We were on a train, the Coastal Starlight between Southern California and Seattle. It was running late, which is something I’ll get to in a minute. Dusk was turning into night and we still were hours away from where we were supposed to be already. There was a sense of suspended reality, and a shared weariness that became a kind of intimacy.

What did she do? I might not like it, she said. Then she told me — law enforcement, LAPD. She was not large, but there was a wary edge; I could see it. Was a cop ever off duty, I asked.

A lot has been written about trains as an answer to America’s energy sinkhole, and to congestion on the highways. It’s true, mainly, but there’s something else that’s equally important: the way public transportation, and trains in particular, provide social glue, a place where lives can intersect in unplanned and often serendipitous ways. You sit with other people in a relaxed setting for hours on end. Naturally you start talking. When there’s an observation car, which is a kind of common room, you practically can’t help it.

Even if you don’t talk you listen. Next to me two women were chatting, an age gap of maybe 50 years between them. The younger one said she wanted to be a writer. The older one pulled a notebook from her handbag and read some poetry she had written. It was more Lake Wobegon than Sewanee Review. But how many settings in America today would a young and old person talk like that? If more politicians traveled on trains they wouldn’t have such need of focus groups and polls. They could listen for themselves.

They also might have time to think. Like most commons. trains are multifunctional. Where the market specializes, commons serve many purposes at once. While they encourage conviviality, they also are a sanctuary. You can put aside the phone and e-mail and simply be alone with your thoughts.

Thomas Carlyle, the British writer, once said that a traveler should not even read, but rather “sit still and label his thoughts.” I have a hunch that the vapidity of public debate today is connected in part to the way our leaders travel. The men who drafted the U.S. Constitution had long coach rides to Philadelphia in which to label and organize their thoughts. For long days and even weeks they had nothing to do but converse and reflect. The quality of the Constitutional debates was one result.

It doesn’t take much reading of the Congressional Record today to realize the trajectory since then has not been upward. As travel has sped and become more hectic; and as more modes of instant “communication” occupy our minds, the content of those minds has become thinner gruel. I doubt that the Federalist Papers could have been written by people who scurried about with cell phones.

Need it be said that trains also provide a chance to see this beautiful country of ours? Josh was entranced by the passing scene outside the window — the sawmills like the ones in his Richard Scarry books, the heavy equipment and construction sites, the woodlands in which most of the trees had been cut. “Did the Once-ler do that?” he asked, (referring, as most parents know, to the character in the Dr. Seuss fable The Lorax, who turned a verdant landscape into a wasteland in his pursuit of gain). Yes, I said, or someone like him.

Come to think of it, maybe that’s the problem. Many Republicans want to kill Amtrak, and maybe one reason is that they don’t want us to see what their Once-ler pals are doing to our country. Maybe they don’t want Americans talking across the ideological divides that they work so hard to maintain. They’d rather have us in the isolation of our cars, stewing in our angers and our sores rubbed raw by Mr. Limbaugh and his ilk.

The much-discussed polarity in American politics is related to the disappearance of commons in which Americans can talk with people with whom they do not already agree. Trains are a last refuge in which a writer from Northern California can talk with a cop from L.A. and find something to agree on. They are a place where dogmatics can yield to humanity. We need more of them not less

Why The Trains Don’t Run on Time

The Coastal Starlight was five hours late, and I gather that’s not unusual. The train is on time only about half the time, and the main reason is that it doesn’t own the tracks it runs on. Those belong to the Union Pacific railroad, which requires Amtrak trains to pull onto a siding and sit while its freight trains pass. (Those trains can be very long.)

Stuff moves while people wait. There is something emblematic in that. But actually it’s worse. The tracks sit on land that by and large the railroads got for free. Congress gave it to them, which means that we taxpayers gave it to them, along with large sections on either side. The reason for the grants was so that the railroads could serve us taxpayers with rail service, including passenger service.

So now we get shunted aside on land we ourselves gave the railroads so that we could move. Many politicians in Washington want to kill Amtrak so we can’t move by rail at all. The railroads then will be off the hook entirely. They’ll have the land we gave them, and we’ll have nothing except the freight, for which we pay market rates. (That includes farmers and businesses by the way.)

The reason Congress had to establish Amtrak was because so many railroads had reneged on their obligation to provide passenger service. We taxpayers then had to fund what already had funded abundantly through generous bestowals from the commons. (The grants often included timber and mineral rights by the way.)

So here’s a proposal. If conservative politicians want to get the burden of passenger service off the taxpayers’ back, why doesn’t it put it back where it ought to be — on the recipients of the original land grants to build railroads? Why doesn’t Congress establish a levy on the land granted to railroads to accomplish what the grants originally were supposed to do?

The project that was supposed to be the “it” project for 20th century Toronto.

By the same token, our cathedrals of the game don’t always fit the urban mold seamlessly.  Like U.S. Cellular Field in South Side Chicago, some sting of gentrification.  Others, like the Atlanta Braves’ new Cobb County stadium, pander to white and wealthy suburban residents, proving the “quest for money trumps the idea that our teams can be — and should be — a part of their community, an aspect of a city’s society that brings all types of people together in one place” (Waldron).

Rendering of the Atlanta Braves’ new Cobb County Stadium

The Detroit Advantage

Detroit has the potential to utilize the power of its downtown venues to take the lead in the rising field of sustainable sports.  Admittedly, talk of “potential” probably did not ease the minds of the Big Four franchise owners in the Motor City home as they watched the city’s population drop by 25% in the first decade of the 21st century alone, but the Tigers just had their top two best-selling seasons in the franchise’s 117 year history. When teams perform, Michiganders will show up, regardless of the stadium’s location.

