Portland’s Racist Dystopia, Its Academic

University of Oregon environmental historian Steven Beda’s Oregonian editorial, “Northwest Secession and Ecotopia’s Troubled Racist Past,” exemplifies why academic is often a pejorative term. In a city where $20 million is allocated to house people of color who risk being displaced, he contends Portland is a “racist dystopia.” "Many environmental policies that Portlanders are proud of continue to perpetuate racial inequities." http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/11/northwest_secession_and_ecotop.html Interestingly, right wing zealots say the same in their desire to deregulate the green city and develop the protected lands outside the urban growth boundary.

Beda, however, is not interested in procuring profits, he wants to purify thoughts. "An enlightened view of diversity,” he claims, will rectify Portland’s ills. Filtering history's complexity through the academic lens of "race, class, and gender," Beda's rote ideology parallels Trump's view that environmentalism impedes economic growth and eviscerates communities. Sadly, virtue--the sacrifices citizens make for the public good--is foreign to the simplistic maxims of the academic left and the laissez-faire right. Virtue is also foreign to demagogues, and the presidential election exposed the nation's poverty of values.

Portland's experiment in creating a green, "ecotopian" city is predicated on a “moral political culture,” historian Carl Abbott contends.  Virtue is the essential ingredient in a land use system that stresses the public good over individual interests, and the results are virtuous--investing in sustainability has a high correlation with social equity.  Portland, like all American cities, has a history of racism.  Yet the nation's "whitest city" is hardly a racist dystopia.  In 2012, whites voted for Barack Obama at close to twice the rate of their cohort across the nation. More important, investments are rectifying historic injustice and the city's new comprehensive city plan envisions an “Ecotopia” that marries equity and resilience in sustainable form.

Stephen Beda is blind to these facts.  His reading of Earnest Callenbach’s cult classic, Ecotopia, is also impaired, having all the verity of the political commissars in Dr. Zhivago who sought “to cure people…of the habit of judging and thinking, and force them to see the non-existent and prove what was contrary to evidence.” Beda's claim that, “People of color did not live in Callenbach's imagined world,” distorts what the author actually wrote: “There are surprisingly few dark-skinned faces.”  This fudging of the truth is magnified by Beda's failure to address Callenbach's solution to the scourge of racism.

In Ecotopia, a nation that renounces consumerism and builds a society predicated on ecological principles, the majority of African-Americans live in Soul City, an independent city-state where consumerism still thrives. Incomes and work hours are higher, luxury goods are more prevalent, and cars (banned in Ecotopia) dot the streets. As a resident states, “We’re still making up for lost time.”

Callenbach forces the reader to confront racism's impact on environmentalism. Sustainability demands living within limits to ensure adaptation and survival. Yet it is one thing to down size, and quite another to exist on the edge of society. Long denied access to the gilded consumerism corporate America insistently sells, Callenbach thinks it is only logical that African-Americans would imbibe in a lifestyle that confers status.

For Callenbach, consumerism is akin to adolescence; it is something one grows out of. In Portland consumerism is questioned and sustainability championed. This act stands academic dogma on its head by begging the question: Is it possible for Americans to embrace sustainability regardless of race, class, or gender? 

For many Americans, Portland is a good-natured joke. The pinioning wit of Portlandia depicts a blithely naive people of good intentions in a nation of gilded towers and exploitative excess. Marshall Berman, the author of The Coming Dark Age, sees little humor in Portland’s special mesh of nature and urbanism. “It just may take racial homogeneity for an American city to work,” he writes, “not a happy conclusion.”

In an increasingly urban world, Portland’s Ecotopian vision is essential. Americans will never consume their way to social justice or sustainability, and the city’s judicious use of land and resources demands study. Portland remains a test case for determining if the “good life” Aristotle attributed to cities can match the goods life that infuses the 21st century. Writing off Portland as a racist dystopia may play in the safe spaces on college campuses, but it dishonors the thousands of citizens dedicated to building a city that is just and sustaining.

Violence Mars Portland's Essential Blueprint

Thursday night, the rush of noise funneling down Lovejoy Avenue sounded like the gusts of a hurricane’s outer bands. The crescendo built as voices harmonized with the storm of feet moving past my residence. The melodic chant stirred me, raising my hopes and emotions after a dismal 48 hours.

Stepping out to my balcony, I was reminded of the scene from Dr. Zhivago where the physician/poet is uplifted by a protest against the Czar—until a troop of Cossacks attack. Violence broke my reverie as well when a brick crashed through a store window across the street. The jangle of shattering glass cut through the protestors’ chant like a knife. I was dumbstruck as windows and glass doors were smashed. A new chant broke out, “Peaceful Protest, Peaceful Protest,” but the damage was done.

Coming down to the street, I heard a neighbor cry out, “Shame, Shame.” Her instinctual response not only described the loss of property, it marked the loss of a heralded message. In a place designed for human movement, the ideal setting to make a glorious statement of a free people, miscreants with bricks and bats fueled Donald Trump’s incendiary charge that our “inner cities are in crisis.”

Four decades ago, Oregonians invested in the novel idea that the judicious use of land could create a sustaining mix of private capital and civic enterprise in their cities. This investment has generated a considerable return and the Pearl District is the jewel, a prototype for the nation’s urban renaissance.

