Healing the cities

Southern Living, Mar 1996 by Morris, Philip

One of the parking decks, Moore Square Station built in 1987, is a singular urban design success. In addition to space for 765 cars, the design by architect Terry Alford includes a transit mall for 16 buses and an inviting pedestrian arcade from historic Moore Square to the heart of downtown. Careful placement means 23 historic buildings on the block were saved.

The city's renovation of Memorial Auditorium, expansion of the convention center, and other projects help keep downtown active. New state buildings, such as the North Carolina Museum of History and the Museum of Natural Sciences (now under construction), also attract residents and visitors. A push for residential use is also taking hold.

Not every strategy to strengthen downtown has worked. "A major department store recently closed," laments downtown planner Ken Maness. "But we continue to have a great deal of investment. No one thing will make or break downtown. It's the combination that brings flexibility and strength."

BIRMINGHAM

Birmingham's historic downtown is part of a larger 4-square-mile zone defined as the city center, where aggressive use of public streetscape improvements, urban design standards, and public/ private partnerships have stitched together a quilt of distinct, yet connected, districts.

The following are among the city's major initiatives.

* A public landscape program that has upgraded all or part of virtually every city-center street and renovated downtown parks.

Development or expansion of institutions to strengthen the city center's role, including Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, the Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, and Alabama School of Fine Arts.

* Incentives for conversion of historic buildings and development of new ones for residential lofts and apartments.

Birmingham's active use of urban design principles for both public and private projects sets it apart. Guidelines are tailored to each district with the intent of reinforcing its character.

A strong urban design department has led the process. "A holistic approach, where you think simultaneously about the character of a district and the details of a sidewalk, was established at the beginning," says architect William Gilchrist, who now heads the planning and engineering department for the city. "We also work closely with developers early on so everyone is together from the start."

Virginia Williams, chief of staff under Mayor Richard Arrington, says the key move was elevating the importance of urban design by establishing a separate department--"freeing the planners," she calls it. Project after project the city contracts with landscape architects, planners, architects, and engineers, but it is the firm urban design oversight that has led to what's so often missing in cities: The pieces add up to something greater.

Birmingham's latest public/ private project scheduled to open in late 1997, the Discovery 2000 science center, summarizes the best of the new roles for historic downtowns. It will occupy the long-closed, Art Deco-style Loveman's department store and, with the restored Alabama and Lyric Theaters nearby, will bring people back to the heart of the old retail district.