Even in Detroit, downtown urban land has value.  It provides versatility, accessibility, socio-economic crossover and interaction, and the gritty physical connection between the team and the Motor City.  It is also relatively cheap and there is a whole lot of it, which gives Detroit a competitive advantage and the chance to take the lead in establishing long-term sustainable development projects, such as transit integration and renewable energy practices where other cities often have greater concerns over existing land usage.

Since property values took a turn from bad to worse, there’s been a push for more sustainable use of Detroit’s public lands, particularly in the inner city;  “repurposing vacant land in ways that add economic, environmental, and social benefits to Detroiters is part of the vision laid out in the Detroit Future City strategic framework introduced in January.”  The goal is the creation of a healthier and more sustainable urban ecosystem in a region known for pollution, rust, and grit.  With so much vacant property, the most crucial resource for urban development projects – cheap space – is readily available.

A Sustainable Example

The San Francisco 49ers have set the bar high by building a new stadium that uses solar power to generate enough energy for all ten preseason and regular season home football games. That means the sun is powering lights, video boards, speakers, locker rooms, suites, and concourses for an entire season thanks to 38,000 square feet of photovoltaics and a progressive California subsidy or two. To make the deal even sweeter, over sixteen types of native plants grow on Levi’s Stadium’s green roof, all water for irrigation and plumbing is reclaimed, and there are light rail stops and bike racks just outside the stadium. According to Sports Illustrated, some fans have made plans to walk as far as four miles to a 49ers game this year due to the focus on safety, accessibility, and alternative transit.

The Levi’s Stadium website touts a number of other sustainable achievements, such as its LEED Gold certification, the first of any professional American football stadium, use of recycled wood for the owner’s suites, and composting. The new sleek Levi’s Stadium facility is a far cry from the 49ers old home at Candlestick Park, which received quite a bit of scorn over the years for its poor seating design and more recently for back-to-back in-game power outages during Monday Night Football in 2013. While the 49ers’ new facility may be best-in-class, it is not the only NFL stadium making pacts to integrate intelligently with its urban environment. The Giants’ and Jets’ Metlife Stadium signed a memorandum with the EPA in 2009 pledging to be an environmental steward by employing a number of carbon reduction methods. These include composting, a certified “Green Restaurant,” energy savings through efficient metering and monitoring, and even a rooftop solar ring.

The Braves’ Cobb County Stadium

On the other side of the country, the Atlanta Braves are dropping millions to pander to the wealthiest fans with hardly a mention of renewable energy projects, despite prime solar energy location in a city where the sun is shining 60% of the year.  The Cobb County relocation proves that franchises believe they can thrive by avoiding the struggles that come with being a part of a complex community that includes poor and minority citizens. As much as one positions the move as an economic decision, the city government and franchise are shirking their collective responsibility to take care of and invest in their constituents by building safe transportation infrastructure and integrating effectively with the urban landscape. Fleeing from the troubled areas of the inner city is a kick in the gut to the most loyal fans — the urban laborer who spends an entire year’s overtime to take his son to a game, or the thousands who rely on the stadium for income. Will the new venue just leave behind more unemployment, vacant land, crime, and resentment? Will Georgia State be able to put together a redevelopment deal for “The Ted”?

Additionally, Braves executive David Schiller has repeatedly emphasized that the new stadium will promote automobile infrastructure to increase car accessibility, which “starts with roadways.”  This ignores the importance of sports as part of the urban transit nexus and caters to exclusionary suburban values.

The New Detroit Entertainment District

Back in July 2014, the Ilitch family — owners of the Tigers and Red Wings franchises — provided the first renderings of Detroit’s new Red Wings Arena and surrounding sports and entertainment district, which seeks to integrate a new 20,000+ seat hockey venue with Comerica Park, Ford Field, and brand new retail, business, and residential space spanning over 45 blocks. Christopher Illitch estimates that the new district will “create at least $1.8 billion in total economic impact over several years, 8,300 construction and construction-related jobs, and 1,100 permanent jobs,” while rivaling the bustling street life found in many European cities. Among the plans are a commitment to creating five new neighborhoods in the area that are modeled after European streets, walkable, and transit-oriented, as well as sustainable and innovative arena design and grade separation over the I-75 corridor.

The availability of plentiful land downtown has allowed franchise owners like the Illitches and other private investors to carve out a powerful economic district in the heart of Detroit, and they have chosen to anchor it with sports venues, most notably the $450 million Red Wings Arena.  The sports-centric entertainment hub, which broke ground last September, is estimated to be ready by Summer 2017 and is a promising example of Detroit’s commitment to revitalizing urban property.

It is imperative that sporting programs, franchises, and facilities recognize their influence as representatives of community identity and stewards of their cities’ values. Aside from the raw benefits for the environment, downtown stadiums employing sustainable design practices will associate “greenness” with urban community investment, rather than simply as a luxury for the wealthy and suburban. The payoff will be immense for franchises that can acknowledge the challenges of their city’s core, recognize their role as a part of that community, and learn to utilize urban property to its full potential.  Rather than fleeing to the suburbs, the most visionary owners will create a sustainable operating model and integrate more effectively with their human and natural environments.

In Detroit, you find a third of the city’s residential lots vacant; beautiful architecture sitting unused; the old Tiger Stadium demolished, awaiting final plans for redevelopment; and Comerica Park adjacent to Ford Field, creating potential for collaboration and vast roof space for photovoltaics or vegetation. Most importantly, you find a thriving downtown sports culture and an exciting new integrated entertainment district plan, spearheaded by franchise owners and the Downtown Development Association, that will give new life to the neglected area between Detroit’s downtown core and the midtown University district. Urban property remains powerful, sustainable urban integration has never been more important, and the city needs a public image overhaul.

Now is the perfect opportunity for Detroit to take the lead.