Once an abandoned section of the city, the eminently walkable neighborhood’s crafted mix of shops, parks, and apartments could be could be mistaken for sections of Oslo or Helsinki. Yet it is far from affluent. Thirty percent of residents live in subsidized housing and the median income is less than the city average. If the challenge of affordable housing is to be met, the Pearl District is the blueprint. Moreover, it might hold the key to unifying the urban-rural divide that split Oregon and the nation last Tuesday.

Plans were recently approved for the Framework, a 12-story building set to be the tallest wood structure in the United States. Since it is sited next to a streetcar stop on Glisan Avenue, the developer was not required to provide off street parking. This cost savings made it feasible to provide affordable housing.

The Framework is ultra efficient as well. It will sequester more carbon than conventional buildings and its wood will be sourced from Oregon forests and processed in depressed rural communities that supported Trump. Given that the president elect must replace rhetoric with policy, Portland’s innovation is a “huge” calling card.

On Tuesday, the city moved ahead on the housing front when voters approved a $258 million bond for affordable housing. Citizens should take to the streets and demand that the first estate developer president follow their lead. However, civility, common sense, and the rule of law must reign, otherwise Donald Trump will reign over a benighted republic.

Valuing Nature in the City: Equity and Investment in Portland's Parks

Portland has 209 parks totaling 3,445 acres and another 7,800 acres of natural land. Bike trails and greenways link the system, but the distribution of parks is weighted towards the city’s established neighborhoods. Efforts are underway to shore up underserved areas, especially those with low-income residents that lie more than one-half mile from parks or natural areas.  Metro, Portland’s regional based government, is working on similar lines. Since 2013, its Nature in Neighborhood program has spent $7.5 million involving underserved neighborhoods in park programs and conservation work on acquired natural lands. At the same time, plans for the Central City, where population growth is the most intense, is pursuing a series of options to procure an adequate supply of greenspace in the future.

In the Pearl District, additional parks are needed to serve the long-term needs of a diverse poulation that is expected to increase by 50 percent by 2035. Of special concern is the growing contingent of families with children. There are playgrounds at Fields Park and the North Park Blocks, and the Central City 2035 Plan envisions a new public park and and open space facilities as part of the redevelopment of Centennial Mills. The Portland Development Commission’s current plan, however, devotes public space to housing the Mounted Horse Patrol not parks.

Envisioned greening of Centennial Mills site

The Pearl District Neighborhood Association has contested this decision, but the political will to establish the open space long envisioned for site is lacking. Funds are scarce, and investing in underserved areas is the priority. At the same time, the Central City 2035 Plan contains a series of innovative ideas that just might keep future population from overwhelming existing parks.

With land at a premium, existing parks could be repurposed and outmoded properties recyled for recreation. The redevelopment of the Post Office property is poised to add a new green to the North Park Blocks and embrace the riverfront. Changes are also envisioned for Tom McCall Park, the city’s “outdoor living room.” The linear greenway fronting the Willamette River hosts numerous events from concerts to beer festivals, but in the future it will also be a destination for river-based recreation and accessed by the Green Loop. The opportunity also exists for the new bike-ped route to tie into vacant industrial land repurposed to provide the large-scale recreational uses that are in heavy demand, such as soccer fields.

The extension of North Park Blocks is key to the redevelopment of the Post Office property 

Parks are public space, but it takes advocates and private investment to turn government plans into reality. For a generation, non-profits such as the 40-Mile Loop Trust have underwritten the expansion of Portland’s park system. Established in 1981, the Trust assisted in acquiring lands and conservation and recreation easements along the 40-Mile loop corridor identified by the Olmsted Brothers in 1903. Its investment set the foundation for the larger metropolitan greenspace system, which integrates 150 miles of trails and 15,000 acres of parks and natural areas. The Intertwine Alliance, a non-profit that represents 150 organizations, is the champion of this system. The partner local governments desperately need, its mission is to instill equity, education, and enjoyment into the nature experience. 

If Portland is to become the diverse and sustainable city its plans portend, parks must infuse the Central City and underserved neighborhoods. Private and pubic funding is essential.  At the same time, citizens must take ownership.  Parks offer more than connections to nature, they connect people as well. The Portland Parks Department relies on 500,000 volunteer hours per year to manage it holdings.  Caring for a special place creates bonds that strengthen neighborhoods. Taking time to improve one’s surrounding is a not a duty “specifically compulsory according to law,” John Charles Olmsted noted in the 1903 Portland Parks Plan. It is an expectation in the effort “to make the city more beautiful and more agreeable to live in and work in.”

Volunteers in Forest Park

The Obama Administration Rallies for Urbanism, the Pearl District Delivers

The Obama Administration’s call for reforming land regulations to deliver more affordable housing is welcome news to sustainability advocates and developers. Not surprisingly, the 23-page “tool kit” the Administration issued for building pedestrian scaled, transit-friendly places mimics the Portland 2035 City Plan. The recommendations include:
· Eliminating off-street parking requirements
· Establishing density bonuses
· Employing inclusionary zoning
· Establishing development tax or value capture
· Using property tax abatements
· Increasing density near transit stops

The problem in Portland and across the country is that increasing density sparks conflict, even in neighborhoods such as the Pearl District where zoning codes allow for density bonuses. In 2014 a Nimby coalition, Preserve the Pearl, contested the construction of a 15-story tower that utilized a package of density bonuses. Drawing on the grievances of nearby residents whose views would be compromised, Preserve the Pearl was formed after the Pearl District Planning and Transportation Committee (PDPTC) approved the project.

