This blog has so far focused a fair bit on what is wrong with the built form of Traverse City and noted areas of improvement, as opposed to areas that are already great. This is not to say that we don’t realize this city has great places, or that we don’t see progress being made. Traverse City is pretty awesome already.

We haven’t often addressed how we might go about improving our place, or the ways in which individual actions and interventions can combine to form a cohesive strategy of place improvement. Some of this is because each situation is unique, so the best solution must be designed and implemented carefully, but addressing the issues we raise in a broad way could give some basic indication of the important role they can play in the required strategy. Parking (I am obsessed) is of course a prime example, and should be addressed so we don’t sow unnecessary confusion.

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Initially devised by retail strategists to efficiently and effectively scratch the consumer itch like no other place before it, the mall fulfilled our dreams and we fell in love. Operating as a single entity, its agenda was to provide the most lucrative and efficient space for all its tenants—essentially writing a zoning code with profit at its core. With nothing but storefronts, signage, and windowless blank walls defining the interior’s entirety, the users are funneled at will for the purpose of driving sales. There were rules: benches must face retail facades, color schemes must not distract from retail signs, indoor plants and railings must not inhibit views of mandated vibrant display windows, and generator retail spaces and national anchor destinations must crown corridors lined with boutiques and jr. big box stores. Such methodology works, it has been proven over and over again; the consolidation of retail and amenities creates a mutual exchange of shoppers amongst competing businesses, but what is missing might numb your brain.



Mall’s numbers can look great without context, especially when considering finances. Land on the urban fringe where malls are typically situated is cheap and easy to develop, parking can be expansive and building footprints can grow to unthinkable dimensions (it’s really very difficult to comprehend the size of the space when inside). Enabled by lax zoning and design guidelines, the suburban development process is speedy, directly contributing to reduced overhead and risk for the development. In contrast, urban projects are routinely held up by public debates and feasibility and impact studies for years waiting for approval. It makes building urban infill so much more difficult, for real estate developers the easy choice is another suburban location. But the lack of context and its failure at becoming a real place is what defines the mall experience, and is their eventual undoing.

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The ideation of recreating a building’s fifth facade, or roof, can follow one of two routes: create a physical building addition for a new use such as residential or revamp the roof for the installation of a green roof, garden, or patio.   In Le Corubsier’s Five Points (1929), a simple but all-encompassing analysis of modern architecture —exemplified by his Villa Savoye project, he explains that an efficient modern building must replace the green space on which it sits with a roof garden.  The opportunity for building extensions waver dependent on structural integrity within the existing building, structural integrity and lightness of the addition, limited existing or rearrangeable roof appurtenances and utilities, and flexibility of local zoning laws.  The benefits of additions, whether they’re surface treatments, extensive green roofs, or larger additions that provide new residential units or office space, can include or provide the opportunity for:

• eliminating geological impacts of new building footprints and associated costs for construction components such as shoring and foundations stages
• reducing the local heat island effect caused by old or improper substrates that lack reflectance and/or evapotranspiration capabilities and thus improving energy efficiency within the building
• creating ecosystems and eco-bridging impermeable areas of artificial mass
• taking advantage of views typically found atop buildings
• maxing out the building dimensions for FAR or allowed zoning envelope to increase density
• increasing the value and image of existing property
• involvement of systems and strategies that coincide with points toward LEED certification for Existing Buildings

It should be clear by now to all involved that the city as a truly urban and highly utilized form is the orientation of the future. With the convergence of environmental concerns and changing lifestyle preferences, more active and involved residential and commercial districts promise to out-perform disconnected suburban locations in the foreseeable future and beyond. Allowing prime real estate to be relegated to use as surface parking lots, single-family houses converted for storage, and suburban style drive-thrus robs the city of economic vitality and delays the onset of a more active and vibrant city life. It is the responsibility of landowners in downtown Traverse City to invest in their communities in an active and positive way; low intensity land uses should be replaced and updated to suit the times and better serve the city and the region.

Vision and action are needed in equal measure to realize and create the new generation of living arrangements. So long as key properties sit underutilized and vacant, Traverse City will fail to become a business and lifestyle center able to attract the talent needed to succeed beyond the summer months. While new hybrid forms are becoming desirable, the fundamentals of urban space remain constant. (Land is valuable— create density and maximize utilization of available space for the full array of urban land-uses to create affordability, accessibility, profit, and vitality.) The better we can do the job of creating quality places that stand the test of time, the better the city and the region as a whole will be prepared to thrive in the new economy.

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Parking is important, and will remain so in successful and peopled urban places for the foreseeable future. That being said, design and quantity play an important role in controlling the negative effects parking can have on its surroundings, including economic distortions to the cost of land, infrastructure, housing and transportation, and legitimate lifestyle concerns such as neighborhood safety, vitality, and cohesion. Parking quantity should be limited just enough to exert light pressure on people’s transportation decision making process and priced to more closely reflect full costs. The manipulation of designed elements should be used to create proper proportions, context, and street orientation so parking facilities result in spaces of improved quality.

On-street, surface, and structured parking all behave in different ways and require different approaches to manage outcomes. Providing on-street parking can slow traffic and help to define and improve the pedestrian and shopping environment of the sidewalk zone. On-street parking is generally positive, and should be allowed and used to support business’s short term parking needs and contribute to traffic calming. Education and pavement markings can go a long way toward promoting cyclist safety, and in very narrow roadways, bicycle and auto interaction should be dealt with using context sensitive designs.