That’s changing now, just like the stereotype of suburbs as places where everyone’s white, married with children and plays golf at the country club.  From Bethesda, Maryland to Edina, Minnesota to Kirkland, Washington, citizens are reinventing their towns to better accommodate walkers.  Traffic is being tamed on busy streets. New sidewalks and trails are being constructed. Business districts are coming to life thanks to growing foot traffic.

Leading the charge are suburban leaders who see their communities’ continuing prosperity and quality-of-life dependent on creating lively walkable places that attract young people, families and businesses wanting to locate where the action is.  Walking is gaining popularity across the US for both transportation and recreation because it improves health, fosters community and saves money.

The best place to experience the future of suburban living is Arlington County, Virginia, home of the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery right across the Potomoc River from Washington, DC.  Built up during the 1950s, ‘40s and late ‘30s, after autos already dominated American life, it’s a classic suburb full of freestanding homes with driveways and green lawns.  Nonetheless it’s been named one of the 14 best “Walk Friendly” communities in America by the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center at the University of North Carolina and one of the 25 Best Cities for Walking by Prevention magazine.

A Day in the Life of America’s Most Walkable Suburb

In Arlington’s Courthouse/Clarendon district, even on an unseasonably frigid Friday evening, you’ll find folks walking their dogs, pushing baby strollers, toting home groceries or just out strolling.  One young man clutches a bouquet of flowers as he hurries down the street.  Sidewalk traffic is brisk with people heading from office buildings, transit stops, parking lots, and nearby residences to health clubs, shops, restaurants and movie theaters.

The next morning is windy with snow flurries, but the wide sidewalks of Arlington’s Virginia Square/Ballston district hums with people running errands at the bank, the cleaners, the mall, the tailors, the print shop, the pharmacy and the phone store before stopping off at the hair salon, Starbuck’s or sandwich shop.  You even see a few intrepid folks on bike.

A lot of shoppers popped over from nearby apartment buildings and townhomes that have grown up recently what once was a struggling commercial strip, while others strolled from nearby single family homes.  Walking a couple of blocks in any direction from this town center, you’re transported from the bustling urbane milieu of TV shows like How I Met Your Mother to the leafy bucolic setting of The Brady Brunch.

Clarendon/Courthouse and Ballston/Virginia Square are both served by a regional train system, a boost for walkable communities that most American suburbs won’t have access to anytime soon.  But pedestrians flourish in Arlington neighborhoods distant from train lines too.

The Westover neighborhood sports a typically Mid-Century design with parking lots in front of many businesses but still offers friendly streetlife. A trio of middle schoolers walk home from the grocery with lunch fixings, while neighbors stop for a chat on their way to the hardware store, library, pharmacy, barbershop, bus stop, the Lost Dog Café or the Stray Cat café.

Meanwhile the brand new Shirlington community, rising out of the ashes of a failed shopping center, feels like a suburban village. A Main Street built in what was a parking lot invites you to take an afternoon stroll browsing a wide selection of shops, ethnic restaurants, a library, a theater company and a brewpub. Around the corner stand a full-service grocery and Bus Boys & Poets, a popular bookstore and café named after African-American writer Langston Hughes, who worked as a bus boy in Washington during the 1930s. A few steps away are movie theaters, service businesses like hair salons and yoga studios, office buildings, townhomes, apartments, a bus station and parking garages.

These neighborhoods stretch over six miles in the heart of Arlington (which is both a city and a county at the same time), but you can reach them all on foot via pedestrian-friendly city streets or Arlington’s 50-mile trail network.

Arlington’s Path to Transformation

Arlington did not become a pedestrian success story overnight.  The sidewalks are lively today thanks to a series of smart decisions carried out over several decades. The story of this suburb’s rise to become one of America’s most walk-friendly communities offers lessons for towns everywhere wanting to thrive in the years to come.

As an early model for the auto-oriented development that popped up all over the country after World War II, Arlington also become one of the first suburbs to experience the inevitable side effects of aging. The county population dropped from 174,000 in 1970 to 152,500 in 1980 as new land to develop became scarce and kids who grew up there moved away.

“In the 1970s this was a declining inner ring suburb,” notes Chris Zimmerman, who served on the county board for 18 years. “I moved here in 1979 because of the cheap rent.  Arlington was a stopover for a lot of people until they could afford to move somewhere else”– a familiar scene today in thousands of suburban communities.

“I walked in those days because I didn’t have a car, but I saw very few other people walking,” remembers Zimmerman, who left the county board in 2013 to become Vice-president of Economic Development for Smart Growth America, which promotes walking as part of its mission to create healthy, economically vital communities.

The first step in Arlington’s revival was improved transit service, including a number of stops on the Washington Metro subway system.  That reversed the county’s population decline, as new apartment buildings and shopping rose around the stations.  Walking picked up a bit in the immediate vicinity of Metro stops, but not in other parts of town. That’s because most of the streets were still designed to move cars as quickly as possible with little regard for the impact on pedestrians and surrounding neighborhoods. “When I took office in 1996, traffic was the biggest issue in every neighborhood. People were worried about their kids walking to school,” Zimmerman notes

The county board, spurred on by neighborhood leaders, adopted an “urban village” approach to planning, which Zimmerman says, “really resonated with people– the idea of comfort and community while still being cosmopolitan. Being both suburban and urban at the same time.”

One strong focus of this plan was to make walking more safe and convenient.  Sidewalks were widened while the pedestrian crossing distances at intersections were narrowed. A task force on traffic calming was launched and the outdated policy of charging homeowners for the cost of building new sidewalks–still common throughout the US–was eliminated.  (“Homeowners are not expected to pay for the street in front of their house; why should they be responsible for the pedestrian infrastructure?” Zimmerman declares in a case study about Arlington done by America Walks.)