The PDPTC’s determination rested on the fact the developers met the Pearl District Development Plan’s guidelines for density transfers and bonuses. In addition, nearby buildings were built to a similar height and bulk. “The Pearl District is designed to embrace dense urban development,” Patricia Gardner, the PDPTC chair, noted. Moreover, in a city with an urban growth boundary accommodating urbanism in the Pearl District is an essential tradeoff to suburban sprawl.

Preserve the Pearl challenged the decision before the City Council. The group claimed the proposed height increase was not “harmonious ‘as a whole,’ or ‘on balance’” with the existing code. The City Council ruled against them, and Preserve the Pearl took their grievance to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals. Again the claim was denied, as it was ruled that the project met the Portland City Code. (Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, Case #2015-046) 

The action of Preserve the Pearl set a new tone for the Pearl District. Historically, the PDPTC worked with developers to shape buildings to conform to established guidelines. There were disagreements, but there was also a can-do, pioneering spirit. The developers were from Portland and the citizens overseeing the planning process realized the acknowledged desire on the part of all parties to create a vibrant urban neighborhood. After long and often spirited meetings, compromise and win-win solutions were usually found. Preserve the Pearl, however, upset this state of affairs. 

The Pearl District is a maturing neighborhood, and it is not surprising that self-interest has come into conflict with communal ideals. Affluent people use money to buy privacy, which often puts them at odds with local governing bodies that want to accommodate a range of incomes and lifestyles. Moreover, if their privacy is diminished they are apt to contest government action that they see as imperiling their investment. This dynamic was in full view this August when a team of Pearl District citizens opposed the plans for the Framework, a 12-story building set to be the tallest wood structure in the United States.

The PDPTC had approved the project in February, but this failed to deter the chic, well-coiffed band from asking the committee to recant its vote. Given that the planning process holds to the constitutional directive of due process, the demand was a non sequitur. Yet the group’s entitled air seemed to inoculate them from the law of the land. The Committee Chair was more than gracious and gave them the floor. A half-hour diatribe ensued, which faulted the building’s aesthetics, height, and lack of structured parking. In the give and take with the committee, the parking issue clarified the citizens’ angst. 

The Framework is sited next to a streetcar stop, a manifest item in the Obama Administration tool kit. The project meets a second Administration objective--not providing off street parking--that makes it financially feasible for the developer to allocate 5 floors for affordable housing. With easy access to transit in a neighborhood with a 98 walk score, the Framework is a text book case for supplying affordable housing, which Portland desperately needs. Thus, the rationale of the self-styled landed gentry (the root word of gentrification’s negative resonance) that waltzed into a meeting to squash a project approved months before was apparent. They wanted to prevent people of a lower income from living in their midst.

The PDPTC did not rescind its vote, and the contesting entourage was advised to take their case to the Portland Design Commission. This body also approved the plans for the Framework. Since then, the project has passed a series of tests that have drawn wide attention.

Lever Architecture, the firm that designed the Framework, won a national competition, the U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize, to construct a prototype structure using Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT). This new process enhances structural capacity by congealing timber under layers of fire-resistant board. Although high-rise CLT structures have been built in Australia, Europe, and Canada, The Framework will be the first in the United States. Lever Architecture used its $1.5 million prize money to determine the feasibility of using locally sourced Oregon timber and to see if a CLT structure could withstand fire. The Framework passed a major hurdle when CLT withstood a two-hour fire and did not lose structural integrity. At the same time, the Lever architects secured wood for the project from Oregon managed forests within 50 miles of Portland. 

The Framework marks a new step in sustainability. Besides providing work force housing, it will utilize materials sourced and improved in the region and it will sequester more carbon than conventional buildings. The question, of course, is this enough to mitigate the self-interested desires of its neighbors.

The Framework's Sustainability Model

Too often the nation's on-going urban renaissance is stymied by push back from aggrieved parties. The Obama Administration has stepped into the breech, placing the federal government and urban municipalities on the same page. “The White House jawboning is welcome news to many others, including mayors and builders increasingly foiled by community opposition to development,” Politico reports. https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2016/09/26/zoning-reform-national-priority-white-house-says

In the Pearl District the beat goes on. New models of living draw investors, resistance, and praise. Given the human condition, it cannot be any other way. Fortunately, our republican system of government is designed for rational thought to trump passionate obstinacy. In this urban neighborhood, at least, it works more often than not.

Urban Schools: Lessons for Sustainability and Civic Engagement

Baby Boomers and Millennials are fueling the renaissance of the American city. While Boomers are downsizing, young people, especially recent college graduates, are delaying buying homes and, perhaps, rejecting the suburban lifestyle altogether. Cities are rife with advantages for children: interaction with a diverse demographic and easy access to parks, schools, neighbors, and cultural institutions. At the same time, the adequacy of schools and affordable housing is a concern. These issues have been front and center in Portland for a decade, and a primary goal of the city's new comprehensive city plan is to make the Central City attractive to families.

