16.3. Neighborhood Planning Center

Aus Pattern Language Wiki

In order to accomplish neighborhood-scale improvements in Slum Upgrade, Sprawl Retrofit, Urban Regeneration and Urban Consolidation, it is necessary to work closely with residents, who will act as co-developers in almost all cases. An institutional framework is needed.


16 3 01 Neighborhood Planning Center.jpg


Problem-statement: Many people participate in small-scale development at the neighborhood scale, in effect “co-producing” the city. They need neighborhood-scale resources to help them.


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Discussion: Homeowners and business owners who are engaged in development of their properties face a bewildering environment of obscure and often contradictory requirements: technical demands for rebuilding based upon highly local conditions; financial requirements of insurance companies, mortgage lenders and government agencies (often in conflict); and planning and permitting requirements that present multiple options and multiple potential problems.


The neighborhood planning center is a way to bring resources to where they are needed — the neighborhood scale. The centers are places where informal discussion and peer-to-peer exchange of information can take place — both physically, and through a web-based component. They are also venues for periodic community meetings on timely topics of city-wide and local planning issues. No less importantly, they are places for the efficient distribution of knowledge and expertise on topics like construction systems, historic preservation, green building and other topics.¹


The centers also give residents the opportunity to participate in planning of their own neighborhoods, and development of planning regulations such as zoning, coding and enforcement provisions. The residents can also develop versions of their own pattern language (both individually and as a neighborhood) to help to coordinate the growth of their neighborhood in a beautiful and diverse way.


Such a center goes to the heart of subsidiary self-governance, which has been unfortunately undermined by an “age of experts.” In traditional societies the world over, neighbors made (and still make) collective decisions about the shape of their environment and the governance issues posed there. With the coming of industrialization, this authority increasingly passed into the hands of governments, which (as history shows) often made catastrophic planning mistakes. Today we are struggling to restore a healthy balance between local and central decision-making. All over the world, this process is newly emerging, sometimes called “peer-to-peer urbanism”.


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Therefore:

Create a series of neighborhood planning centers, one for each walkable neighborhood area (roughly 800 x 800 meters or ½ mile x ½ mile).


16 3 02 Neighborhood Planning Center.jpg


Provide digital resources for the centers, including Augmented Reality Design tools and Citizen Data tools, including community wikis and other resources tools. …




¹ A neighborhood planning center scheme was proposed for New Orleans by our team at Sustasis Foundation and Sustasis Press, with the participation of Christopher Alexander, Ward Cunningham and others. A limited version of the scheme was implemented by the Neighborhoods Partnership Network. See Mehaffy, M. et al. (2007), Neighborhood Renaissance Centers: Information and Resources Where They’re Needed For Rebuilding After Hurricane Katrina. Portland OR: Sustasis Foundation. Available on the Web at Sustasis.org/NRCs.pdf.



Mehaffy, M. et al. (2020). NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING CENTER (pattern). In A New Pattern Language for Growing Regions. The Dalles: Sustasis Press. Available at https://pattern-language.wiki/.../Neighborhood_Planning_Center



SECTION I:

