Baltimore Ciclovía, Periodic Event or Established Program

It could have been via luck- something I never have- or chance that an invitation to a meeting on the 3rd Baltimore Ciclovía was extended to me. As I sat in a room of maybe a dozen people, among those who seemed to be of an exclusive group of appointed members, I learned so much more about ciclovias and the process than I anticipated. I entered knowing very little about what a ciclovia even was, but left with anticipation and excitement about the direction in which our city could be headed.

Two years ago, on October 25, 2009, Baltimore held it's first ciclovía, or Sunday Streets Program. It was the first city on the East Coast to launch ciclovía. Organized by The BMore Streets for People Coalition, this event was intended to spark interest within the city for hosting a series of ciclovías, perhaps every Sunday in the Summer, or a few Sundays in a year. Last October, the second event was hosted. Being scheduled on Halloween may have hurt the event more than they anticipated, but there is an opportunity to build even more support as they plan an event for May 15, 2011.

Ciclovía translates from Spanish to mean "bike path," but the programs of most ciclovías includes more than usage by bicycle. More than opening the streets for pedestrian use, the ciclovía is about closing the streets to automobile traffic. The Ciclovía, though a basic concept, is usually accredited back to Bogotá, Colombia. Having started in one city back in the 1980s, the ciclovía has come a long way. Today, there are a number of ciclovías throughout six countries across the world. At least 18 cities in the United States have held or continually hold ciclovía type events.

The main issues the advisory board of the Baltimore ciclovía encountered were of funding and security. The need for security seemed questionable by most in attendance, though it appears this is more a concern of the city than the board. And the need for funding was rooted mostly in the need for security. Without the cost for security, a ciclovía could afford operation with only the funding from the local businesses along the route. Though some businesses may be hesitent at first, they'll begin to notice increased sales due to the ciclovía.

At first, security might be a good idea. Drivers not expecting a road closure could get frustrated. Lack of proper barricading could leave pedestrians open to the risk of an accident. But with the right amount of barricading, which can be figured out by looking at the Baltimore marathon that closes down 26 miles of city streets, the need for strict security could be relaxed. And rather than pay police or crossing guards, the city could train STEOs (Special traffic enforcement officers). Cheaper, and easier than city police. Or, we could operate like Miami does, where Police Officers volunteer for these events.

By following the examples of Miami and other cities hosting ciclovías, it wouldn't take much to transform the Baltimore Ciclovía into a continuous event. In Portland, OR, residents enjoy Sunday Parkways. Funded by sponsors and donors, and held together by 300 volunteers, Sunday Parkways connects people from all neighborhoods.
In New York, rather than Sunday Streets, you'll find "Summer Streets", on 3 consecutive Saturdays in the Summer of 2010.

In 2008, San Francisco hosted its first ciclovia. For 2001, they already have 8 events planned. The San Francisco Sunday Streets program has an event each month. Like many others, this event relies on donations and volunteers in addition to sponsorship from the government.
With these, and many other precedents, it shouldn't be hard for Baltimore to build a program that endures. Last week, I knew virtually nothing about ciclovías. In one week, I have come to discover the wonderful benefits of holding ciclovías and have built great interest in promoting it in my own city.

Ecological Urbanism

On Thursday, March 20, 2011, AIA Baltimore held the first of four lectures to be a part of this year’s Spring Lecture Series. Martin Felsen, of UrbanLab, presented Civic Spaces through Ecological Urbanism. In his speech, Felsen emphasized that a large part of ecological urbanism needs to be building our cities around green infrastructure. The bulk of his presentation conveyed ways in which our city water systems could be better managed.