Just as in other American cities, population fled downtown Portland after World War II. 25,000 people left the ten neighborhoods comprising the Central City before numbers stabilized in the 1980s. The 1988 Central City Plan set out to create a pedestrian friendly urban environment that supported a diverse mix of residents, workers, and visitors. Investments in transit, parks, and pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure fueled development and, by 2010, 12,000 housing units were added, a 300 percent increase. Projections are for another 35,000 housing units to come on line in the Central City by 2035, which will account for 30 percent of Portland’s population growth on just 3 percent of its land. 

For families there is both opportunity and adversity. Housing in the Central City is expensive, but approximately 30 percent of it is classified as affordable, the price equitable for those earning 80 percent or less of the region’s median family income (MFI). The problem is that 85 percent of units are either one bedroom or studios, which is not adequate to support the demand for family housing.

The Pearl District, which has a birth rate comparable to that of the established neighborhoods on the near eastside, is an important test case. Portrayed by critics as an elite high-priced neighborhood, 28 percent of the housing is classified as affordable, and its 2015 median income of $50,636 is less than the city’s average of $51,741. Its vibrant urban life and mix of parks, safe streets, and services is appealing to families. Young children can watch trains pass, ride streetcars, search for books at Powells, and splash in the rising and falling waters at Jamison Square. "It is just wonderful for a child because you are exposed to so many new sights, sounds, and smells," the mother of a four year old notes. http://lda.ucdavis.edu/people/websites/francis/FamilyFriendly.pdf

Exposed to a more diverse population than in the suburbs, children prosper from this variety of people and experience. Growing up in concert with adults enhances their vocabulary, conceptual understanding, and social skills, including the ability to read people and gauge their character. Moreover, exposure to the workings of society--the interdependence of business, government, and the arts--heightens a child’s ability to understand career opportunities and negotiate a path to adulthood. These attributes inspired the curriculum of the Emerson School, a charter school that opened in the Pearl District in 2003.

Emerson School on North Park Blocks

The founders of the K-5 Emerson School wanted to make use of the neighborhood’s unique surroundings and they devoted the curriculum to the project approach, which invests students in experiential, hands-on education. Children have a strong disposition to explore and discover. The project approach builds on this natural curiosity by enabling students to step outside the classroom and question, problem-solve, and interact with experts. http://www.emersonschool.org/education/Project-Approach

An exemplar project was having student teams identify their favorite parks. Emerson is is ideally situated for this exercise. It is located next to the historic North Park Blocks and there are a series of parks within walking distance. Tanner Springs is the favorite. Its mix of native habitats and a restored wetland with a variety of fish and amphibians are magnets for exploration. Students map the site and trace how stormwater moves through the park and pollutants are filtered out before water flows east into the Willamette River. Experts share how Tanner Springs and the slew of bioswales being built throughout the Central City improve the water quality for the endangered Chinook and Steelhead Salmon. This effort is not only integral to the ecological health of the region, it has cultural benefits as well as the endangered salmon are icons of Native American culture.

Such lessons lie at the core of the Emerson School’s mission to inspire “life-long learners who see themselves as being engaged members of their communities whose actions can make a positive difference.” This task is ideally suited to the Pearl District. It is an urban laboratory where students learn the advantages that accure from caring for their immediate surroundings. Moreover, they glean the dynamcis of a place designed to be resilient in the face of rapid expansion, climate change, and declining resources.

The success of the Emerson School inveighed the need to make the Pearl District more family friendly. In the 2008 update to the Pearl District Development Plan, a primary objective was building “larger units to attract families.” The Great Recession blunted the initiative, but progress has ensured.

In 2012 the Ramona opened to families earning up to 60 percent of MFI and offered 138 family apartments (two and three bedroom units). The LEED certified building delivered three essential items families with young children desire: quality schools, play space, and safety. Located on a pedestrian scaled street, the neighborhood benefits from the “eyes on the street” that secures personal safety for both children and adults.

A special feature of the Ramona is an interior courtyard designed as a play space for toddlers. Since the 1920s, housing reformers in the United States have championed such spaces as integral to developing the mental acuity and social maturation of preschool children. In 1929 Radburn, New Jersey, a model community designed by Henry Wright and Clarence Stein, sited a system of interior greens that allowed children under five to enter a world of play by stepping out their front door. The Ramona offers similar access to recreation. Parents find seating on short walls with views of the play equipment, while the interior walkways are wide enough for two children’s tricycles to pass an adult.

Playground at the Ramona

In 2016, Chapman Elementary School, which serves the Pearl District, moved its kindergarten to the Ramona's ground floor. This new twist to mixed-use development is meeting a need, but it has detractors. Residents find that noise of children at play over the course of a day grating. At the same time, a group of 70 parents and residents are upset by the noise of the 100 decibel pile driving operation used in constructing a condominium tower 100 feet away.  Portland's noise officer declared their would be no harm to the children's hearing, as long as they stay inside. http://portlandtribune.com/pt/9-news/325206-203911-building-boom-baby-boom-collide-in-the-pearl

The Pearl District will need a new K-8 school in the near future.  But after half a century of investing in suburban schools, there are few models for locating a school in a dense, pedestrian scaled neighborhood. Brooklyn, New York, which has also seen an influx of Millennials and young families, benefits from having historic schools front residential streets and blend into neighborhoods. Built before the demands of the automobile, the schools devoted land to play space rather than parking lots. This model is not unreasonable in the Pearl District, where new buildings with affordable housing offer no parking but offer safe pedestrian passage and access to a range of transportation modes.

