Baltimore City is a diverse and culturally vibrant city. It’s a city with unique charm, made up of dozens of individual neighborhoods, each with their own distinct style and personality. It does however have its fair share of planning issues. Many of these problems are the result of a history of poor decisions made by government officials. Only through a thorough examination of the issues and a look at sustainable solutions that might improve the city can a planner help Baltimore be the vibrant, secure, and prosperous city it has the potential to be. History Baltimore’s history has shaped the city it is today. Baltimore was founded in 1730 on a tobacco-centered economy. The trading town’s portside advantage lead to its rapid growth. Baltimore was bordered by the Inner Basin of the Patapsco River (now the inner harbor), “the Jones Falls River and marsh on the east; a bluff and woods on the north; and large gullies on the west” . Throughout the 18th and 19th century, Baltimore’s population and economy grew even more with the start of a thriving flour industry. With increased growth, Thomas Poppleton was hired in 1816 to map the City and prepare a plan for the city that “set in motion Baltimore’s basic development pattern of various sized row houses built on a …show more content…
hierarchical street grid. ” The unintended consequence of the plan was the creation of a segregation of income levels as “the larger streets held larger houses; the smaller cross streets held smaller houses; and the alleys held tiny houses for immigrants and laborers. ” Baltimore City’s Comprehensive Master Plan The Baltimore City government has developed a Comprehensive Master Plan for to move the City of Baltimore forward. Beginning in 1997 and taking 8 years to make, the city of Baltimore produced a plan with four components, Live, Earn, Play, and Learn . Live describes the recommendations and goals with respect to the City’s population, housing, and residential concerns. It gives policy recommendations to address population growth, housing infill, the restoration of dilapidated and old neighborhoods, making more affordable housing available, and bringing in a mixture of households and residents to Baltimore City. The Earn strategy looks into the socio-economic situation of Baltimore residents and businesses. It’s aim is to “capture and encourage biotech job opportunities; plan and implement transportation infrastructure improvements to support port related economic development; create larger tracts of land for commercial or industrial development near transportation centers; and connect residents to available employment opportunities. ” Earn also addresses Baltimore’s zoning code in order to establish zoning that can help today’s market. The Play section gives strategies to expand and improve tourism services and recreational amenities within Baltimore. It hopes to attract new visitors and improve the facilities available to its current residents through the improvement of restaurants, city parks, cultural sites, shops and other amenities. The Learn component’s goal is to improve the city’s education system and the resources offered to help in citizen learning. This section sets out plans to turn Baltimore schools and libraries into community resources to “strengthen the connection between communities and their schools and libraries, upgrade and restructure our school facilities to meet the educational needs of today’s population, plan and build an additional three libraries and use school dollars efficiently. ” Through this plan, Baltimore strives to improve the educational opportunities of citizens while also improving the well being of communities. Through the Comprehensive Master Plan, Baltimore hopes to give sufficient recommendations in order to improve the current planning issues that the city is facing. Major Planning Concerns Like many cities today, Baltimore has been struggling to overcome many present day urban issues. Among the many planning problems include the issues of zoning, city centers, government, parks and public spaces, transportation, pollution, and housing. Applying Baltimore City’s Comprehensive plan to these issues, the paper will articulate a plan for Baltimore that can help it reach it’s full potential. Zoning In 1923, Baltimore’s first Zoning Ordinance created districts within the city and mapped out Baltimore according to “building height zones, land use zones, and zones for the number of dwelling units permitted per residential acre. ” In order to protect property values, the ordinance permitted people to build their homes in business zones and allowed them to build their businesses in industrial zones. The reverse, however, was not allowed. Industries could not be built in business zones and neither could businesses be built in residential areas . From 1931 to 1971, Baltimore used the practice of permitted zoning, allowing all land and buildings uses, “except [those] that are excluded from the district. ” After a zoning code rewrite though in 1971, the zoning code has become much more restrictive, stating, “those uses, which are permitted by right along with uses which must