UrbanLab is a Chicago based firm largely involved in rethinking the city’s design. The main point of Felsen’s lecture, and the topic he was most thrilled to discuss, was issues involving water usage and how green infrastructure offer a solution. In the city of Chicago, water is sourced from Lake Michigan, part of the Great Lakes, which make up 20% of the world’s freshwater supply. Rather than return what water the city takes from the lake, the water instead ends up in the Gulf of Mexico. This amount of water taken, if not replenished, could result in the shrinking of Lake Michigan. Just such a misfortune happened with the Aral Sea. In 20 years, the Aral Sea shrunk to 10% its original size. To avoid similar destruction in Lake Michigan, Felsen suggests the right measure is to design our city infrastructures so that rain water is absorbed into the ground, rather than directed into our sewers and thus out of our ecosystems. My thesis project addressed this is on a small scale through the design and incorporation of rainwater catchment systems and green infrastructures that kept rainwater out of the sewers.

An image from my thesis, Sustaining Cockeysville

The technology I used, and some of the technology Felsen suggested, is based off of systems currently being used in cities like Portland and Seattle.

An image of Portland's Green Streets Program

In the Baltimore area, there are parts of the county currently utilizing green storm water management technologies. The Eastern Boulevard (MD 150) Median Design features a bioswale to collect rain water. What was different about Felsen’s proposal for Chicago, however, was that it was to be implemented on a much more extensive scale. With his eco-boulevards, rainwater follows green pathways back to the lake. The eco-boulevards follow Chicago streets that lead to Lake Michigan. Entirely greenscaped or spotted with parks, trees, and green infrastructure, the eco-boulevards are funded by the money already set aside to upgrade existing streets. The eco-boulevard was an inventive concept I’ve never seen before. And not only does it address the issue of poor water management, but it provides necessary public space. Most cities are 40% infrastructure, as Felsen explained, which means the population collectively owns it. With that control, we ought to return the space used for automobiles to pedestrian zones. As for blackwater, Felsen’s Living Machines would treat sewage prior to sending it back to the lake. The Living Machine is an existing technology that uses the bacteria of ecosystems to naturally clean sewage. These two technologies together, the eco-boulevard and the living machine, are part of Felsen’s project Growing Water.

The water crisis is a concerning issue. The proposals presented by Felsen and UrbanLab are brilliant solutions that can be reasonably implemented. The façade, behind which the ideas were presented, however, took some of the charm. Before hearing Felsen speak, I was a little turned off by the exceedingly modern designs created by Felsen and UrbanLab. There are times when I feel discouraged by what I am seeing in the majority of ecological architecture and design projects. Nearly every “green” project or concept I come across is set within an abrasively modern design. Their designs are overly simplified to the point where nothing stands out, not even the concepts they present. It almost seems as though designers who are hoping to gather support for ecologically valuable projects create their work in a way they assume appeals to the less environmentally inclined public, as if those people would only accept the most sterile looking, modern designs- as if that style of architecture symbolized something elite and trendy. I might, however, argue the opposite. I have known very few people to actually appreciate modern architecture, because the primary purpose of modern architecture seems to serve only the ego of the architect. The modern versus traditional battle always reminds me of criticism I received for my thesis. As I planned my design, I drew inspiration from the traditional architects before me. My professors continually urged me to “think outside of the box,” claiming I needed to be more original with my design. But my design wasn’t what was important, what my project addressed was important. The designs of traditional architecture best attended to the issue at hand. The classic elements I returned to were naturally more energy efficient. Meanwhile, the designs of all of my classmates were literally within the box: overly simplified structures with flat facades that served no purpose. My only criticism of Felsen’s presentation- and the same goes for all forward-looking designers- is the same as what my professors once told me. Think outside the box. if you present a cutting edge concept that has the potential to better our world, step outside of the glass box design. After all, how can we get others excited about good design if our designs have nothing exciting about them? Still, I am excited about the concepts and theories behind the designs and, although I’m not a fan of the style, I wholly support the projects.

Martin Felsen and the work being done at UrbanLab are certainly worth taking a look into. Like many other resources we depend on, water is being used up faster than we can replace it. Without solutions like the ones proposed by Felsen, we could face a serious impasse that would leave many in crisis. Though it would have been refreshing to see more complex designs, it does not overshadow the solutions Felsen presented to a complicated problem.