Brooklyn Public School

Locating a school in a neighborhood inevitably draws protests, but the issue may be moot. An  authoritative study of American land use by Issi Romen, the chief economist for Building Zoom, finds  that the only way to balance environmental protection and housing affordability is for suburbs to embrace density and “a broader acceptance of multifamily housing as a legitimate place for raising children.” For this transiton to occur, it is imperative that downtown neighborhoods like the Pearl District embrace the future Romen has delineated.  The way ahead is not easy, as residents must come together and fashion a place that is more dense, diverse, and welcoming.  

Change is often seen as a threat.  Nimbyism and the specter of law suits can deter the best designed project. This is why consensus-building is integral to planning and, just as in politics, virtue and compromise must meld to create a better world.

For more on Romen's study see Emily Badge, “The Ugly Future Cities Face,” Washington Post, September 15, 2016.

At Home In an Urban Paradise: Part II The Sublime Nature of Social Capital

I live in a 13-story condominium, Park Place.  A pedestrian pathway separates it from an attendant three-story building, and the two structures house approximately 250 people in the heart of the Pearl District. When conceived in 2003, Park Place broke from the squat warehouse pattern where mostly brick structures topped out at six to seven stories. A significant portion of it was clad in concrete and glass, which made the tower appear as "a ballerina among break dancers," a reporter wrote.

Over time, the surrounding expanse of 15 to 20-story buildings has diminished the Park Place's ascendant appearance. When describing where I lived to a talented local scholar, he recognized my residence as "the wedge." If stolid in disposition, Park Place occupies an optimal site with stellar pedestrian connections. At the ground floor on the building's southern end, a restaurant extends to a 50-foot wide walkway that borders Jamison Park. The benches lining this linear space are ideal for meeting friends and genial discussions. When seeking repose, I find a bench that faces away from the park with a view of the lushly planted interior walkway between the tower and the line of low rise townhomes.

This half-block passage exemplifies how public and private space can merge into an aesthetic delight. Lined with birch trees, it is bordered by a profusion of vegetation. Flowering plants adorn the townhome balconies and brighten this idyllic refuge people use to escape the summer cacophony of Jamison Park. I have regular hellos and quick conversations here, while in the winter, when the sun sets by 5 p.m., I conclude my nightly walk at its entrance. I take in the spurge of lights framing the walkway and the white expanse of the Metropolitan, a 20-story tower that terminates the view. Uplifted by this respite, I shoulder the darkness aside for the rest of the evening. 

View to Metro in Winter

I live in a fifth-floor unit because that is the limit of a comfortable ascent carrying groceries, and I can view the western hills and Forest Park. The balcony is my interface with the public realm. It sits above the tree canopy, offers a panoramic vista to the downtown, and a swirl of sensations. Mischevious grins adorn bright modernistic totems, pedestrians voice glee and concern, and streetcars glide by on their regular runs, the gentle revving of their electric motors a reminder of the neighborhood’s efficiency of movement.

The balcony's most viserceal experience is at sunset. The sky is usually awash in hues of purple, blue, and gray, but in the autumn it takes a different turn. Giant streaks of orange and brilliant yellow command the horizon, reminiscent of the tones and shapes that fill Thomas Cole’s painting, The Savage State. Cole believed views of sublime nature—the grand and awesome spectacle humans could never replicate—unlocked our spiritual moorings. In the midst of a city I revel in the sky’s primeval display, a transcendent experience that enlivens a too often insular existence.

Thomas Cole, The Savage State

The balcony is where private life is exposed to public view. I have tried to make a convivial statement in the small 4-foot by 9-foot space. Planters filled with native grasses and indigenous firs stand on each end, leaving enough room for two chairs and a small table. A stone Japanese garden vase with flowers adds a spate of color. The final accruement is a small marble Buddha grounded on a circle of recycled timber. My oasis is scant, but ensuring that this bit of nature thrives enhances my well-being. The mix of plants, stone, and furniture also extends the boundary of my unit, which helps lessen the claustrophobia endemic to high-density developments.

The balcony also informs the configuration of my residence. Indoor plants harmonize with the sturdy outdoor specimens to diffuse distinctions between inside and outside. Vibrant abstract paintings line the walls at the far end of the unit. Their vivacity flows into a series of increasingly formal works that terminate at the entrance to the balcony. The colors, however, are consistent and they combine to accentuate the view to the western hills. In the late afternoon, light floods the room and its reflection casts an array of golden tones. The amber glow marks the wedding of nature and art, a time when tension falls away and poetic thoughts ensue.

Merging of inside and outside space

Modulating constrasts into a common aesthetic brings order and beauty to dailty existence. This endeavor is always a challenge, but the close quarters of urban life demands creativity. In return, abandonded neighborhoods like the Pearl District are crafted into an "urban paradise" with a responsive citizenry.

