No Silver Bullets

Stabilizing and bringing new investment into a neighborhood that has been on a continuing trajectory of decline for over fifty years is not simple. As we often caution our clients when discussing revitalization efforts “It didn’t get this way overnight; it won’t be fixed overnight.” This is an important lesson for those who would enter into the fray—regardless of how well-intended—with the notion that one big project will stem the exodus of homeowners or merchants and reverse disinvestment. Whether it is overly optimistic naiveté or bravado, it is foolhardy, if not dangerous.

Silver bullets, those photo-op-worthy, one-off projects promoted as a remedy for ailing communities, tend to raise hopes and then dash them all over again once the luster of new construction fades and the realization settles in that the community is still not on a sustained, positive path. A failed revitalization effort can be as destructive to residents’ sense of hope as the loss of a cherished church building, a local school, or a neighborhood market.

If you could quantify the hope embodied in a community and chart it along a timeline, I venture it would look similar to a chart of more tangible metrics of community stability—levels of private investment, vacancy rates, educational attainment, employment, and so on. Introduce the silver bullet project along the timeline and it may cause a temporary upswing but without the complement of other timely and transformative actions circumstances will eventually give way to the preceding momentum of decline.

Silver bullets are seductive. They are easy to describe and so they are easy to sell. They fit neatly into press releases and campaign slogans. They can be accomplished in one term in office—the bigger projects might require a second term. Sadly though, most do not deliver any substantive improvement to the community.

Community Garden (photo courtesy YWCA)

If it takes a village to raise a child, what does it take to raise a village?

Community decline is much too complex for simple solutions, regardless of how magnanimous. Revitalization must be holistic and get at the root causes of decline, simultaneously, if at all possible. If it cannot be done simultaneously, the various parts must be implemented in quick succession.

In the case of a low-income community the reasons why individuals raised in poverty tend to stay in poverty must be addressed. Funneling money into improvements of the physical place without also making systemic changes that increase educational, social and economic opportunities will likely not produce long-term results. While there is no clear formula for breaking the cycle of generational poverty, education, especially early learning, is crucial to increasing the ability of poor children to develop, learn and lead more successful, productive lives. Fostering stability, security and optimism about the future are also often critical to disrupting the cycle of poverty.

Transforming an impoverished community into an environment that nurtures success will often require physical changes, educational and social service programs and efforts to reduce crime.

A group of nonprofit organizations has embarked on such a comprehensive approach in Birmingham’s Woodlawn community. Through my work at KPS Group, I have had the privilege to serve as a planning and urban design advisor to the Woodlawn Foundation and its partner organizations over the last three years in their efforts to sustainably transform Woodlawn into a community of choice.

Going the Distance

Woodlawn is a predominantly low-income urban neighborhood in eastern Birmingham. It is home to a quaint main street commercial district, several area churches large and small, one of the oldest and grandest public schools in the city, and a considerable stock of historic single-family homes. It is also home to a large concentration of tax delinquent properties, abandoned homes, vacant and underutilized commercial property, crime (both real and perceived), and islands of cheaply built and poorly managed multifamily properties. Similar to the stark contrast between these assets and challenges, community sentiment ranges from proud and optimistic to sour and mistrustful.

Woodlawn became, after decades of continued and mostly unabated decline, a community of last resort—a condition, which the Woodlawn Foundation, YWCA Central Alabama, REV Birmingham, the Church of the Highlands’ Dream Center, and Cornerstone Schools joined forces, to change. Inspired by the success of the revitalization of the Eastlake neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia, the Woodlawn Foundation engaged Purpose-Built Communities, a national community revitalization advisory group involved in the Eastlake initiative, and local planning consultants KPS Group to craft a holistic strategy to revive the Woodlawn area.

The strategy that emerged from meetings with merchants, residents, nonprofit representatives, local church leaders, and city and school officials identified several improvement areas necessary to putting the community on a sustainable, positive trajectory: cradle-to-career educational pipeline; quality, affordable and mixed-income housing; crime deterrence and public safety; and economic opportunity. The overall strategy includes other objectives that overlap or supplement the primary action areas such as community image, health, transit access and pedestrian mobility.

