City Building: The Process of Accretion
City building: the process of Accretion:
Accretion
- Noun -
– The process of growth or increase, typically by the gradual accumulation of additional layers or matter
– The coming together and cohesion of matter under the influence of gravitation to form larger bodies.
During a lecture, renowned architect and USC alumni, Thom Mayne, stated that cities are built through the process of accretion. That concept struck me and I attempted to enumerate ways to expedite that process to rapidly regenerate under-served communities. How can that process, one which is historically intricate and time consuming, be accelerated to create massive impacts?
The evolution of cities is measured in time and reflected in visible changes of the physical world. Accretion, used in the context of city building, is a slowly evolving layering of built structures and systems serving the surrounding built environment. Furthermore, open space, excluding parking areas and vacant lots, are important components which form the dynamic solid - void relationships in a functioning city.
The catalyst to the process of accretional city building is a strong initial vision accompanied by immense capital investments. Like the attraction of a magnet, those accumulative elements flow naturally towards the pulling force of this created value. As the value center is increased, the social gravity attracts even more capital and commerce. Inevitably, buildable lots and teardowns become unavailable culminating in a destination with the ability to support commerce and culture both day and night.
Upon achievement of a place within the city, the next evolution is the strategic insertion of vertical elements beyond what currently exists. The notion of verticality does not only insinuate taller structures, vertical growth captures increased values, higher quality commerce, and colossal social capital.
How do we capture a higher quality in our redeveloping communities? First, we must define a vision that locates a center of value where the investment will occur. Once that has been delineated realistic strategies must be devised to focus all efforts on that central location.
Before moving further in discussing redeveloping cities, lets review a few brief examples depicting various levels of redevelopment in different urban settings.
North End, Boston
A great example at a local scale is Boston’s North End neighborhood. The North End is a diverse immigrant community that found ways to progress beyond credit blacklisting that prevented revitalization.
The small waterfront neighborhood was labeled a slum by planners and capital lenders made it extremely difficult for residents to find loans to finance small businesses and the required building improvements. The community collectively responded by creating small pools of capital to undertake the work themselves.
The redevelopment occurred within the community through the investment of capital by local business owners and landlords. The capital was then used to provide materials to local tradesman which then bartered their skills in exchange for the wide variety of services already provided within the community.
This resulted in the transformation of a neighborhood filled with historical structures into a community teaming with value and wealth at multiple levels. Due to the historical significance of the area, the transformation occurred with little change in urban scale therefore maintaining the social core of the community. Many of the buildings were preserved and re-purposed while the street grid remained as it has been for hundreds of years.
This took a tremendous amount of trust within the local community. It seems so simple but when you give a thousand dollars of hard earned money into a capital pool to renovate a downtrodden structure to include a food market owned by someone else, it is easy to see the apprehension; especially in today‘s current social environment.
Although this transformation occurred in the past when regulations may have been slightly relaxed, the local residents produced rapid change and created value through self-reliant industriousness without reliance on formal capital sources such as banks and city development funds.
The element that many under-served communities lack is the local ownership of land and buildings. In some cases the skilled labor is present, however, without the will of the individuals and businesses capable of providing funding, progress cannot generate the traction necessary to create a transformative chain reaction that is in the best interest of all stakeholders. When the crucial components of local ownership and skilled craft exist a community is empowered to self-perform a staggering amount of action.
The uplift of the Boston’s North End, along with other big city neighborhoods, is detailed in Jane Jacobs’ classic book “The Death and Life of the Great American City.”
Chelsea, New York City
A detailed example of the accretional process at a larger scale would be the western section of Chelsea in New York City. In this example the urban form matured around the redevelopment of the High Line Elevated Park. The current evolution of the built environment is exhibited at extreme levels in the Hudson Yard development located just a short walk north of Chelsea.
West Chelsea, the High Line park, and Hudson Yards, saw large developers and prominent architects infuse the community with new structures that compliment and contrast the existing buildings. The place is a thriving and diverse destination for the residents, businesses, tourists, and massive capital investments.
The process of Chelsea’s transformation from a diverse, high-end neighborhood to a text book representation of the ultimate city lifestyle revolved around the preservation of the High Line, a public amenity of cataclysmic impact. Although the resulting process took many years the impact justifies the duration and effort.
The area is a perfect sample of how accretional city building can occur and progress in a multitude of ways. Different from Boston’s North End, Chelsea significant infusion of private and public capital had a large impact into a New York City market that was already thriving in many ways.
The continuous regenerative process exhibited the insertion of new structures into an existing context. This includes the renovation of old infrastructure that links the urban fabric to create immense sense of place, connection and civic pride.
Communities yearning for change can learn a great deal from West Chelsea. Proper vision and planning can have spectacular results. Additionally, the High Line park and surrounding developments display the highest quality of design, materials, urbanism, and culture which energize the public and stimulate the capital necessary to sustain a community and attract those from outside the local area to spend time and money.
Little Italy, San Diego
San Diego’s Little Italy neighborhood witnessed a staggering transformation. A diverse community located in a small urban village along San Diego bay has a history that supported a once bustling fishing industry. The interstate highway built in the 1960’s fractured the community, and the relocating fishing port sent the neighborhood spiraling into disrepair; socially and economically.