Caring for the spaces we inhabit not only attunes us to our surroundings, it envokes a sense of place and attachment to others. In the process, we build social capital and gain the confidence to join others in engaging the wider world. Just as in personal relationships, fear of failure dissipates when we advance a cause more important than ourselves.

Cooperation directs the survival instinct, it is why humans not only evolved but flourished. It is no different in our effort to master the city. For humans to reach their potential, only a common effort will make cities both efficient and transcendent. Then we can truly lay claim to paradise.

At Home in an Urban Paradise: Part I The Value of Social Capital

A Pearl District realty office provides services for "those who love city life" and desire an "urban paradise." There is truth in advertising. A “walker’s paradise” and projected to be a “bikers paradise,” it is a neighborhood “where people choose to come because of its unique mix of activities and its grit and contrasts,” the The Pearl District Development Plan states, “an urban place where daily life can be seen as much on the streets as in the buildings.” Since 1996, this document has guided efforts to to spur interaction and advance civility by harmonizing the built environment. There is no formula for this enterprise because good urbanism requires insight and an artist’s touch.

The art of place-making imbibes the Pearl District. Serving on its Planning and Transportation Committee, I am struck by the thorough analysis proposed projects undergo to ensure that they fit into the neighborhood’s urban milieu. Unity, harmony, and variety are the maxims of good design, and these words fill the committee’s discussions. First hand knowledge is also key. The Pearl District is a laboratory for urbanism, and the wisdom and stewardship that unites the committee is the product of daily study.

Good urbanism, like a good relationship, elicits affection, security, and attachment. In return, time and energy is invested in nurturing one’s surroundings. This investment has pay offs. In his insightful book, For the Love of Cities, Peter Kageyama, notes that communities with passionate and engaged citizens have higher levels of economic growth. The same traits also produce social capital, the connections among people that give rise to “norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness,” according to Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam. Putnam’s pioneering research revealed that social capital is a priceless commodity, as it is a prime indicator of life expectancy. (Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of the American Community)

Cities by their nature offer venues for the spontaneous, informal meetings that generate social capital. Such places are less prevalent in suburbs, and it is one of the reasons why social capital steadily depreciated once the United States invested its resources in building a suburban nation. The main culprit, according to Putnam, is automobile commuting: a ten-minute increase in travel time translates into a ten percent reduction in community involvement. At the same time, investing in pedestrian networks builds social capital. Jan Gehl, the Danish guru of urbanism, found that for every additional 14 square meters of car-free space, you gained another person participating in public life. This logic also fuels the Planning and Transportation Committee, as it seeks to procure a “well-designed urban neighborhood that operates as a network that increases social capital.” http://www.pearldistrict.org/about-the-pearl-district/

This effort is apparent in nearly every block. A crafted pedestrian realm and a mix of parks, plazas and greens orient streets and buildings to a scale suited for people to interact. In a high-density environment, the test is to blur the distinction between the public realm and private space. A seamless transition between parks, balconies, porches, planting strips, and sidewalks helps to both elicit face-to-face contact and cluster people into the smaller groups that form a social capital network. Taking an interest in common areas and enhancing adjoining private property not only fosters a sense of community; it creates the aesthetic and visual connections that unite a neighborhood. (Chapman and Lund, "Housing Density and Livability in Portland," in The Portland Edge)

Note the integration of public and private space

I have learned this first hand. Besides serving on the Planning and Transportation Committee, I volunteer with Friends of Tanner Springs. My singular skill is removing exotic thistles, but it allows me to join in the camaraderie and sense of accomplishment gained from our labors. I also collaborated with the North Park Blocks coalition, sharing my research on park users when conditions in the historic greens deteriorated last summer. The group sponsored several candidate forums that sparked tough questions on the conundrum of gentrification and homelessness. There were no easy answers, and everyone left realizing the challenge ahead.

Tanner Springs native planting project

Civic engagement fosters social capital. It instills a sense of belonging that softens the anonymity of urban life and, most important, it forges the bonds of virtue--the investment private citizens make for the public good--that Jefferson deemed essential for a republic to survive. Virtue is the "foundation of happiness," and "utility the test of virtue," he entoned, and since the heyday of classical Athens, a city in a republic is where happiness is attained and paradise approached. In the 21st century, Portland does not have a singular claim to virtue, but it utility--the pragmatic application of principle--is forging happiness on sustaining lines.

Biker's Paradise: Metric for Sustainability

Biking in downtown Portland has entered a new era.  Currently, it is not for the faint of heart. There are bike lanes, streets designated for bikers, and safe spaces at intersections, but the consistent proximity to motorists fosters a “high stress” experience that deters over 50 percent of the population from biking.  In addition, numerous traffic controls force more stops and slower speeds, and sections of Interstate 405 impede travel.  In the last month, however, new life has been given to plans to create a biker’s paradise in the central city.