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Farmers’ markets have proven to be popular in cities and towns and can successfully improve neighborhoods on many fronts. Markets strengthen community identity and rural agricultural economies by providing local farmers with higher margins and offering consumers unrivaled freshness, nutrition, and a unique access experience. Having a great farmers’ market is a major draw for many educated young workers and families looking to relocate, and they bring a diverse group of visitors downtown to support nearby shops, restaurants, and neighborhoods.

The Traverse City market is the largest in the area and helps to activate the downtown on market days. It has flourished over the years, showing itself deserving of a more permanent and better designed facility. The current market design exhibits extremely poor internal organization, visibility, and protection to the extent that the market is unable to succeed to its fullest potential– depriving farmers, shoppers, and the city of the smoothest and most beneficial experience possible.

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Our Downtown Neighborhood

The creation of new housing desirable to young people requires more thought than simply creating four walls and a roof. While it must be affordable, it also must be cool, one without the other is a recipe for disaster for both the city and the young people who might choose to live there. The next generation of homeowners and business builders desire a PLACE to call home, not just a house to call home. They want to live in places that are authentic, and offer lifestyle options. They refuse to be tethered to their cars and prefer doing things, to owning things. They would rather go to beaches than own pools, go to the State Theatre than own home theatres, and visit parks than have massive backyards.

This lifestyle relies upon a subtle balance of the synergistic ratios of urban program (housing, retail, office, amenity). Often pursued by developers through “Branded” life-style centers, these self-contained environments frequently focus little on neighborhood integration, ignoring or overpowering local context instead. If taken seriously, a push to attract and retain talented young people to the region would make our downtown the mixing ground for authentic opportunities for place, and result in developments where shopping, working, and entertaining are an integral part of a complete neighborhood. The place to live, and the places to work and recreate should be the same, but not exclusively, developments in and near downtown will succeed based upon their integration with an authentic place.

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Traverse City lacks sufficient housing affordable to young people and new families looking to move to, or stay in the area. Providing housing that gives people the option of owning one fewer car, or purchasing a gallon of milk down the street helps to provide more affordable total costs of living, increases personal health and social cohesion, and reduces environmental impacts. Being able to provide affordable housing in or near downtown would help attract talented young people to the area, further expanding options for shopping, eating, and entertainment for all.

While some may oppose higher densities, they are a necessary pre-requisite for the housing choices of many young people and are necessary to maintain affordability within the context of high downtown land costs. Creative relationships between the public and private sectors can and should be fostered to overcome obstacles and leverage investment and under-utilized properties to create new developments with transformative potential.

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In Traverse City, parking is being provided in a variety of ways; public on-street, public structured, public surface, and private surface parking lots. While the city’s parking plan is progressive and is envisioned as a being better in the future, current realities necessitate an honest appraisal of the parking system as it exists today. Strong proactive action needs to be taken to reduce its significant negative externalities while maintaining and supporting a balance of transportation modes.

A major source of negative externalities in the parking system is the significant portion of total public lots (35%) and total public spaces (40%), which occupy Boardman River frontage. The location and design of these lots also prevents the riverfront from being fully utilized as a recreational amenity and commercial engine for downtown businesses and residents, and acts as a significant barrier between downtown, the waterfront, and surrounding city districts.

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In Traverse City, most alleys operate as public right-of-ways offering priority to mail trucks, beer deliveries, and providing limited parking for VIPs.  With densification in mind, the deep block between Front St. and State St. boasts the potential for new tenant space, and begs the question of whether more building owners should consider fronting the dark side.  Several businesses offer alley entrances, but they remain an afterthought.  Successful businesses rely upon storefronts on activated and inviting corridors. A full reprogramming of the alley with adequate wayfinding signage, new storefronts and tenants, and reconfiguration and rescheduling of current service provision could provide a unique plan for the downtown’s underutilized areas.

Redevelopment of alleyways also provides opportunities for changing the street surface permeability.  In 2007, Chicago’s Department of Transportation started The Green Alley Program to replace existing asphalt in alleys with semi-permeable paving systems to allow the filtering of storm water runoff.  More pedestrian focused alleyways–and those with bollards– allow for café seating, large planting strips, and even water features to animate the space.  The Alley24 development in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle by NBBJ architects, recognizes the potential of in-between spaces for retail and pedestrians below, while providing spatial guidelines that help organize programmatic elements of architecture above, creating new aesthetic relationships amongst opposing upper building facades. Alleys are being reinterpreted in progressive cities and towns to serve as significant amenities and authentic usable places, the alleyways in Traverse City offer a lot of potential for creative and unique redevelopment.

River Redevelopment

Downtown Traverse City’s mote, the Boardman river, undeveloped and underutilized, acts as a boundary in which zones of pedestrian activity cross but rarely engage.  We envision a reprogramming of its adjacencies, the majority being surfing parking lots, to allow for topographical changes of the river’s edge.  Such manipulations to the existing space, creating amphitheaters, patios, and other various public spaces allow for the surrounding activity amongst storefronts and restaurants to spill out into the riverfront.  New spatial programming of the riverfront can create dynamic cross relationships between the north and south sides and  its increased use and interconnectedness will ultimately lead to further activation of Traverse City’s waterfront redevelopment plan as well as the prosperity of the warehouse district.