Ninety percent of all residential streets now have sidewalks (up from 73 percent in 1997), and traffic on seven of the county’s nine busiest roads has declined between 5 and 23 percent since 1996. As a result, walking and biking now account for16.6 percent of all trips around town.

“When I moved here in the 1990s, I would walk to the grocery store or go running, and if you ever saw anyone else you always said ‘hi’ because there were so few people on the streets,” remembers Lauren Hassel, Outreach and Promotions Manager for WalkArlington. “Now if you stopped to say ‘hi’ to everyone you met on the sidewalk, it would take hours to get where you’re going.”

The county’s population has now climbed to 220,000, and it’s attracting many young professionals and families who could afford to live in wealthier suburbs but prefer Arlington’s walkability and sense of community.  It is also growing as a regional job center with more than 215,000 people working in the county.

“This could be done anywhere,” Zimmerman counsels. “It doesn’t depend on big-scale transit, it depends on good urban design.”

Walking As a Way of Life

Peter Owen, a lawyer who grew up in nearby McLean, Virginia, chose to live in Arlington after studying at University of Virginia, William & Mary and Harvard because he wanted to be close to his family but still enjoy opportunities to walk.

Still old habits die hard, he admits. “It took me about four months of living here to stop driving in my car to the grocery store, even though I lived just a few blocks away.” The shift to walking has even improved his eating habits.  “I buy a lot less frozen food because it’s easy to just stop at the store on my walk home every day and get fresh food.” Owen still owns a car, but says it stays in the garage most of the time.

When asked why walking is so important to him, Owen has plenty to say:  “I value the serendipitous encounters with my neighbors and the sense of connection to this place.  You notice lots more things, like kids playing, when you’re living at five miles per hour.”

“Arlington is becoming a place where people matter more than cars,” he adds. “It’s not just possible to walk here, it’s safe and comfortable to walk. There are crosswalks on the corners and shop windows to look at as you pass by– it’s more fun to walk with those kinds of things.”

How to Make Any Town Good for Walking

Arlington’s emergence as America’s most walkable suburb grew out of a wide range of community improvements promoted by residents, like Peter Owen who served on the Citizen Transportation Commission for six years, and carried out by elected officials and county staff.

“It’s dramatically different walking here than in the 1990s,” says Dennis Leach, Arlington’s Director of Transportation, who lived here for years before joining the county staff.  “You see all these people in places that used to be nowhere. It shows that if you do the infrastructure and land use right, you can provide people more viable transportation options and good places to walk, which has benefits for social equity, health and a sense of community.”

Leach calculates that 350,000 pedestrian and bike trips are made by residents, workers and visitors every workday. Key actions that make Arlington’s streets more walkable include:

—Crosswalks, which are clearly defined so motorists know where to look for walkers;

—Bulb outs, which extend the sidewalk a few feet into an intersection to shorten pedestrians’ crossing distance;

—Median islands, which offer pedestrians a mid-point refuge while crossing wide, busy streets;

—Landscaping along streets, which inspires motorists to drive slower;

—Bike lanes, which not only encourage people to bike instead of drive, but also increase the distance between sidewalks and rushing traffic;

—Buffered bike lanes & cycle tracks, modern bike lanes that separate sidewalks even further from traffic by adding wide swaths of paint on the road or physical barriers from moving auto traffic;

—Wider sidewalks, which make people feel more safe and comfortable on foot;

—Narrower streets, which slow traffic speeds and frees up more space for pedestrians and bicyclists;

—Traffic calming, a whole toolkit of additional road innovations, ranging from roundabouts to speed bumps, that remind motorists to look out for walkers and heed the speed limit;

—Pro-Pedestrian zoning, which enhances the walking experience by requiring first-floor retail shops or windows on buildings along pedestrian routes and by allowing sidewalk cafes but making sure they don’t crowd out people on foot;

—Road Diets, a new step for Arlington, in which moderately traveled four lane road are reduced to two through-lanes with an alternating left-turn lane in the middle, creating space for bike lanes or wider sidewalks

—Complete Streets, a county policy that all modes of transportation must be considered in street reconstruction projects;

—Transportation Demand Management, a sophisticated strategic plan that looks at traffic issues involved in all development decisions, and offers incentives for businesses to locate in walkable places served by transit.

On-the-Ground Efforts to Promote Walking

Of course, it takes more than crosswalks and sidewalks to get people walking.  That’s why nearly everyone I spoke with Arlington pointed to the work of WalkArlington, a county-sponsored initiative to encourage people to get back on their feet. “We help make people aware of what great opportunities for walking are already have here,” says Outreach and Promotions Manager Lauren Hassel.

WalkArlington developed 25 walking routes known as Walkabouts around the county, highlighting neighborhoods’ history, community resources and attractions. They also publish a calendar of events, walking tip sheets, with special editions for winter and summer (when the region’s sticky weather can be more of a deterrent than cold temperatures), and a monthly e-newsletter covering walking related topics.

The WalkArlington Works program helps employers and staff to boost walking in the workplace, both for commuting and breaks during the workday. WalkArlington is part the county’s Car-Free Dietprogram, an innovative approach that helps families figure how living without a car or car lite (using just one private car) would work for them.  Arlington’s walk friendly environment, plus extensive train and bus service, trails, bike lanes, bikeshare, and carshare make this a viable option for a surprising number of households.

WalkArlington also excites kids about getting around on foot with programs at schools–from coordinating Walk to School Day  to promoting walking school buses (parents become bus drivers on foot, picking up kids at their doors and walking them to school) at elementary schools. In the summer, WalkArlington offers walking scavenger hunts at the county fair and collaborates with County-run camps to promote walking.

Arlington’s 22 elementary schools and five middle schools all run Safe Routes to Schools programs, which seek ways for more children to walk and bike to school.  “We let families know the advantages of walking to school,” says the school district’s Safe Routes coordinator Tom Norton. “It’s great for fitness and it improves academic performance.”

