THERE has been an upsurge in interest among city governments, over the last few years, in the world of design in general and architecture in particular. And most of it is in the name of the revitalization of the downtown core.
The media has certainly taken notice. Hardly a week goes by that a story doesn't appear, somewhere, on urban design, growth, the city centre and downtowns.
Renowned architect Frank Gehry's outdoor music pavilion in Chicago's Millennium Park.
City governments' attempts to increase the vitality of their city centres have led to tax relief (Winnipeg), the redesign of key areas (Calgary, Vancouver, Victoria), a design review (Calgary, Vancouver), more mixed-use (Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna, Vancouver), business/government coalitions (Saskatoon), and social investment (Regina).
There is evidence to suggest that business, in its quest to recruit and retain the best and brightest, is, more than ever, concerned about the quality of life of cities and their associated vitality, especially the attractiveness of vibrant city centres. Richard Florida, who has written about the "creative class," has noted this linkage: he and others maintain that investing in city centres is an important variable in increasing the overall health of a city and, hence, its appeal to the "creative class."
In other words, and in a phrase made famous in Field of Dreams, "build it and they will come". Cities are coming to realize that a vital city centre is in their self-interest and a significant factor in ensuring competitiveness.
Downtowns have evolved over the years from places which had a mixture of uses, to places of sterility during the 1960s and 1970s when there was an exodus at 5 p.m. and empty streets in the evening, and, recently, to more interesting places where people are choosing to visit and live in larger numbers. Vancouver is a model of a successful city-centre living strategy, with a permanent growing city-centre that leads to stimulation of a variety of other activities.
Cities with healthy downtowns, such as Vancouver and, increasingly Calgary and Kelowna, signify places that have a broader vitality. Architecture has much to offer in supporting a vital, healthy city centre.
How does architecture contribute?
Architecture plays a major role in ensuring that the city centre has lasting impact. Through urban design processes that identify the broader contextual possibilities of detailed building designs that recognize the importance of place as a shaper of building form, architecture contributes to the physical and visual fabric of the city centre.
The product of architecture is a built form that conveys an important message to citizens and visitors alike about the value that the community places upon its sense of place. In short, cities that invest in quality building design in their city centre are making a clear declaration about pride of place. Such statements are a powerful metaphor for the state of city vitality and the attitude of its people.
Many cities are seeking to re-invent their city centre with signature architecture. Chicago's Millennium Park, with its central focal point, Frank Gehry's bandshell and footbridge, is a prime example of re-invigorated focus on the city centre. Other cities are attempting to bring life back to the downtown with more functional (and attractive) architecture, such as Winnipeg's new bridge over the Red River, the Esplanade Louis Riel. Some are exploring public architecture, such as Vancouver's ideas competition that welcomes public-design input to enhance that city's public spaces. Other cities, such as Calgary, are examining broad urban-design considerations in the downtown that will form the basis for new mixed-use development.
Although the scale may vary, the aspirations remain consistent: stimulating city centres and promoting vitality through high-quality design.
As a key urban-design discipline, architecture is an expression of societal aspirations. Architecture evolves and adjusts to changing needs and values, thereby reflecting cultural growth.
The importance of architecture and associated urban design in the city centre is best illustrated by our own experiences as visitors to other cities. We remember vibrant and vital city centres as desirable locales where people matter, where buildings appeal to sensibilities of sight, sound and emotion, where public space is welcoming and safe, and where a sense of place is evident. Most of us do not remember design banality.
City centres are especially important places where the evolution of societal tastes is mirrored in the building stock. In Western Canada, as one moves west from Winnipeg to Vancouver, city centres change in their characteristics as a result of economic influences and historic building booms. Through architecture, city centres are the places where that mix of economic growth and historic building activity is recorded for all to see.
Winnipeg's city centre has retained a magnificent, terra cotta, turn-of-the-20th-century building stock in its Exchange District, and some excellent examples of modernist architecture. The post-modernist era is well represented in Calgary and Vancouver. Each city has a unique vitality that is linked to its own particular circumstance. Architecture has responded in a way that captures those periods of vitality and has secured them for future memory. Some architecture, such as the Vancouver Courthouse, continues to evoke a powerful message of city-centre renewal and vitality.
But what about the future of the city centre? What role might architecture play in its continued evolution and associated vibrancy?
The future of city centres will rest on a number of items, several of which have a design implication.
1. Strong vibrant cores
City centres need to state clearly how they set themselves apart from the remainder of the city. In most cities, this sense of place is determined by a scale and quality of building design that is obvious, distinct and forceful. Architecture is the key ingredient in achieving places of distinction. In such instances, architecture is art.
2. Increased mixed use
City centres will increasingly need to have a mix of uses, including nearby residential neighbourhoods, nearby streets with residential over retail, and places where people work within a vital richness of varied use. Architecture is the essential ingredient in creating a mix of uses that complements the city's needs with a richness of quality and character.
3. Pedestrianization of city centres
Architecture is an important contributor to building form and scale that welcomes pedestrian activity in a comfortable and appropriate way. Public plazas, squares and edges are key urban-design realms where architects, landscape architects and urban designers collaborate to build places of distinction and calm.
4. Green building
The city centre is often a place of large energy consumption. With increasing energy costs, architecture must respond by contributing energy-efficient, attractively designed buildings, such as the new Manitoba Hydro headquarters under design for downtown Winnipeg.
5. Brownfield development
Many city centres contain abandoned industrial "brownfield" sites. Architecture has played a major role in designing alternative uses for such sites, such as the rail yard redevelopment in Edmonton, the Forks in Winnipeg, Coal Harbour in Vancouver, and the inner harbour of Victoria. These new design interventions have had a powerful effect, transforming former vacant lands into vibrant sites.
6. Placemaking
Architecture, along with landscape architecture, urban planning, and urban design, contributes to placemaking with its attendant focus upon discovering the essence of place and the unique design vocabulary that informs city-centre design. For Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Vancouver, Victoria and Winnipeg, the existing or potential relationship of the city centre to the waterfront and associated views beyond informs placemaking. Architecture assists in identifying the sense of place through the use of building location, materials and relationship to surrounding uses.
As society responds to increased needs for sustainable development and enhanced quality of life, architecture can expect to be a major contributor to the vitality of city centres.
This article originally appeared in the Spring 2005 issue of Dialogues, a Canada West Foundation publication.
David Witty is Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, University of Manitoba.
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