PATTERNS OF SCALE


1. REGIONAL PATTERNS

Define the large-scale spatial organization…

1.1. POLYCENTRIC REGION

1.2. BLUE-GREEN NETWORK

1.3. MOBILITY CORRIDOR

1.4. 400M THROUGH STREET NETWORK

2. URBAN PATTERNS

Establish essential urban characteristics…

2.1. WALKABLE MULTI-MOBILITY

2.2. LEVEL CITY

2.3. PUBLIC SPACE SYSTEM

2.4. BIOPHILIC URBANISM

3. STREET PATTERNS

Identify and allocate street types…

3.1. URBAN GREENWAY

3.2. MULTI-WAY BOULEVARD

3.3. AVENUE

3.4. SHARED SPACE LANE

4. NEIGHBORHOOD PATTERNS

Define neighborhood-scale elements…

4.1. STREET AS CENTER

4.2. PEDESTRIAN SANCTUARY

4.3. NEIGHBORHOOD SQUARE

4.4. NEIGHBORHOOD PARK

5. SPECIAL USE PATTERNS

Integrate unique urban elements with care…

5.1. SCHOOL CAMPUS

5.2. MARKET CENTER

5.3. INDUSTRIAL AREA

5.4. HOSPITAL

6. PUBLIC SPACE PATTERNS

Establish the character of the crucial public realm…

6.1. PLACE NETWORK

6.2. WALKABLE STREETSCAPE

6.3. MOVABLE SEATING

6.4. CAPILLARY PATHWAY

7. BLOCK AND PLOT PATTERNS

Lay out the detailed structure of property lines…

7.1. SMALL BLOCKS

7.2. PERIMETER BLOCK

7.3. SMALL PLOTS

7.4. MID-BLOCK ALLEY

8. STREETSCAPE PATTERNS

Configure the street as a welcoming place…

8.1. STREET AS ROOM

8.2. TERMINATED VISTA

8.3. STREET TREES

8.4. STREET FURNISHINGS

9. BUILDING PATTERNS

Lay out appropriate urban buildings…

9.1. PERIMETER BUILDING

9.2. ARCADE BUILDING

9.3. COURTYARD BUILDING

9.4. ROW BUILDING

10. BUILDING EDGE PATTERNS

Create interior and exterior connectivity…

10.1. INDOOR-OUTDOOR AMBIGUITY

10.2. CIRCULATION NETWORK

10.3. LAYERED ZONES

10.4. PASSAGEWAY VIEW



SECTION II:

PATTERNS OF MULTIPLE SCALE


11. GEOMETRIC PATTERNS

Build in coherent geometries at all scales…

11.1. LOCAL SYMMETRY

11.2. SMALL GROUPS OF ELEMENTS

11.3. FRACTAL PATTERN

11.4. FRAMING

12. AFFORDANCE PATTERNS

Build in user capacity to shape the environment…

12.1. HANDLES

12.2. CO-PRODUCTION

12.3. FRIENDLY SURFACES

12.4. MALLEABILITY

13. RETROFIT PATTERNS

Revitalize and improve existing urban assets …

13.1. SLUM UPGRADE

13.2. SPRAWL RETROFIT

13.3. URBAN REGENERATION

13.4. URBAN CONSOLIDATION

14. INFORMAL GROWTH PATTERNS

Accommodate “bottom-up” urban growth…

14.1. LAND TENURE

14.2. UTILITIES FIRST

14.3. DATA WITH THE PEOPLE

14.4. INCREMENTAL SELF-BUILD

15. CONSTRUCTION PATTERNS

Use the building process to enrich the result…

15.1. DESIGN-BUILD ADAPTATION

15.2. HUMAN-SCALE DETAIL

15.3. CONSTRUCTION ORNAMENT

15.4. COMPLEX MATERIALS



SECTION III:

PATTERNS OF PROCESS


16. IMPLEMENTATION TOOL PATTERNS

Use tools to achieve successful results…

16.1. FORM-BASED CODE

16.2. ENTITLEMENT STREAMLINING

16.3. NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING CENTER

16.4. COMMUNITY MOCKUP

17. PROJECT ECONOMICS PATTERNS

Create flows of money that support urban quality…

17.1. TAX-INCREMENT FINANCING

17.2. LAND VALUE CAPTURE

17.3. EXTERNALITY VALUATION

17.4. ECONOMIES OF PLACE AND DIFFERENTIATION

18. PLACE GOVERNANCE PATTERNS

Processes for making and managing places…

18.1. SUBSIDIARITY

18.2. POLYCENTRIC GOVERNANCE

18.3. PUBLIC-PRIVATE PLACE MANAGEMENT

18.4. INFORMAL STEWARDSHIP

19. AFFORDABILITY PATTERNS

Build in affordability for all incomes…

19.1. INTEGRATED AFFORDABILITY

19.2. COMMUNITY LAND TRUST

19.3. MULTI-FAMILY INFILL

19.4. SPECULATION TAX

20. NEW TECHNOLOGY PATTERNS

Integrate new systems without damaging old ones…

20.1. SMART AV SYSTEM

20.2. RESPONSIVE TRANSPORTATION NETWORK COMPANY

20.3. AUGMENTED REALITY DESIGN

20.4. CITIZEN DATA