These pedestrian education efforts, on top of major improvements to streets and sidewalks, advance Arlington toward fulfilling the dream of many residents, best articulated by the county’s former Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator Charlie Denney who grew up here: “Our goal would be to build a community where every 8-year-old can go all by themselves to buy an ice cream cone.”

1. SEPTA’s upgrade
There is really no news bigger in this city than the fact that we will soon be saying goodbye to our beloved tokens. In lieu of upgrading to current standard technology, SEPTA is taking a big leap forward, adopting debit cards and pay-by-cellphone technology. In short, we’ll be going from worst to first when it comes to public transit tech.

2. Waterfront programming continues to grow
This year, installations and events along the Delaware River were a smash — from Spruce Street Harbor Park to the unveiling of Washington Avenue Green to an expanded Winterfest at Penn’s Landing. That trend should continue in the coming year, drawing more and more Philadelphians to our historically underutilized waterfront. All that energy is in the service of a grand plan for the area, a wholesale rethinking that would better connect Center City with the banks of the river.

3. The Philadelphia Land Bank takes effect
Thanks to exciting legislation passed this year, by the beginning of 2015, the Philadelphia Land Bank should be up and running. The goal is to make is easier to develop and beautify the city’s 40,000 vacant properties, and the results could be transformative.

4. Re-striping of Washington Avenue
Washington Avenue, that bustling commercial thoroughfare cutting through South Philadelphia, is getting a major makeover next year. According toPlanPhilly, Washington Avenue will soon have three lanes — one auto lane in each direction and a center turning lane — except for in a few places. The street’s underused bike lanes will be unified into a continuous route. There will also be improved visibility and longer crossing signals for pedestrians; angled parking will replace parallel parking. All these changes should help calm and improve the corridor, improving life for residents and businesses alike.

5. Food co-ops land in up-and-coming neighborhoods
Both South Philly and East Kensington have plans in the works for community-owned grocery stores. While the Kensington Community Food Co-op already has a location and renderings, the South Philly Food Co-op is still keeping mum. Both neighborhood hubs should move closer to reality in 2015, bringing with them increased access to fresh, local food.

6. PHS’s pop-up dominance continues
I am already waiting with bated breath for the announcement of next year’s PHS Pop-up Garden. No placemaking project better exhibits the power of cold drinks and creative design to enliven vacant land and bring citizens together. 2014’s incarnation on South Street was a huge hit — next year should be even better.

7. The zoning remapping continues. 
Quietly, all across the city, our zoning maps are being rewritten. This might sound like boring bureaucracy, but it has a huge impact on the look, feel and functionality of our neighborhoods. The process always involves public meetings, so head out to the one in your area and root for your favorite CMX-2 or RMX-1.

8. The end of construction at 8th and Carpenter
On a personal note, I can’t wait for 2015 to bring the end of a huge construction project in my neighborhood. It’s loud. Trucks do a lot of backing up early in the morning. Next year, when it’s finally done, this whole corner of Bella Vista will once again sleep soundly — and gain back a couple street parking spaces.

The Bastakiya Quarter, located along the south bank of Dubai Creek, was once a thriving middle class neighborhood. A century ago, Dubai was one of the world’s centers of pearl diving. With the rise of machine-made pearls in the 1930s, pearl diving and the Bastakiya Quarter began to decline. The UAE oil boom did not commence until the 1960s, but the area experienced a rebirth a decade earlier when the Dubai Creek was dredged and widened to accommodate larger cargo ships from all over the Middle East and Africa. Today, the Bastakiya Quarter is a popular tourist attraction and home to numerous shops, restaurants, art galleries, and cultural institutions like the Sheikh Mohamed Center for Cultural Understanding (URL: www.cultures.ae). SMCCU offers walking tours of Bastakiya multiple times a week.

The Bastakiya Quarter got its name from the Iranian city of Bastak, a city on the southern coast from which many present-day Emirati families immigrated by boat. Emiratis, like many peoples in the Arabian Gulf region, were originally nomadic and were used to packing up their home and relocating. Today, Emiratis, even the lower classes, are not nomadic due to progressive government policies in the 1990s, but many natives have nomadic Bedouin bloodlines.

In Bastakiya, one can see two different types of housing stock originally common in Bastak, Iran. While they were the predominant housing styles for two different socioeconomic classes, they each used innovative techniques for dealing with Dubai’s brutal heat and both take advantage of reprieve in the form of cooling desert winds.

an “al kaimah” house

On the right in the photo above is an example of an “al kaimah” house. The home’s style is primitive, reflecting the Emiratis’ Bedouin and nomadic roots. It was the home style of choice for lower-middle class citizens. These houses are made of palm tree fibers, making them structurally durable but susceptible to fire. However, the palm tree fibers also allow air to pass through, keeping the house cool in summer.

Middle class families opted to live in the style of house shown on the left side of the previous photo. This style, known as “al arish,” is a more proper multi-family dwelling. Al arish houses consist of multiple rooms surrounding a central courtyard, offering more privacy than al kaimah houses, which are basically oversized multi-family huts. The central courtyard often has a large tree to provide shade, but the home has another key feature that offers a superior level of cooling technology.

A wind tower with an Al arish house.

Al arish houses are famous for their wind towers. Wind towers send cold air downward into a portion of a room directly underneath the tower, away from the doorway to the central courtyard. In summer, families would cram themselves into the room with a wind tower above; alternatively, families would offer this room to overnight guests. In essence, wind towers were one of the most primitive forms of air conditioning with a family’s wealth illustrated by the number of wind towers in their home. Today, buildings that are meant to look “traditional,” such as the Madinat Jumeirah resort, incorporate wind towers in the design, but only for decoration (thanks to modern day air conditioners).