be approved. ” The Baltimore City Zoning Code is currently extremely outdated and constrained. Baltimore has begun to rewrite the Zoning Code in order to improve and transform the city. In the Comprehensive Master Plan, goals have been written to create “zoning strategies which will match the zoning code to 21st Century land uses and patterns of economic and demographic development. ” Through these strategies, Baltimore strives to create a Zoning Code that will allow for flexibility, new design standards, ease of use, and new parking standards among other things. City Centers and Effective Planning Baltimore City’s main city centers include the Inner Harbor and the Charles Center. The Inner Harbor in 2009 was recognized by the Urban Land Institute as “the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the world. ” Because of the Harbor’s central location, it attracts many visitors. The variability and flexibility of the businesses, residents, and attractions are also what have contributed to its success. The Charles Center in Baltimore, however, has proven mostly unsuccessful because of its inability to draw in visitors. Unlike the Inner Harbor, the Charles Center is not located centrally and is now characterized by “aging buildings, a high vacancy rate, an eroding tax base, small businesses in need of oxygen, and tenants playing musical chairs. ” Ultimately, the Charles Center has failed in comparison to the Inner Harbor because of its inability to adapt and attract people during varying hours of the day and night . The Charles Center is dominated by office buildings and was designed as an area “too predominantly devoted to work and containing too few people after working hours” which has further led to its inability to draw in visitors . Government The mayor and a legislative body known as the Baltimore City Council govern Baltimore City. Within the City’s Council’s Charter legislation exists the Baltimore City Planning Commission, which is divided into specific divisions and districts . The Planning Commission is in charge of preparing the overall plans for the city, creating a capital budget, planning and executing the Comprehensive Master Plan, and revising zoning and land proposals. There are five planning divisions within the Department of Planning staff that include the office of the director, the Comprehensive Planning Division, Land Use and Urban Design, Research and Strategic Planning, and Historical Architectural Preservation . Each division in the Planning Commission help to carry out the mission to make Baltimore the most “livable, dynamic and attractive city that it can be. ” As one can see, there are many different departments and divisions within these departments, which can make it difficult to ensure that citizens get their concerns to the right person and correct department. Within the complex system, it can take a lot of energy to “bring together and try to interest the appropriate experts of several different services that are necessarily involved in handling a single problem or need of a single space. ” In order to make the system more effective and efficient, the Planning Department designates planners to specific districts.
The problem, however, comes down to the fact that although these planners are able to find solutions to neighborhood problems, they lack the power, money, and means to make real changes occur. Even if a solution is raised, the decision has to not only get the approval of the specific department in which it deals but it also must be approved by the Department head and the Planning Commission. For these reasons, the process to make change happen takes a very long time . The lengthy process prevents policies and changes from adapting quickly to fast pace urban
settings. Parks and Public spaces Many parks in Baltimore City are often found to be the sites of drug use and criminal activities . Currently Baltimore has 6,000 acres of parkland and public space made up of parks such as Clifton Park, Druid Hill, Middle Branch, or Federal Hill . In addition to the crime, the operating budget and size of maintenance crews has been greatly reduced in the last decade causing the condition of Baltimore’s parks to deteriorate . The consequence of vacant parks will have negative effects that will permeate into surrounding neighborhoods so that streets along such parks “become known as danger places too and are avoided. ” In order to help improve the overall safety of neighborhoods, the Baltimore City Department of Planning should work with the local communities to promote more useful spaces that will attract people throughout the day and night . Most parks are vulnerable locations for crime because there is no reason for visitors at night. Increasing the diversity of uses of the parks at different times of day will increase public safety through visibility and activity. The Department of Planning should work to install more recreational facilities in parks such as sport fields, ice rinks and should promote more activities such as performances, festivals, and parties which can all attract visitors to the park at varying times of the day and night.