As the Woodlawn United partnership formed and we began preparing the revitalization strategy, the YWCA completed a substantial, early phase of investments in affordable housing adjacent to Woodlawn’s historic commercial district. The combination of renovated, re-designed apartments, newly constructed duplexes and the Interfaith Hospitality House had an immediate impact and is serving as a stable nucleus around which a mixed-income housing development is being planned. In 2013 the American Planning Association is honoring the YWCA’s YWoodlawn program with their esteemed National Planning Excellence Award for Advancing Diversity & Social Change Honor of Paul Davidoff.

Dansby Court (photo courtesy YWCA)

Since the formation of Woodlawn United, the Foundation and its partners have been hard at work executing the plan we helped them prepare. Woodlawn Foundation has acquired neglected, tax delinquent housing and vacant properties for a multi-phase, mixed-income housing initiative, for which they also received City approval of a Redevelopment District and rezoning with unanimous support from Woodlawn’s neighborhood associations. KPS helped the Foundation acquire a community challenge grant for a beautification project now underway in the commercial district and CMAQ funding to improve sidewalks, lighting and drainage on neighborhood streets. REV Birmingham and the Woodlawn Foundation are adaptively reusing a vacant commercial building that will serve as a hub for small business and social entrepreneurial development. A Citizens on Patrol program was created in 2012 in partnership with the City Police Department. The Foundation is also working with Purpose Built Communities to plan and fund an early learning center—a central component in the educational objective of the revitalization effort.

Look for more news here on what is happening in Woodlawn and how this holistic revitalization effort is helping to turn Woodlawn back into a community of hope and a community of choice.

But don’t expect any silver bullets.

A fresh look along a tired street brings new life to Midtown Birmingham

view along 14th at viaduct

14th Street Streetscape Improvements

City of Birmingham, Alabama

How do you bring new life to a tired district?  The City of Birmingham chose to start with a street.  They chose the most heavily traveled street in Midtown Birmingham.  They chose 14th Street, a primary connection between their bustling Downtown District and the thriving University of Alabama Birmingham Campus and Medical District.  Maybe a fresh look, new walks, and bike lanes along the street would help to bring hope, inspiration, and private investment to Midtown.   

They found transportation funds, came up with matching funds, and went to work.  They retained KPS to lead the design effort.  They had $1.2 million dollars, and sixteen blocks to cover.  The plan would have to be very strategic.  It needed to make a visual impact. 

Today, 14th Street boasts a continuous green tree canopy that links Downtown, through Midtown and on to the Campus at UAB.  There are new walks, fresh plantings, and bike lanes.  And there are people walking, people cycling, and lots of new projects underway. 

Since the completion of the 14th Street Improvements, the City unveiled the Nationally recognized Railroad Park, and is currently developing the new Birmingham Barons Baseball Stadium on 14th Street.  The street also features an expansive new campus for the Social Security Administration, new student housing developments, a brewery, and soon, there will be a new US Treasury Building.  The University of Alabama at Birmingham is reaching back and continuing the partnership.  The University has bold new plans to extend their campus toward Midtown, along 14th and 15th Street. 

The City's investment included new street trees, walks, brick pavers, lawns, shrubs, lighting, storm water inlets, curb and gutter, and new street furnishings along the sixteen block corridor.  The City also provided asphalt resurfacing, and striping for bike facilities.  

A streetscape alone cannot make a district.  It is only a part of a much larger picture.  But it demonstrates commitment and investment.  It is a link, and it is tangible.  It brings hope, life and vitality both in its look and feel, and it was delightful and refreshing for those who had been waiting in the wings to walk, cycle, work, live, and play on 14th Street.  