Then in the mid 1990’s, the downtown redevelopment group sought to revitalize a complete city block in Little Italy. They held a competition, and the winner was an unorthodox proposal: a team of four developers and six architects would split the land and redevelop the entire block as a unit. They called the project L.I.N.D. or Little Italy Neighborhood Development. Working together, they merged the various land parcels and designed six mixed use projects situated around a shared landscaped courtyard.
Although I did not work on the LIND project, my life’s journey is attached to the LIND project. It served as a case study for my future work. In the early 1990’s while Little Italy was being rejuvenated, I took the city bus cross town to school. Five days a week after two o’clock pm, the bus traversed the neighborhood and passed the LIND project. At the time, I did not know about architecture or urban planning. I was able to observe the positive impact that new development can have on the built environment without actually knowing the academic reasoning behind it.
A few years later while in community college I was a late night/early morning delivery driver for the New York Times / Wall Street Journal. My route had one stop at Cafe Italia which is at the very center of Little Italy and one block from the LIND Project. Viewing the built environment when the streets are empty is like seeing the context frozen in time. With little movement and human activity, you are able to see the buildings and streets interact. You are able to see every light and every shadow and that translates into a strange feeling of security and risk in the urban fabric.
The redevelopment took me on a journey through time. As I passed and continued to watch the complete redevelopment in the city, my own thoughts began to transform. When the LIND project was completed: I thought: “I want to live in a place like that!” When I was going through architecture school I thought: “I want to work on projects like that.” Now, I am an architect and aspiring residential real estate developer who has more control over my own path. As I move towards my first development project, many of my observations will be imbued in my work.
My observations of this neighborhood continued, and they are ongoing to this day. After the LIND project, more redevelopment occurred and completely transformed Little Italy. The warehouses turned into mixed use projects that activated the sidewalks with pedestrian activity and commerce. Old broken down houses were replaced with new multifamily housing.
Like any redeveloping area the revitalization did have its issues. Some residents were forced out by the increasing rents while a new type of resident moved in to replace those that moved out. Although the area was uplifted and gentrified, many areas of the existing community remained intact with its scattered small houses and historic structures. Many of those smaller buildings were preserved by the other architect / developers that followed the LIND project. They realized the innate value of the older structures that told the story of what was, what is now, and what can be.
Ultimately, the LIND project was a huge success and acted as the catalyst that transformed Little Italy from disinvestment into a thriving urban village visited by thousands each day. The architect/developers at the LIND project spawned a new generation of city builders that have moved on to transform other communities in San Diego.
Redeveloping Communities:
The contrasting examples of Boston’s North End and New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood, shows that revitalization is possible with or without outside capital investments. Although public/private investments from strong capital sources is essential, local investment mobilized in concert with strong community action can produce safe, walkable, and profitable neighborhoods.
Unfortunately, revitalizing under-served areas in American cities, such as in California, is anything but gradual. The levels of disruption have been enormous and the increased scale in some areas have been received with heavy opposition. Some communities experience an accretional evolution, however, the large scale developments of affordable housing can place a strain on community cohesion since these developments arrive in a scale many perceive as disruptive to the community.
The result is a community that is defiant to new development and even resistant to any new ideas. Once this occurs, the natural evolution of cities, where continual progress can create smooth transitions through time, becomes stunted. Then, small gradual changes that refresh the built environment are forced to become large disruptive transformations that extract emotional responses from residents.
These large movements invoke real and sometimes perceived threat of gentrification and displacement. When new developments are gradual, the movement of people into those structures are gradual as well. When the transformations are extreme, the influx of population is much larger and existing residents become wary that they may be forced out due to the changing economics.
Evolving value-centered communities, like the Chelsea neighborhood, experience the same effects of initial redevelopment. However, it is an ongoing cycle with an integration and replacement of value that adds to the existing market value. For example, in a naturally evolving community, a small scale building will be replaced with a larger building that includes a commercial component that bolsters the neighborhood. The commercial space is introduced into a market that already has the required commerce to support it.
Developments in an under-served community see small scale projects replaced with greater density without any community enhancing component. It is common to see a small, occupied retail space replaced with an unoccupied commercial space that is now out of reach to small community based businesses since the market value of the commercial space is increased.
In addition to the injection of appropriately scaled projects into these communities, a project must study the urban and social context to implement the correct development strategy. This does not imply that every project must have a commercial component or amenity. Projects that are solely residential are equally important and striving to achieve a diverse mix of uses is crucial.
One way to begin resolving challenges in opportunity zone communities is to adhere to a strategy of Focused Accretion. This is accomplished by redeveloping a community one block at a time with a focused development effort in a small area. Rather than developments occurring sporadically throughout a community, focused accretion locates an existing block with potential and infrastructure already in place, then placing all development and financing resources to that single block.
More energy must be placed to create businesses to occupy the commercial spaces. Ground level small businesses with residents living above the store, that is the way to revitalize a community; block by block.
To accomplish this, developers will need to take on new roles. Developers must become the builders of new structures, communities, businesses and people. Our role must evolve to take on an increased societal mission at a focused scale with surgical precision. We must be willing to accept a the role as guardians of the built environment and builders of complete cities.
If this commitment can be made, with ample financing and multiple developers to produce numerous smaller scaled buildings in a focused area, the disruptions (direct or perceived) will be decreased and the sense of community that Americans desperately yearn for will be found again.