It is worth noting that the Bastakiya neighborhood was planned to control the weather as well. There are numerous courtyards with large shade trees, and houses were built very close together so the streets/alleys would double as powerful wind tunnels.

The planning behind Bastakiya neighborhood encompassed more than just climate control. The layout and construction of the buildings, especially the al arish houses, also uphold the Islamic principle of modesty.

If you look at two buildings across the street/alley from another, you will notice doors and windows do not face each other.

Houses also utilized different sizes of doors and windows. Large windows are used for common areas, while smaller windows are used for more private rooms, such as bedrooms. The larger common area windows are also located closer to the ground than the smaller windows.

People would leave their bigger windows open if they were home, letting guests know that they were welcome inside their home.

When guests arrived at a house, they would be greeted by a door with two doors. The smaller, more modest door was used for people, while the bigger door was used for getting animals and bulkier items in and out. The smaller door meant outsiders would see less of what was inside the home when people came and went. In addition, the first thing that someone would see when entering an al arish house was an interior wall rather than the central courtyard itself. Once inside, one would have to turn 90 degrees to see the courtyard, ensuring a greater sense of privacy and modesty.

The United Arab Emirates has become an up-and-coming power in construction design and technology in recent years. There have been numerous advances in the country, including the Burj Khalifa (the world’s tallest building) and Masdar City (a carbon zero, solar-powered planned city located outside of Abu Dhabi). Bastakiya Quarter demonstrates Dubai had innovative planning before independence in 1971, a fact that may be mind-boggling to given the UAE’s forward-looking image.

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this article are personal and not those of FEMA, DHS, or the US Government.

The name Neu Kirche is German for “new church” and is a nod to its German architecture and the site’s Deutschtown roots. The center is expected to offer studio and performance space. In addition to offering studio and performance space, the nonprofit’s mission is to create and advance contemporary art in Pittsburgh by supporting local artists and bringing in international artists, according to Lee Parker, who owns the building and runs the nonprofit with her husband Greg Parker.

“We were looking for a building that had architectural merit, that was perhaps historic and that was in an area that needed assistance … We believe in creative placemaking,” said Lee Parker.

She said they were drawn to the Spring Garden community because it has been through infrastructure changes, like the installation of Interstate 279, that have separated the neighborhood from the rest of the North Side.

Parker said she wants to “engage in a real way with the community … We want our center to operate as a meeting [space] for the community.”

The repurposing of Immanuel Methodist is just one more example of the transformation of neighborhood churches in Pittsburgh. What emerged as an urban trend in the last 20 years is lately becoming a modern tradition in the region.

European immigrants who settled in Pittsburgh in the early 20^th century built architecturally significant chapels. After the collapse of the region’s steel industry, the population dwindled, resulting in church closures due to declining congregations.

Earlier this year, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh announced that Holy Cross Parish in East Pittsburgh would merge into Good Shepherd Parish in Braddock. At that time, the two church buildings in use by Holy Cross Parish, Saint Helen and Saint William, closed. In 2012, the Holy Cross Parish had one baptism and 19 funerals, and that trend was unlikely to reverse, according to the diocese. The general population of the territories of Holy Cross and Good Shepherd declined 21 percent since the 2000 census.

According to the diocese’s website, more than 130 church properties have been sold since 2003, and 158 parishes have dissolved since 1990. And, many of these parishes, with approval from the Diocese, have gone on to be transformed into residential properties, breweries and more.

“There’s obviously a need to protect … a building that is once sacred,” said Diocese Chief Facilities Officer Michael Arnold about limitations placed on church properties during a sale. He added, “We also go in and remove religious iconography prior to the sale.”

Arnold said the items that are removed depend on what the renovation entails, but often pews and stained glass are decommissioned.

While some may wonder why the Diocese would go along with a secular refurbishing of church property, one must realize that, like any abandoned site, an empty church comes with responsibilities like maintenance costs, liability and blight.

A closed church remains the property of the parish and it is up to the parish to determine the fate of the building, explained John Flaherty, secretary for parish life at the Diocese of Pittsburgh, in an April interview discussing the closure of the three churches.

“They can mothball the building against some future use, demolish the building, lease it, sell it or reuse it for some other parish need,” he said. “The diocesan bishop would have to approve any lease, sale or demolition of the former church building.”

Depending on lot size and location, church properties can go on the market with asking prices ranging from $50,000 to $2.5 million.

On Troy Hill, the former North Catholic High School and its nearly 5-acre campus is listed for $2.5 million, according to the Howard Hanna website. Also listed by Howard Hanna is  the Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church in Dormont at $1.2 million.

A mere five miles away from Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church, the former Saint Henry Church and rectory house on Arlington Avenue in Arlington Heights is listed for sale at $50,000, while the former Bishop Leonard Catholic School in Mt. Oliver is listed at $30,000, according to diocesan documents from earlier this year.

There are also religious properties listed in Homestead and Carnegie at $159,900 and $365,000, respectively.

When God Closes a Door …He Opens a Hotel? Brewery? Restaurant?

Less than half a mile away from the new Neu Kirche sits one of Pittsburgh’s first churches rehabs, The Priory Hotel. The hotel opened in 1988 after the property was nearly demolished to build Interstate 279. The congregants of another church (down the street from the Priory) fought the demolition and the Department of Transportation rerouted the road. At that point, Ed and Mary Ann Graf purchased the shuttered Benedictine priory and church and renovated the monastery into a hotel.

Church Brew Works

St. Mary’s Church, as it was known during its Deutschtown days, was built in 1852, and St. Mary’s priory in 1888. The Grafs repurposed the church building in the 1990s as the Grand Hall.