Last June, I partook in a uniquely Portland event, the Ned Flanders Greenway Ride.  It brought neighbors and advocates together to assess the prospects of making Flanders Street the first neighborhood greenway in the inner Northwest section of the city.  Donned in green sweaters and mustachios, Zef Wagner, from the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), and Reza Farhoodi, the vice-chair of the Pearl District Planning and Transportation Committee, led the ride.  Their comical appearance added color to a wonkish two hours.  Fifty participants discussed policy and studied the obstacles that impaired bike access between the Alphabet District, Tom McCall Park, and bridge access to east Portland.

Zef Wagner and Reza Farhoodi

The I-405 intersection was particularly onerous. It is difficult and dangerous territory for walkers and bikers to navigate. The solution, Wagner and Farhoodi explained, was a decade-old proposal to span the busy freeway with a narrow bike bridge. After a lively discussion, the consensus was this project was the key to providing safe passage for bicyclists between some of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the Pacific Northwest.

Flanders Bike-Pedestrian Bridge

In late August, the Oregon Transportation Commission approved $2,877,000 to build the Flanders Bike Bridge. PBOT pledged another $3 million for it from fees paid by developers to mitigate transportation impacts. Plans call for a 24-foot wide structure with two six-foot bike lanes in the middle and six-foot wide sidewalks on each side. Slated to open in 2018, the bridge is expected to average 3,000 crossings as pedestrians and bikers shift from the three high-stress intersections east of Burnside Avenue. Once speed bumps, signage, and diverters are added to Flanders Street, an influx of bikers will spur the number to 9,100. The anticipated increase in users will surpass the trip count on the Hawthorne Bridge, Portland’s most heavily traveled route for commuter biking.

The Flanders Street Greenway is also a key component of the proposed Green Loop, a spoke in the open space network being designed to provide a “low stress” biking experience on both sides of the Willamette River. The Loop is expected to generate a surge of bicycle commuters and carless consumers who will stimulate business and enhance Portland’s green brand. The city is known as a biking Mecca, and with the success of Biketown, the city’s new bike share program, the Green Loop should be a popular tourist draw.

Green Loop with Flanders Greenway outlined in Orange

In its first month, Biketown users took 59,000 trips and traveled 136,000 miles. The city purchased 600 bicycles and ancillary equipment with a $2 million federal grant. A $10 million, five-year sponsorship from Nike allowed for the purchase of an additional 400 bicycles and the expansion of the service area to eight square miles. I am one of the 2,500 subscribers that pay $12 a month to use the bright orange bikes for 90 minutes a day before additonal costs accrue. There are 12 hubs in the Pearl District alone, and another 88 spread out over neighborhoods on both sides of the Willamette.

Installing Bike Share in Downtown

Bike share is ideal for trips over half a mile. It also offers quick and cheap access from the inner northwest to the near eastside, the most bike friendly section of the city. A team of Willamette Weekly reporters timed and priced a variety of transportation choices between their office in Slabtown (it borders the Pearl District) and a destination across across the Willamette River on SE 12th Avenue. Car2Go was the fastest option. It took 18 minutes and cost $6.47. The bus had slowest time; it took 51 minutes and cost $2.50. The bicycle took 23 minutes, which is priced at $2.50 with Biketown. A taxi ride takes the same time, but it has a $17 price tag. Of course, bike owners enjoy a free trip and burn 250 calories on the journey.

Once the Flanders Street Bridge and greenway becomes operational the trip time to the eastside will be reduced by two minutes. When the Green Loop comes on line, times will fall further and the Pearl District will be a “biker’s paradise,” according to Roger Geller, Portland’s Bicycle Coordinator. This is the highest designation allotted by bikescore.com, signifying that “daily errands can be accomplished on a bike.” 

The Pearl District is already deemed a “walker’s paradise” by walkscore.com. With the new biking network, residents will find it easier to trade the automobile for healthy, less polluting, and cost efficient alternatives. Having this option is also crucial to providing affordable housing, as these projects exclude the expensive additive of automobile parking. Equity, health, and sustainability are inter-related, but getting this mix demands, as Portland demonstrates, a new conception of paradise.

Walkers Paradise: The Antidote to the Unpardonable Sin

When I moved to the Pearl District I expected to bike on a regular basis.  Portland is one of the nation’s most bike friendly cities, but I quickly learned that in a neighborhood with a 98 walk score--a "walker's paradise" according to walkscore.com--relying on my feet is preferable.  It takes ten minutes to remove the bike from the underground garage, and in that time I could reach essential destinations: doctor, drugstore, hardware store, and a range of choices for groceries and eating.  

I live a Parisian lifestyle.  The Pearl District’s functional and pleasant pedestrian environment is a joy to transverse.  Bordered by the downtown and the historic Chinatown and Northwest neighborhoods, I can stroll to a market laden with fresh produce, a sidewalk café offering regional wines, a slew of art galleries, picturesque plazas, and the bibliophile’s dream, Powell’s bookstore.  Without the expense and upkeep of an auto, I can afford this lifestyle. But most of all I revel in being a flâneur, one who observes a city that plays to, as Balzac put it, “the gastronomy of the eye.”  The Pearl District is a feast.

Olive Twist at Kearny Plaza

Homer Williams, one of the Pearl District's visionary developers, created an environment that catered to pedestrians. He considered the 30-feet between the sidewalk and a building's second story the key. At the street level taller ceiling heights enhance a building’s appearance, create more attractive spaces, and provide greater flexibility for different uses over time.  Ideally, smaller retail establishments occupy the ground floor and there is a mix of building heights. This pattern enhances open spaces, pedestrian connections, architectural variety, and solar access.