What it Means to be Green

In the 1970s, global warming was becoming a serious concern. With the suggestion that our way of living was killing our planet, the environmentalism movement began to take hold within our society.

Environmentalism had, of course, been a concern long before the 70s. Since the Industrial Revolution, forward thinking activists have warned of the destruction our actions threaten the environment with, but it hasn’t been until the last few decades that the general public has taken hold of this idea. For some time, it was just a small population of dedicated environmentalists who urged a change in our lifestyles. In recent years, and since Al Gore’s 2006 documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, more and more people have accepted the reality that our way of life is negatively impacting the planet. In recent years, the idea of living “green” has risen as if it were the next big trend. Living sustainably, or green, however, is not just a fad. Sustainability has to be a practice that the human race permanently adopts into society. To be green means to live in a way that does not put further stress on our environment, but rather improves upon it, from the food we eat and the products we use to the places in which we live.

Believe it or not, food plays a large part in contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. Livestock farming and consumption actually accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than transportation. In 2006, a study concluded that current production levels of meat contribute between 14 and 22 percent of the 36 billion tons of "CO2-equivalent" greenhouse gases the world produces every year (Fiala). According to an article on the FAO Newsroom website, in addition to the greenhouse gas emissions, livestock are also responsible for the extreme degradation of our land (Matthews). Switching to a vegan diet instead will prevent 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the earth’s atmosphere (PETA). There’s better news: vegans and vegetarians are less likely to develop heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or high blood pressure than meat-eaters. The alternative is appealing and clear: cutting meat and dairy from your diet is not only beneficial for our planet, but also your health. Unfortunately, simply going vegan is not enough. The next necessary step is to choose food that is organic. In order to be called organic, a product must “contain only organically produced ingredients and processing aids.” Organic farming and food processing methods maintain soil quality, do not contaminate our water supplies, conserve water usage, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (Cable). If you think of your body as a temple, just as many religious doctrines would suggest, than you would want to consume only the best foods possible. If you consider the negative impact certain diets have on the planet, and not to mention your body, making simple changes like cutting meat from your diet or eating only organic food is an obvious choice.

Walk down any aisle in the supermarket and you’ll see a number of groceries and products whose packaging include words like “natural”, “pure”, or “environmentally friendly”, among other “green” terms. Companies and businesses have not been oblivious to the increased concern towards of global warming. Products are now being marketed and advertised as being green. “Green” to a business, however, means something much different than “green” does to you or me. To most businesses, “green” is a marketing strategy. It’s a profitable angle they can take to increase revenue, often misleading the consumer in the process. Plainly claiming to be green on the packaging does not make one product any better for the environment than the next. To be sure a product is actually good for the environment, look for the USDA Certified Organic seal, a certification granted by the government, or the Green Seal, certified by an independent non-profit. It can be overwhelming at first, but doing your own research into a company’s standards is an important part of being green.
Along with the foods and products you choose to buy, the places you buy them can make an enormous difference. If you concentrate your shopping to only locally owned stores, your money is not contributing to the shipping of products cross-country responsible for a large carbon footprint. Instead, your money is circulated within your community; in fact, it’s often used, in turn, to improve your community. As Barbara Kingsolver said in her book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle…A Year of Food Life, “Small changes in buying habits can make big differences”(Kingsolver, 5).

What about our living spaces? When you begin to think about what makes a built environment green, there’s much to consider. In a natural eco-system, every element plays a part in keeping the system healthy. Our communities are no different. They are as much a part of an eco-system as any animals’ habitat. From our private residences to our public buildings, there are myriad ways to be green.

