The ADRR

In response to David’s article, I want to offer some comments on the idea of thinking about, analyzing and planning for cities at the district level, rather than simply talking about a large area called “the downtown.”  Living in Philadelphia that had, when I arrived in 1976, an urban renewal demolition created office district and an Independence mall historic district created by clearing out an obsolete warehouse district, an urban renewal, preservation-created historic Society Hill residential district,  an organic Fabric Row, Jewelers Row, Chinatown, Antique Row and a South Street alternative culture street that rebounded once plans were defeated for demolition and clearance of the entire corridor.  I have watched these places evolve and change over time.

Having done the first master plan for our Avenue of the Arts district in 1990, while puzzling over how to handle the theaters to the east on Walnut street, that claim to be the oldest in North America, I very much appreciate your use of the term “archipelago” – recognizing that even defined districts, have geographic outliers.  Clearly, the designation of South Broad Street as the Avenue of the Arts helps for marketing purposes; it helped leverage funding for streetscape and façade lighting improvements to reinforce the district, and it helped fundraising by new theaters that attracted donors and a governor who saw their investments not only in buildings but in the creation of a supportive district. We obviously agree on multi-functionality being a key to the future of arts and of all districts, but don’t leave out parking as unpleasant, but necessary support function for many theaters who rely on suburban customers. So from my experience, “districts”  can be both organic or result from conscious planning by a city or by a developer who secures control of multiple sites.

Can or should districts be preserved?  Sometimes market conditions change and, for example, the demand for certain types of property goes away and there is nothing that can be done to reverse trends if there is no an alternative viable use for those properties. On the other hand, Chinatown in San Francisco, emerged organically, like many other counterparts, but it was protected from pressures from the adjacent financial district by government imposing height limits and historic designation.

We are at one of those moments in the life of our cities where we need fundamentality to rethink what they are. In many similar prior moments, we have made huge mistakes and also done many things well. We have been captivated by the new-new-thing that turned out to have a limited life and we have tried to preserve things that had lost their reason for being. Somewhere in between is the right path to follow.