“It still very much resembles a church,” said John Graf, son of Ed and Mary Ann and Priory Hospitality Group president and CEO. He noted that the hall still has original stained glass, fixtures, beams, art and scroll work. “When you come in, you can tell you’re in something that’s been a church before. We try to honor that history.”

The hotel is also home to the pint-sized 14-seat Monks’ Bar, a nod to the site’s former Benedictine residents.

An expert in church reuse

Across the Allegheny River and a few miles east, The Church Brew Works has become an icon on Liberty Avenue since its inception in 1996 when owner Sean Casey paid $191,200 for the building.

In addition to The Church Brew Works, Casey also purchased St. Kieran’s in Lawrenceville last year, which will be converted into residential property — making Casey a double veteran in church renovation.

“They’re really cool. They’re beautiful. And, in a sense, they’re great intriguing buildings for adaptive reuse,” Casey said.

And, by working with different parochial buildings for 18 years, Casey has become a contact for many business owners restoring churches across the United States seeking advice. He warns entrepreneurs to first and foremost protect the buildings from further damage. Splurge in the beginning on a new roof and fix all the leaks, he warns.

Next, Casey suggests owners find their passion because a church space can be transformed into almost anything from art and music studios to restaurants to housing. And, Pittsburgh has seen such galleries, businesses and residential properties develop in old churches throughout the city.

Casey explained that when the churches aren’t updated, they are “pancaked.” He added, “They’re architectural treasures in the city that are worth saving.”

The Church Brew Works is rich with artifacts and architecture from the space’s history as St. John the Baptist. Details like hand-painted cypress beams on the high vaulted ceilings, intricate glass windows and the iconic blue apse were preserved. Other original pieces, like the building itself, have been repurposed. Mini pews were constructed from the church’s original benches for guest seating, and the excess oak from shortening the pews was used to build the bar. The altar now houses the brewery’s steel and copper tanks.

A Tour of Pittsburgh’s Renovated Churches

In addition to the Brew Works, other churches-turned-taprooms are scattered around town, starting with Mr. Small’s Funhouse, formerly Saint Ann (1924 to 1998). The Millvale venue, owned by Liz Berlin of Rusted Root and her husband Mike Speranzo, has seen a myriad of impressive acts from Muse to Fallout Boy to Broken Social Scene since it opened in 2003. Unlike the Brew Works, Mr. Small’s has been converted into a concert hall and its repairs notoriously include slanted, outdoor balconies. Berlin and Speranzo also own the United Methodist building across the street from Mr. Small’s which is being transformed into the Creative Life Support Center, a site for the non-profit part of Small’s, a recording studio, cafe and musical instrument store.

Charlie Murdoch’s Dueling Piano Bar, a former Ukrainian church on the South Side, prides itself in being a “Famous Rock & Roll Church.” And, Oakland’s Sphinx Café offers a hookah bar with Middle Eastern ambiance in an old church.

The Altar Bar has embraced the church vibe in a different way than other remodeled houses of worship. The former St. Elizabeth Church in the Strip District has offered a tongue-in-cheek approach to its history, which is seen in its name (with a crucifix for a “t”) and on its website, which states, “The Altar Bar is a premier music venue hell-bent on resurrecting live music in the city.”

In Brookline, Overbrook Presbyterian lives on as The Church Recording Studio. Owner Dana Cannone described the studio as optimal recording space in a 2013 Pop City interview. He said churches are designed to create great acoustics. Farther west in the South Hills, Cefalo’s Banquet & Event Center in Carnegie opened in 2005 at the site of the former Christ United Presybterian Church.

The Priority’s Courtyard

In addition to musical renovations, some churches have become community centers. Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation’s community center, located on North Pacific Avenue in Garfield, is a former Methodist church constructed in 1898. The Union Project on N. Negley Avenue was once Union Baptist Church. Today, it serves as a community center, event venue and creative space.

The Nyia Page Community Center in Braddock also has a holy history as First Presbyterian. A decade ago, the Nyia Page Community Center was slated for demolition. Today, the building, run by the nonprofit Braddock Redux, is home to a host of after-school activities and children’s programs. In 2012, the facility added the Braddock Community Cafe — which has a goal of providing healthy food options in Braddock.

Today, urban areas increase pollution more than anything else on the planet. A report on the New Climate Economy website revealed that urban areas account for half the world’s population, but generate around 80% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). They are also associated with around 70% of global energy consumption and energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.

So, a concentrated effort geared towards a more eco-friendly lifestyle must begin, and urban areas need to be the target of this change.

Sustainable Urbanism: Making cities more eco-friendly

The goal of making cities more environmentally friendly is achievable too, but not just by changing one or two ways we do things in our lives. A big push is needed, one that is all-encompassing and far reaching. Broadly, this push can be segregated into a few different facets of the urban lifestyle.

Transportation

Commuting via Cycling. Photo by dylanpassmore on Flickr

One fifth of all of the emissions in the United States can be blamed on automobiles from a claim by the Union of Concerned Scientists. While emission standards are getting stricter, especially in Europe (implementation of Euro 6 emission norms has just begun), that alone is not the solution. Amenities that facilitate more sustainable transport systems (walking, cycling, using electric vehicles, etc.) need to be integrated into urban dwellings so that more people are encouraged to use these eco-friendly methods for their daily commutes. This piece on The City Fix sheds more light on vehicular transport, the problems it causes, and possible solutions.

Recycling

Recycling bins. Courtesy of epsos on Flickr.

Americans created 251 million tons of waste in 2012, out of which 87 million tons (or 34.5 percent) was recycled or composted, according to the Environment Protection Agency. A decidedly low number, considering San Francisco managed to divert a staggering 80% of its waste away from landfills through recycling efforts – segregation, regular trips to the metal scrap yards, and innovative efforts such as this one by Sims Metal Management and the Oakland Athletics. Using the example in San Francisco, we can adopt this model to other cities.