Capital Strategies - An Interior Design Project

Capital Strategies’ new 8,320-square-foot office was designed to create a sophisticated, modern workplace uniquely suited to the firm’s elite client base and professional staff. The office has a predominately neutral scheme which was embellished by the wooded landscape viewed through expansive sections of glass throughout the space. Finishes were clean and coordinated such as glass, dark stained mahogany panels, painted doors and mouldings which combined with stylish transitional furnishings. The highly functional yet smart contemporary design was achieved through detailed coordination within a tight timeframe.

Capital Strategies

When Capital Strategies decided to relocate their offices into a new Class-A building, it gave them the opportunity to consolidate square footage as well as update their image. Their new 8,320-square-foot office was designed efficiently and purposely to create a sophisticated, modern workplace uniquely suited to the firm’s elite client base and professional staff.

The predominantly neutral scheme is embellished by the wooded landscape viewed through expansive sections of glass in the reception area, conference rooms and offices. To maximize daylight and encourage an open feeling, perimeter offices and conference rooms have full-height glass walls and workstations partitions are low allowing light to penetrate into the space.

Designed to support both daily work activities and social functions, the reception area is generously proportioned to accommodate large gatherings while serving as the welcome center for clients. The desk composed of white lacquered wood with insets of specialty finished wood panels, sets the tone for other millwork throughout the space.

Clean and coordinated finishes such as glass, dark stained mahogany panels, painted doors and mouldings combine with stylish transitional furnishings to make the office fresh and updated. Budget conscience design decisions such as textured vinyl wallcovering used as backsplashes in between cabinetry in the breakroom, catering kitchen and coffee bar were creative ways to introduce pizzazz.

Because timing was critical, the project’s four-month design phase and four-month construction schedule played a vital role in selection of finishes and furnishings.  Highly functional yet stylish contemporary design demonstrates detailed coordination within a tight timeframe.

GOOD DEVELOPMENT AND SOUND INVESTMENT

Every day, countless individual investment decisions are made. Taken together, these can have a big impact on a city's image for investment. Whether private decisions about where to build, or public decisions to improve or expand infrastructure, they all affect the desirability of a city as a place in which to invest.

What kind of development image is your city building for itself? Will it be attractive to investors – and local residents? Just like everyone else, developers are looking ahead, seeking a reasonable return on investment, in balance with a reasonable level of risk. All things being equal, then, good private development may best be attracted by cities that wisely plan for and manage their investments in facilities and services – the kinds their own local residents desire – that will serve them well for years to come.

Responsible developers are interested in local long-term public commitment to local people and businesses. So they look for a continuing record of putting time, talent, and money into achieving local goals. Should prospective investors find evidence of no planning or of poor management –inadequate infrastructure or incompatible land uses located next to one other, for example – they will get an uneasy feeling that the future of the city is in no one's hands. So, rather than looking like the right place in which to invest, your city may instead project a negative image to those you wish to attract. And such problems can be avoided with just a little foresight – a little planning ahead.

The style of planning and management that can help a city take charge and bring positive growth and development is rooted in fiscal conservatism, one of the South’s most enduring political beliefs. Effective, local planning brings residents together to decide the kind of place they want, the best areas for economic development, and the places for investment that will support their city's quality of life.

This approach to planning does not dictate future decisions, but rather helps local elected officials invest today so the future will be more like their constituents want it to be. This kind of planning helps to build local commitment to invest in the capital improvements, operations and maintenance it takes to attract the kinds of development residents want, and can help fit growth and development into the places they want.

Planning can improve the quality of life for everyone: when implemented consistently over time, effective plans help attract the growth in jobs, industries, retailers and office development a city wants. Such positive results also help keep local residents happy with city government the people they elected to watch out for their interests citywide. Planning for growth and development is not only the essence of fiscal conservatism in local government; it is the only sure way to demonstrate your city's commitment to the future.