Let us consider every element, from start to finish. Imagine we are building a carbon neutral eco-village. Our structures are built from recycled, sustainable, and renewable resources. The buildings are designed to take advantage of the landscape, to which we’ve made few changes prior to development. Before construction begins, we consider the optimal building site orientation. The windows of our homes are located along the south wall. Along that wall, we’ve left deciduous trees in place so as to provide shade in the summer, yet allow the sun to penetrate through once the leaves have fallen come the winter months (this scenario, as you might have guessed changes depending on the climate and available resources). Our buildings utilize passive solar energy to heat and cool, rather than conventional energy. What electricity we need, we harvest from the solar panels we’ve installed on the roof, or the communities wind turbine. Our streets are paved with porous asphalt, and are laid out in a grid-like manor to provide the most efficient routes for traversing. They are built for the pedestrian and cyclist, rather than the automobile. All community amenities (civic and social spaces, markets, parks, etc.) are situated within a half mile radius. This pedestrian shed marks the distance which community members can travel comfortably on foot. Longer distance travel is accommodated by public transportation.

As you can see, every part of our day to day life has an effect on our environment. In every aspect of our lives, there is an opportunity to be green. The examples provided here are just basic means to address living an environmentally friendly life. To be green is to live a life that improves our planet more than harms it. It means to live a fuller, more satisfying life where you share a deep connection with the land you live upon. And above all, being green means to show the highest respect for all life forms, yourself included.

**“Natural”, “eco-friendly”, and “non-toxic” are just a few buzzwords commonly used in reference to being green. They’re used so often, however, that they’ve lost some of their meaning. Add to your vocabulary the phrase “green washing”. Green washing refers to “manufacturers who make false claims that their products are eco friendly, sustainable or organic etc.”, often by using terms like the ones mentioned above (Environmental buzz words G to I). Given the increased interest consumers have invested in green living, companies have realized that they need only include a few green buzzwords in their marketing to push sales. This sort of use and abuse has lead to the degradation in meaning of these words, and of the term “green” as well. I will continue to use the word, but I use it in its purest, most extreme environmental sense.


Bibliography
1. Cable, Carole. Health Advantages of Buying Organic Food. 9 March 2011 .
2. Environmental buzz words G to I. 9 March 2011 .
3. Kinsolver, Barbara. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle...A Year of Food Life. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2007.
4. Matthews, Christopher. Livestock a major threat to environment . 29 November 2006. 9 March 2011 .
5. PETA. Fight Global Warming by Going Vegan. 9 March 2011 .
6. Town Planning and Urban Design Collaborative, LLC. Glossary: New Urbanism Technology. 9 March 2011 .

Welcome to my Blog

When I first discovered the concept of blogging in my early high school years, I could only relate it to the realm in which I was living. Blogging just seemed like another way for my drama loving school mates to complain about their lives. But as I've gotten older, my opinion of the practice has changed, as some of the best online resources I have come across have been blogs.

Blogging has become a phenomenal tool and resources for knowledge in the online community. Nowadays, anyone can call themselves a writer. As for whether or not that's a positive thing, I can't always agree. I, personally, can say that the likelihood of having anything I've ever written published in even the lowest caliber collection of material would otherwise be slim. With blogging, however, I find my work "published". Still, my theory is that if there's something to be shared, why not make it available for everyone?

So, in an attempt to enhance my skill as a writer, and to encourage my own personal exploration as an urban designer, I have ended up with this blog you're reading. I'll be keeping it to about one post a week. In this way, I can commit to posting only quality material that I will deem worthy of publication in my own collection of essays.

I've done photo blogging and reblogging on Tumblr and I've had my own personal blog on Blogger, but I've yet to conquer the professional or field related blog. As you may have deducted from the name, Meditations of a Treehugging Urbanist, this blog will pertain to urban design which involves ecological and sustainable practices. To be honest, probably not every post will discuss "green" applications specifically; rather, the type of urbanism I write about and support is, in itself, inherently green in its methods.

Will all of this, I'll admit I'm both nervous and excited to see how well this project turns out. I'll leave the rest of the expectations up to you, now as I save my first topic for the following week.