Lighting

LED Light Bulbs. Courtesy of Samsung Tomorrow on Flickr.

20% of the world’s power goes into providing light. Cities, in particular, are high users of artificial lighting solutions. We must encourage the use of new LED lighting which lasts 25 times longer than your average light, and is more energy efficient by 75%. Imagine the impact if not just all homes and businesses, but every source of light, including street lights, are switched to LEDs. Subsidies on LED lighting for businesses for a start would, in itself, make a world of difference.

Just these three simple areas of the urban lifestyle, if altered significantly, can drastically alter the amount of pollution generated, and could represent a huge stride in the reduction of that 70% pollution created specifically in cities. It will make for a healthier environment, a healthier and more attractive urban core, and a brighter future for our planet.

“Whether someone comes from India or Indianapolis, we want to keep them here,” he says, “but we treat I-75 like the Berlin Wall, and the Ohio River is the Ohio Ocean,” Cornejo says. “If we are not opening our arms to the east side or the west side or northern Kentucky, how are we going to open our hearts to someone from Kuala Lumpur or Thailand?”

Although various groups have worked for years to pave the way for immigrants, most recently, Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley has taken up the charge, inviting 92 community leaders to join his Taskforce on Immigration. The Taskforce will focus on five areas: economic development, community resources & welcoming, education & talent retention, rights & safety, and international attractiveness.

In January 2015, members of the Taskforce, including University of CincinnatiPresident Santa Ono and Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce CEO Brian Carley, will present the mayor with a full list of recommendations for attracting more foreign-born residents.

Why should Cincinnati attract more immigrants?

Mayor Cranley says that welcoming more immigrants to Cincinnati makes the region more competitive. It draws new sources of capital, innovation and cultural richness to the city, which in turn attracts more residents and businesses. For example, nearby Dayton’s immigrant population is now on the upswing thanks to immigration reform efforts led by of Dayton City Manager Tim Riordan. Welcome Dayton, an initiative passed in 2011, called for policy changes and better communication to attract and retain foreign-born residents.

State Representative Wes Retherford (R-Hamilton) agrees, but with a caveat. “If we are bringing well-educated, hardworking, legal immigrants, that is always going to benefit any community,” Retherford says. However, he worries that the mayor’s plan includes attracting illegal immigrants, which he says creates a burden on law enforcement and drains resources from tax-payers.

“We are promoting legal immigration,” Cranley says. “I want Cincinnati to succeed. Cities that have seen the most economic growth over the last 30 years are cities with immigrant communities that have thrived. Growing our economy is good for people who are seeking the American dream as well as for people who are already here.”

Creating more opportunity for international residents is an issue that hits close to home for Cranley, whose wife’s family emigrated from Jordon before starting Gold Star Chili—a company that now employs hundreds of Cincinnatians. Along with Gold Star, several other local corporations were started by immigrants or first-generation Americans, including Procter & Gamble, Kroger and Graeter’s.

University of Cincinnati President Santa Ono wants local residents to know that a larger immigrant population will have a positive impact on their quality of life. “A bustling, diverse community is typically more affluent and has more cultural offerings available that make it a fun place to live,” he says.

Currently, immigrants make up only 4.6 percent of the city’s population—less than all other major cities in our region, according to the 2013 U.S. Census. This is a troubling statistic, considering that immigrants are responsible for 25 percent of the total new business creation and related job growth.

Additionally, according to Mary Stagamen, executive director of Agenda 360, becoming more immigrant friendly could help Cincinnati retain and attract more Fortune 500 companies like GE and Procter & Gamble that seek international candidates to fill positions in science and technology—areas where the U.S. lags behind, ranking 52^nd globally. “I would love to see us produce more engineers and physicians and the like,” says Stagaman, “but in the meantime there’s a pool of ready (international) labor available to us. … We’re turning them out every year at the University of Cincinnati, but we’re not keeping them here.”

How can Cincinnati meet the challenge?

“I’d like to see UC take a lead role in making the mayor’s vision a reality, creating a real magnet for talent acquisition,” UC’s Ono says. “Talent is a global commodity.”

He suggests that one key to making the city more immigrant friendly is helping people navigate the system. “It is not a straightforward process to become a landed immigrant/resident. I can say that first-hand,” says Ono, who was born and raised in Canada.

The Chamber’s Brian Carley suggests that another way Cincinnati can attract more immigrants is by promoting itself more effectively—especially emphasizing its nine Fortune 500 companies and thriving arts and education sectors. “There are things that people don’t think we are doing well that we actually are doing well,” Carley says. “Things that Agenda 360 is doing, the progress the airport is making in getting additional international flights, things that REDI and our economic development initiatives are doing. Now there’s still progress to be made, and that’s why we have the Taskforce.”

“Once people get here and see the opportunities that exist, they fall in love with us,” Stagaman adds. “Because we’re lovable!”

What does it mean to be immigrant friendly?

Cornejo suggests that every person in the region can play a role in attracting more immigrants, and thus boosting Cincinnati’s growth. “If you hear a foreign accent, ask them where they are from and offer to connect them to resources they may need. That will make our community stand out,” he says, speaking from first-hand experience. “Additionally, we need to celebrate our differences. Not just respect them—celebrate them.”

Mayor Cranley agrees: “If people see someone they haven’t met before and go out of their way to be welcoming, it could make a huge impact.”

You can find more information on how to get involved or voice your opinion on theMayor’s Taskforce on Immigration website. Also The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, Agenda 360, Vision 2015 and Fifth Third Bank will host the annualDiverse by Design Leadership Symposium this Friday, Nov. 7, from 7:30-11:30 a.m. The event is open to the public and highlights the ongoing work of diversity and inclusion in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. To register, click here.