Topic: Urban planning

Development on steroids: Rethinking urban planning for a city on the grow

By Christine Anne Piesyk | January 7, 2008 |

It is with a walloping dose of dismay, a meager bit of optimism and sometimes amusement that I follow stories of the city’s intent to address planning and development issues, including signage, as Clarksville braces for the transition of Gateway Medical Center from Madison Street to the St. Bethlehem area, and push forward development issues that affect the entire city. But let’s start with signage.

Signage. No kidding. Someone wants to talk about signs? It’s about time, though it is only a starting point. When the city refers to “blighted” areas, it refers to areas not meeting a maximized tax potential. Your property is worth much less in tax revenue as your home, and so much more (to the city and developers) as a revenue-generating business-zoned cadre of condo’s, apartments, another mini strip mall or as part of the growing Austin Peay State University campus.

In recent months we’ve heard talk of redevelopment, urban blight, and all manner of things relating to zoning and design. The fact is, when I consider what constitutes blight in Clarksville, it’s not just Emerald Hill or Red River or Brandon Hills or any of a half-dozens areas that may or may not be blighted in the usual sense of the word but which trigger dollar signs in the eyes of developers. To see blight, all I have to do is drive down Fort Campbell Boulevard or Wilma Rudolph Boulevard and look out the car window. Blight. One big wall of urban blight in the guise of revenue-producing business districts. The heck with aesthetics.

Face the fact: the view is UGLY. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Issues, Opinion | 1 Comment »

Urban sprawl and the building of people-friendly communities

By Christine Anne Piesyk | December 28, 2007 |

On the Road in America is an occasional column of thoughts, ideas and observations from my travels.

When I first moved to Clarksville four years ago, I was initially fascinated with the immense geographic area of the city. It was an “urban sprawl” that included an explosion of multiple housing developments. It looked, for the most part, like the bedroom communities of exploding around New England’s major cities. Sort of. But less well planned.

In fact, the photo of downtown Northampton (above left) looks a lot like Franklin Street with the exception of the width of the Main Street, which is large enough for multiple lanes of traffic, angle parking on both side of the street, and in the winter, mountains of snow plowed into the middle of the road until the bucket loaders roll in and haul it all to the river. Just around the corner is Smith College, perhaps a tad larger than APSU, but not much. Crosswalks are located on every block and motorist beware: you will be ticketed for failing to yield to pedestrian right of way everywhere in the city. People walk, bike and bus everywhere in this city.

«Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Issues, Opinion | 1 Comment »

Architecture as functional art: new life for old terminals

By Christine Anne Piesyk | June 28, 2007 |

I came alive again on the road in America, especially as I entered New England. It was an easy resuscitation: just wave restored buildings, green space and intelligent, environmentally conscious urban planning before my eyes and I’m yours.

As the bus pulled into the New Haven, Connecticut, station, I was able to linger a bit, using this rest stop as a place to pause and remember how much I enjoy this terminal. On the shoreline of Long Island Sound, the New Haven station serves both bus and rail from a large turn-of-the-century terminal now fully restored, its old wood sanded, polished and primed to perfection, marble floors gleaming in the filtered morning light and marble-tiled walls reaching high overhead. Not a splatter of graffiti anywhere. No litter. Neat rows of visitor information tucked in a hallway stood next to a small old-fashioned office where train schedules and tickets were dispensed. Walking into the station is not unlike walking into a museum where curators have restored a piece of architectural history with the most minute attention to detail. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure, Issues | 2 Comments

Health: It’s not just what you eat

By Christine Anne Piesyk | December 6, 2006 |

Just this morning, I read that Tennessee is in the bottom five of fifty states when it comes to the health of its citizens. In only took a minute, if that, to mentally start listing reasons why, immediately followed by the question, “what are other 90% of our states doing better?”

The health of our citizens directly impacts the health of our state . The health of our citizens is impacted by many factors; it’s not just eating right or exercising or even being lucky or unlucky enough to have “good” or “bad” genes. It’s not just taking soda vending machines out of the schools or removing those bad fats from restaurant foods, or banning smoking. It’s a broader issue, that encompasses not just the obvious: health care systems, nutrition, exercise. It’s a broader issue rooted in economics, education, regional culture, public policy, and a multi-layered infrastructure in dozens of cities and towns that supports — or does not support — good health and well-being. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure | No Comments