The Wyatt, a 245-unit apartment building, exemplifies the special care given to the pedestrian realm. Built on the site of the Merchant Marine Warehouse, many of the original materials were repurposed, including burnished bricks and old growth timber.  A century old bridge trestle was refurbished and it connects to the historic Bridgeport Brewery across 13th Avenue.  The Wyatt's 15-story tower is set back and two-story apartments with brick facades front Marshall Avenue, a prime bike route. Entry gates to the frontdoor stairways engage the eye and leave one unaware that a tall structure looms overhead. The apartments also frame the pedestrian venue and coupled with the sidewalk and street trees they create a setting that not only offers safe passage, it delights the senses.

Wyatt at pedestrian level 

The Natural Capital Center, the first restored historic building to receive a gold LEED certification, offers the most interactive pedestrian experience in the Pearl District. Built in the classical Richardsonian Romanesque style in 1895, most of its recessed round-arched entries, arched window openings, and stucco and brick facings were preserved. The demolished portions of the structure were recycled, and to enhance the neighborhood's identity a section of the facade fronting 10th Avenue was left intact. The aged brick, faded timber, and rusted shutters outlining the space once filled with tall window panes is favored by brides, grooms, tourists, and celebrants looking for a defintive photo. The space is literally crawling with people, a reminder of our preternatural attraction to authenticity.

Natural Capital Center

Providing the right interaction between buildings and the street is an art. I live on a “complete street” that provides space for bicyclists, walkers, automobiles, and streetcars. It scores high on a pedestrian audit, a test designed by the Center for Disease to grade the quality of the walking environment. Parked cars provide buffers and improve safety on a street with two narrow lanes that limit traffic to 25 miles per hour. Street trees, mostly Norwegian Maples, define pedestrian space by creating a regular geometry over the visual length of the street. They also hide the tops of tall buildings and their canopies provide shade in the summer and filter the misty rain that falls from late October through April. The Norwegian Maple's blooms announce the end of the dreary winter months, and their green leaves soon brighten the dense urban environment. Street trees are comforting, crucial components in a setting conducive to random conversations and friendly nods.

Norwegian Maples in Bloom 

Pedestrians are easily bored, but the short 250-foot long block I inhabit has a diversity of uses. Buildings are set flush to the sidewalk, entryways are distinctive, and the mix of brick at the ground floor is inviting, especially in the retail establishments.  A small plaza and Jamison Square, a popular park, breaks the regimen. Building heights vary, but four to five stories is the general standard.

Jamison Square

Not all streets grade as high as my section of 11th Avenue on the pedestrian audit, but the surrounding grid of short blocks offers a variety of options to navigate the city. 13th Avenue, which had the lowest score in the Pearl District, does not have street trees or sidewalks, yet it is a popular destination.  Remains of the rail line that served the historic warehouses centers the street, and most buildings have been converted to offices and condominiums.  A host of restaurants occupy the ground floor, as the former loading docks provide prime outdoor seating as well as pathways for pedestrians. The street's tight conditions force drivers to be observant, which allows for a steady stream of foot traffic.  Patty Gardner, the longtime chair of the Pearl District Planning and Transportation Committee, encourages committee members to walk 13th Avenue to remind drivers of the etiquette of urbanism.

13th Avenue Historic District in Painting by G. Buhler

If the Pearl District is to have a pedestrian street, Gardner thinks it will be 13th Avenue.  It encompasses most of the historic district, and is closed to traffic on First Thursdays when local vendors hawk their wares, galleries extend their hours, and entertainment abounds.  The patina of aged brick on the repurposed warehouses evokes a sense of continuity with the past and emellishes a setting that draws crowds inured by the Pearl District's unique sense of place.

13th Avenue on First Thursday

Given my surroundings, I now walk for recreation. I religiously surpass 10,000 steps a day, but it’s a liberating obsession. I gave up television as well as a car with my move, and not having commercials bark inanity into my cerebral cortex has literally opened my mind. The time spent in front of the television being bombarded by corporate shills glorifying car ownership and speed is now spent walking and its reflexive action, contemplation.

I treasure not being encapsulated in a machine. Outside of the car, the world is more vibrant and senses more alert. Walking “alienates you from speed,” Frederic Gros, the author of A Philosophy of Walking writes. It allows you to embrace your surroundings and revel in the minutiae of life. The color and hue of the sky, the skills of the architect, the beauty of nature, and the qualities of others are not just observed, but considered. Your existence is enlivened and you are immune to “the unpardonable sin,” according to Joseph Campbell, “the sin of inadvertence, of not being alert, not quite awake.”

View from Broadway Bridge

The Pearl District is not paradise, but the propensity for sin is lessened. Moving through the landscape on your own power and finding sacroscant places gives meaning to life. I am still discovering special enclaves where I can make sense of the world and enjoy moments of bliss. Most important, I have the means to put my thoughts in perspective. “Sit as little as possible,” Frederick Nietzsche entoned, "and do not believe any idea that was not born in the open air and of free movement.”

View from Washington Park in late winter