Here's what would make urban planning better: when you come up with one of these ideas, you have to come up with an approximate cost

 

I think I see Landscape Architecture labeled on the poster.  If planners are doing a site specific plan then they typically do project costs.  If it is for something more theoretical (like a Comprehensive Plan) then they do not.

Here is a little something interesting i saw last week at an interview in Alexandria. I was interviewing with Michael Baker Corp. and they were working on creating a comprehensive streetscape/ plaza style for the DC areas. It was a standards code book that was like 500 pages long showing acceptable materials. They had two styles one was historically sensitive and one was contemporary. They had design details that were being implemented for city green design such as pervious pavement buffers between the street and pedestrian sidewalk space (where the street trees and street lamps are).

 

This is something Cincy is really lacking. Everywhere is so hodgepodge. The authorities need to get on creating a comprehensive planning manual. I feel that this is something that could really help the appeal of the city.

 

There were very progressive ideas in this book, and it will be posted on the internet when it is finished. I cant wait to get my hands on it.

There are lots of things Cincy could improve greatly on in terms of Planning.

I just merged this thread with another group of posts that were discussing essentially the same kind of things regarding Central Parkway and Broadway Commons redevelopment ideas.

Central PKWY looks a lot better now, but the whole street isself is extremely boring and it shouldn't be.  That street should equal Newbury Street in downtown Boston.  Yet, the only real exciting thing going for it is the new SCPA.  They need to make Broadway Commons a priority.  It's Lake Superior made of cement.

They need to make Broadway Commons a priority.  It's Lake Superior made of cement.

 

Excellent comparison.  What I'd like to see is that whole see of parking eventually see high density again.  It's a damn shame the whole way through.

I think they could have made the median area even larger on Central Parkway...one lane wider to be exact.  The traffic does not warrant this width and the increased green space would be great for dog owners and others looking to escape to a green oasis.  Making it wider would have allowed for people to sit near the middle and be a decent distance away from moving traffic.

The median was originally one lane wider and had numerous large circular vents for the Race St. subway station similar to the vents that remain above Dalton St. under Union Terminal.  The vents were sealed and original fixtures removed when the Parkway was widened in the 1950's.  There was also a landscaped median with vents heading up north of the Plum St. turn to at least Liberty St., maybe Findlay. 

Although there have been recent streetscape improvements to Central, you can still expand the curb line out one additional lane.

Central PKWY looks a lot better now, but the whole street isself is extremely boring and it shouldn't be. That street should equal Newbury Street in downtown Boston. Yet, the only real exciting thing going for it is the new SCPA.

 

There are some cool buildings at Central Pkwy and Walnut.  :)

 

I think they could have made the median area even larger on Central Parkway...one lane wider to be exact. The traffic does not warrant this width and the increased green space would be great for dog owners and others looking to escape to a green oasis.

 

I agree.  There is not a ton of traffic between Elm and Sycamore, so losing a lane would not have created an issue.

^Well I'd bet an an "expert" would produce a phone book worth of data saying that lane is needed.  It was expanded roughly when what is now I-75 was extended from Lockland to Northside, with ramps feeding directly onto the parkway just south of the Ludlow Viaduct (they're not there anymore).  But when the 8-lane section of I-75 opened between Northside and the river in 1963 it bypassed the parkway. 

 

Also you're probably thinking of Commonwealth Ave., which the green line trolleys run under, not Newbury St., which is more like a side street and which doesn't have a landscaped median or subway.