Darrell Meyer, FAICP
Senior Vice President
KPS Group, Inc.
2101 First Avenue North
Birmingham, AL 35203
205.458.3271
dmeyer@kpsgroup.com
www.kpsgroup.com

A Vision, A Grant, A Vacant Lot Bring Life to Downtown Gadsden

There are always magical sounds coming from the Senior Center Courtyard in Downtown Gadsden. During the day, you might hear a soothing waterwall, or casual conversation. On the Third Thursday of each month, the place bustles with Live music, laughter, and dance. It is not a secret destination anymore. It the place to be, and it's in Downtown Gadsden.

Nick Hall, City Planner at Gadsden had a vision to turn a vacant lot into a beloved treasure. He had a vision to transform a muddy, grassy area, collecting rainwater from the rooftops of the surrounding buildings into a vibrant green courtyard. Today, it is a place where friends meet friends, shoppers stroll in from Mainstreet, and where families gather for reunions, dinners, and weddings. During the summer, Downtown Gadsden, Inc. hosts a monthly concert, made possible with grant funding from the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

Coupled with grant money, the City made a small investment, and in exchange, they have created a destination that attracts thousands of residents and visitors to downtown on a regular basis. And when the doors open into the adjacent buildings, the space is transformed into an even larger venue, linking the courtyard to the Ball Room at the adjacent Senior Center, and to the main auditorium of the Historic Pittman Theater.
 
Since it's grand opening several years ago, the courtyard has become a beloved destination. The City loves it. The Senior Center would like to adopt it, and the merchants love the crowds and the customers. It is a win-win for everyone. 


Landscape Architect: KPS Group, Inc. , Amy G Smith, ASLA, LEED AP
Contractor: Dunn Construction 
Owner: City of Gadsden

Campus Planning

Campus Planning and Landscape Architecture

KPS recognizes that the physical campus is a manifestation of an institution's mission and culture. A campus should express the individual uniqueness of it's people, place, and time. It is a blending of learning environments, campus life, and supportive elements.

Our plans act as roadmaps for our clients, allowing their physical settings to grow more useful and beautiful over time. KPS recognizes that each component of a campus plan is integral to the overall success and learning environment of the Institution. We strive to inter-relate buildings, infrastructure, open spaces, transit, site ecology, and storm-water management. Our process is intensely collaborative and involves consensus building amongst administrators, faculty, students, facilities staff, and prospective users.

University of Alabama Master Plan Update
Tuscaloosa, Alabama

The University of Alabama Vision, as described by President Witt in the 2007 plan:

"Our vision is to become the “university of choice for the best and brightest.” People—students, faculty, staff and alumni—are the heart of this university. They are the greatest of the four cornerstones of our vision. The other cornerstones—programs, facilities, and resources—will equip our students not only to compete in the world, but to preserve and change it for the better. By bringing together academics and research, this university creates a synergy that benefits not only the students, but the entire state of Alabama.

To make our vision a reality, we have created a bold new plan that includes the most aggressive goals and ambitious objectives we have ever set forth. As we walk the Capstone today, we enjoy the shade of trees we did not plant, the music of chimes we did not build, and the benefit of programs we did not initiate. However, it’s now our time and responsibility to provide for the future. It’s time to plant trees whose shade we will not enjoy and to support the education of young men and women yet to be born. Now is the time for us to choose. And we choose to transform the future." President Witt


The University of Alabama Campus Plan presents a clear and compelling vision: a return to the fundamental principles on which the University of Alabama campus was historically planned and designed, even as the University responds to contemporary demands. This requires reclaiming and reinforcing the campus as a prime example of the American campus planning tradition. Therefore, the Campus offers a complete learning environment—a hospitable, yet engaging academic setting, steeped in the beauty, climate and culture of the South, where residential villages, academic villages, outdoor gathering places, walkways, and recreation areas are interwoven into a gracious and welcoming setting that nurtures the soul and inspires the mind.

Since the plan completion in 2007, The University of Alabama Campus Plan has served as a roadmap for some of the most aggressive changes the University has undertaken. The campus has been transformed into a pedestrian environment by removing the automobile from the core of the campus. All Freshman are now residing on campus in one of several residential villages, and the core campus has expanded to include the new engineering complex. KPS is currently engaged with the University in the 2012 Campus Plan Update which will incorporate the former campus of Bryce Hospital, the university's neighbor for 150 years. A preliminary version of that plan is shown above.




