The 35 villages of Gainesville: Different approach needed to increase walkability
There is a theory, popular among some New Urbanists, that if we allow developers to build denser housing wherever they want, our city will “fill in” and become walkable. While I heartily endorse the walkability goal, there is no evidence that this so-called “gentle upzoning” will lead to a walkable, more sustainable city.
There are many reasons to advocate for walking: We get exercise, making us healthier, physically and mentally; visit with neighbors and meet new people, strengthening our social cohesion; use less gas and reduce our carbon footprint.
In centuries past, cities’ limits were defined by walking distances and times (2-4 miles per hour), rather than driving distances and times (35-plus miles per hour). As a result, cities were more compact, leaving farmland and forests intact.
It is naïve, though, to hope that random small developments will self-organize into coherent, walkable areas.
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In a recent Zoom talk I proposed another approach. I used terminology developed by urbanist Kevin Lynch: place (or node), path, edge, district, landmark. As part of a simplified urban analysis, I identified 35 urban places, nodes or — more poetically — villages in the greater Gainesville area.
I then suggested that, rather than trying to “fill in” our 64 square-mile city footprint, we "work out" from each of our existing urban nodes. This would realistically increase walking, reduce car trips where they start and protect existing neighborhoods in the process.
My rationale is simple: Just as people who live in Manhattan do not typically walk the length of the island, Gainesville, in its entirety, will never be walkable. (It would take two hours to walk the five miles from downtown to the Oaks Mall.)
As I studied all of Gainesville — not just the downtown area — I learned that there is abundant, diverse housing within a half mile — about a 15-minute walk — of most of these urban villages. Each has a range of vibrant commerce, though some lack charm, and walkability.
For instance, the urban node at the intersection of Northwest 13th Street and Northwest 23rd Avenue includes a supermarket, bookstore, dentist, restaurants, clothing and furniture stores, and a Lowes and Rural King, which sell everything else.
Within a half mile’s walk there are at least four large apartment complexes, two attached and several detached residential neighborhoods. Its vast parking lots and narrow sidewalks make walking dreadful, but an interesting pedestrian network and outdoor dining, taking advantage of stormwater ponds and daylighted streams, could be installed with relative ease.
The Walmart at Waldo Road is surrounded by single-family housing, apartments and Tacachale, which could someday be redesigned for new types of housing. While many would not describe this big-box site as an urban village, Walmart provides for most daily needs. The perfunctory stormwater ponds that surround the building could be reimagined as an urban promenade, complete with food trucks.
Looking west, a Publix shopping center, a credit union and a row of shops flank Tower Road where it meets Archer Road. Within 15 minutes there is a mobile home park, single-family housing and multi-family housing.
Again, six lanes of traffic, and a vast parking lot, make walking unappealing and dangerous. Repurposing some parking for outdoor dining, and accommodating bus transfers, could transform this area while reducing car trips significantly.
How might such transformations, requiring the cooperation of public entities and private enterprise, happen? We have a case study in Gainesville.
In 2005 I worked with a group of University of Florida graduate architecture students to consider the Southwest Second Avenue corridor between UF and downtown Gainesville. We traveled to Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill to look at their town-gown street interfaces. We drew on walkable cities research, including a previous UF students’ trip to Los Angeles. We included UF administrators, local developers and local residents in our discussions. We presented our ideas publicly.
Our research showed that people will only walk so far — around half a mile. In Gainesville, felicitously, this was an equal distance from downtown and UF.
Seventeen years later, thanks to UF’s leadership, the hard work of previous city officials and local developers, and a new generation of entrepreneurs, we have Innovation Square. It includes dozens of businesses, abundant multi-family housing, restaurants and two local food parks.
To create a better Gainesville, we have to be both practical and imaginative. Rather than dismissing the concerns and lifestyle choices of many of our residents, and ignoring the energy and materials embodied in our city’s existing buildings, let’s start with what we have and make it better.
Kim Tanzer lives in Gainesville. She is a former University of Florida architecture professor who was also dean of the University of Virginia's School of Architecture.
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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Kim Tanzer: Gainesville needs new approach to increasing walkability
