migration 10-17 (1)	24,342	55,513 (228.1)	(31,171)
Age 25-44 2017 (3)	761,908 (24.2)	431,533 (56.6)	330,375
% Bachelor’s Degree or Higher 2016 (3)	25.7	33.1	18.8
% Grad/Prof Degree 2016 (3)	8.0	10.9	5.2
Federal Personal Benefits 2016 (4)	$25,206,000	$11,813,000 (46.9)	$13,393,000
Federal Awards (5)	$22,500,000	$10,551,000 (46.9)	$11,949,000

NOTE: The "ten counties " in the table include the eight that contain the central cities of Metropolitan Statistical Areas (Black Hawk, Dubuque, Johnson, Linn, Polk, Scott, Story, Woodbury); Pottawattamie County (Council Bluffs) in the Omaha MSA; and largely-suburban Dallas County. "Rest of State" is comprised of the remaining 89 counties.

(1) U.S. Bureau of the Census, “American Factfinder: Iowa (P1, S0701),” Dubuque County, Iowa - Census Bureau Profile

(2) U.S. Bureau of Economic Affairs, "Total Full-Time and Part-Time Employment by Industry (CAEMP25N)," BEA : Regional Data Table Availability
(3) Iowa Community Indicators Program, Iowa State University

·         “Educational Attainment of the Adult Population,” https://www.icip.iastate.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/tables/education/educational-attainment.xls

·         “Population in Selected Age Groups,” https://www.icip.iastate.edu/tables/population/age-groups

(4) “Personal Current Transfer Receipts (CAINC35),” BEA : Regional Data Table Availability
(5) USASpending.gov, “Iowa,” https://www.usaspending.gov/#/state/19

Ely (pop. 2150, up 369 since 2010) works with its proximity to Cedar Rapids and Iowa City