University of Alabama Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama

The Campus Master Plan Amendment explores and identifies ways in which the University of Alabama at Birmingham might grow over time within its urban context; continuously evolve its role as a leading economic engine in the State of Alabama; enhance the quality of living, working, playing and studying on-campus; and foster public and private investments essential to the well-being of the University’s neighbors, Downtown Birmingham, and the city overall.

In terms of the physical improvement and growth of the campus, these issues are essential to the evolution of the University’s unique, multi-functional campus:

A campus-wide open space system that will organize and interconnect the campus and its major functions.
A walkable campus to optimize future growth opportunities.
A focus toward town and gown as academic, medical, research and other University functions grow in the future, the campus must also grow.



University of North Alabama, Campus Master Plan Update
Florence, Alabama

The 2010 Campus Master Plan update envisions a return to the traditional American campus planning principles upon which the University of North Alabama, the first state-chartered institution to begin operation in the state, originally developed. The plan reveals the campus perhaps 20 or so years from now, assuming continued growth and investment in academics, housing, campus amenities, and support facilities.

New facilities are positioned around the campus in support of a unifying network of open spaces. This provides a strong, central academic core with optimal internal accessibility and appropriate transitions at the community edge. Bicycle and pedestrian improvements work together with the campus’ functional organization so that students, staff, and visitors will find it increasingly convenient to move about the campus. Vehicular access, parking facilities, and an improved wayfinding system provide easy arrival and departure while supporting and encouraging safe, non-vehicular travel within the campus.

Campus functions are organized around the historic campus core, which is reserved primarily for academic and administrative uses, while new student life functions will be strategically integrated to increase activity and convenience. Significant improvements in student housing facilities outside the core will be supported by major investments to student life facilities that will be con-centrated toward the center of campus and available to all.



University of Alabama Huntsville, Master Plan
Huntsville, Alabama

According to University President David Williams, "One of the most important things for a university to do is ensure that it plans its future infrastructure needs carefully and coherently."

In response, KPS Group is helping the University community develop a new campus master plan consistent with their new "Powers of 10" goals and strategic plan.

Among their goals is to bring student life and related organizations into a more central role to allow the opportunity to create a more vibrant and integrated campus. The University selected KPS Group in part for its commitment to an open, transparent planning process that invites everyone to participate in planning for the future of the campus.

The KPS approach seeks participation from all parts of the campus. Students must feel involved in the planning of their residences and their on-campus life. Everyone must share concern for making the campus a safer place to walk and ride. They must also help to solve the ever-thorny problem of campus parking so that students, faculty, and staff can park close to their destination and everyone can walk or ride between classrooms with equal ease—without getting in a car.

The University of Alabama in Huntsville has set very aggressive goals for growth of students, faculty, and facilities. According to President Williams, "In five year's time, this campus will be a very different place—an intrinsically better place to live, learn, and work."

KPS is proceeding with the planning process as a comprehensive, in-depth operation that involves active participation of the entire university community.

Oakwood University Master Plan
Huntsville, Alabama

KPS Group prepared a Master Plan for Oakwood University in 1999, and a Campus Plan Update in 2010. The Oakwood University Master Plan grew out of the University's vision as a self-sustaining campus. Wellness, wholeness, and sustainability are not just ideas on this campus, but daily practices at this unique African-American Seventh-Day Adventist University.

The Campus Plan was developed around several key components of Campus Life- walking, healthy living, sense of community, and sustainability. University leaders envision a truly self-sustaining campus, where families meet, live, and learn, where children are raised, and where the elderly retire.

The plan features new residential areas, academic buildings, greenways and trails, K-12 schools, a retirement village and a cemetery.




Auburn University, Campus Green and Transit Shelter
Auburn, Alabama

The Auburn Campus Green provides a new campus square, and a new heart for the Auburn University Campus. It re-introduces one of Auburn’s original football fields, as a central lawn for passive play, event gathering, and game day activities. It organizes buildings, streetscapes, and plazas along the edges of that green, with areas for seating, for gathering, and for overlooking the rolling green. It proposes a Central Transit Station that reminisces the original façade of the stadium, and thus blends the historic field with the hidden layers of Jordan Hare. The plan is carefully fit within the campus context- physically, historically, and programmatically. It accommodates bus traffic, game day traffic, game day services, stadium egress, and daily pedestrian traffic. And most importantly, it skillfully creates a setting that fosters learning, recreation, gathering, and the Auburn Spirit.

KPS Group, Inc. prepared the master plan and construction documents for the new Transit Pavilion and Campus Green at Auburn University. The new Transit Pavilion and Green was designed to serve as the heart of the Auburn Village. Located in the heart of campus, the area serves as a comfortable and welcoming place for students, as they arrive on Campus each day. The open-air transit pavilion, brick walkways, lights, and banners offer a unique corridor which has affectionately been named "Tiger Alley". On football weekend, the streetscape becomes a festive event area, where the Auburn marching band parades toward the stadium just before kickoff.

The transit pavilion overlooks a new central lawn to the east. This areas is known as Bullard Field, Auburn’s home football field, from the 1920’s until 1939. The reconstructed field replaces parking that was added during the1970's, and restores a central lawn in the heart of campus. It is a place for all of the Auburn community to gather and share in the life and Spirit of Auburn.

The Central Transit pavilion is fashioned akin to the original facade of Jordan Hare Stadium, and thus blends the historic field with the hidden layers and geometries of Jordan Hare Stadium.

The Tiger Transit system hosts 42 buses, and over 2 million riders annually, with the central loading zone located at Tiger Alley.

Avondale Park Renovations

KPS Group, Inc. was retained by the City of Birmingham to provide landscape architectural services and lead a team of consultants in the renovation of Avondale Park. KPS Group prepared a plan that would carefully blend today's needs while celebrating the historic legacy of the park.

Avondale Park, dedicated in 1886, was one of Birmingham's earliest parks. The park site was chosen because of its natural spring, which was a popular attraction with local people, as well as a favorite stopping point for weary travelers along the old Huntsville Stagecoach Road. With its natural beauty, rolling topography, and natural spring, the park quickly became a gem for residents all over Birmingham and the region. The park hosted the Birmingham Zoo for several years, and has long served as the home for Avondale Amphitheater.

A grand new gateway at the park entrance features ornamental metal artwork with playful cutouts of the park's features such as ducks, catfish, theatrical masks, treble clef, musical staff, and guitar.

Massive stone columns support the metal work, with floral leaflets and ornamental lights at the top of each column. A new playful fountain features a bronze elephant representing “Miss Fancy”, a beloved elephant who resided at the park when it was home to the Birmingham zoo.

The historic amphitheater has been restored, with new arbors, festoon lights, and accessible restrooms. The original spring and grotto, which had been closed and hidden for many years, has been “unveiled”, and features a new waterfall and pool.

The park also includes three new baseball fields, and a new concession building with restrooms. A plaque near the ballfields commemorates the 1953 Little League World Series Champions, whose home field was Avondale Park. A walking trail circles the lake and play areas, and winds along the wooded hillside.

Play areas are nestled within the shade of the park's existing trees, and are designed to accomodate children of different age groups. Benches and picnic pavilions are located conveniently nearby for parents.

inquiries:
Amy G. Smith, ASLA, LEED AP
asmith@kpsgroup.com

Landscape Architect: KPS Group, Inc.
Architect: Jim Waters; KPS Group, Inc.
Civil Engineer: Dynamic Civil Solutions
MEP: Khafra Engineering
Electrical Design: Cater Reddington Staub
Graphic Design: Objective Design
Irrigation: Irrigation Consultant Services, Inc.