Stressors in the community is the real estate developer who proposed the development plan. The plan has added conflict between community organizations that don’t agree on the plan. Some members of community see that the plan can bring change to the community that will better life for the community. They see the plan will lead to a reestablished community with new order and hope. They also see that there will be new employment opportunities and stabilization in the areas. Those against the plan feel like there is a lack of trust with the developer since he has been buying properties from the community for several years without consulting the residents. They also don’t agree with the design of the plan and the for-profit real estate agent. The
Chicago’s Cabrini-Green public housing project is notorious in the United States for being the most impoverished and crime-ridden public housing development ever established. Originally established as inexpensive housing in the 1940’s, it soon became a vast complex of unsightly concrete low and high-rise apartment structures. Originally touted as a giant step forward in the development of public housing, it quickly changed from a racially and economically diverse housing complex to a predominantly black, extremely poor ghetto. As it was left to rot, so to speak, Cabrini-Green harbored drug dealers, gangs and prostitution. It continued its downward spiral of despair until the mid 1990’s when the Federal Government assumed control the Chicago Housing Authority, the organization responsible for this abomination. Cabrini-Green has slowly been recovering from its dismal state of affairs recently, with developers building mixed-income and subsidized housing. The Chicago Housing Authority has also been demolishing the monolithic concrete high-rise slums, replacing them with public housing aimed at not repeating the mistakes of the past. Fortunately, a new era of public housing has dawned from the mistakes that were made, and the lessons that were learned from the things that went on for half a century in Cabrini-Green.
"Building Partnerships to Revitalize America's Neighborhoods." HBCU Central (Winter 2002): 1-6. Winter 2002. Web. 2 May 2012.
The beautiful city of Baltimore, Maryland, nicknamed “Charm City” is full of historical cites and landmarks. It was founded July 30, 1729, and it was named after Lord Baltimore, the first proprietary governor of the Province of Maryland1. It was founded to serve the economic needs of 18th century farmers2. The waterways in Baltimore have been a passage for ships carrying commercial cargo and new citizens since the 1600s. Baltimore became the second leading port of entry for immigrants to the United States during the 1800s. Shipbuilding was one of the earliest industries in Baltimore, and it increased during the Revolution and the War of 1812. When the British controlled Philadelphia in 1777, Baltimore became the meeting place of the Continental Congress, which was the federal legislature of the thirteen colonies and later of the United States in the American Revolution. The city of Baltimore played a crucial role in the War of 1812, when the soldiers who were stationed in Fort McHenry successfully held off British attack on Baltimore. The victory for Baltimore was remembered in the poem by Francis Scott Key, “the Star-Spangled Banner,” which has now become the national anthem of the United States. When the war ended in 1815, the people of Baltimore resumed their vital foreign trade efforts and the city grew into the second largest city in the United States3. In 1851, Baltimore became an independent city, being detached from Baltimore County at that time.
U.S. cities experienced rapid growth and change, and also faced new challenges following the end of World War II. The consolidation of ghettos in the inner city and the rise of suburbs are two of the characteristics and problems that consequently arose for U.S. cities. One of the biggest projects created as a solution was the public housing project. These public houses however, although in paper they seemed like a great idea, in practice they actually proved not be such a great project because they brought several tensions and problems to cities and neighborhoods.
The practice of colonialism by several nations led to the possession and exploitation of weaker countries. It resulted in the strengthening of the mother country and oppression of the indigenous people of the colonies (Nowell, 2013). Colonial cities were deliberately developed within colonial societies in order to centralize political and economic control. Essentially, colonial cities facilitated the consolidation and exportation of wealth to the dominating nation (The Editors of the Encyclopædia Britannica, 2014).
In the early 1990’s the crime rate in New York City was astronomical. Every category including the eight nature index crimes were all on the rise if not extremely high already. Mayor Giuliani a former federal United States prosecutor was elected into office and brought with him a reputation of viciousness against crime. His campaigns lead to the appointment of Commissioner William Joseph Bratton to hold the position of police commissioner of New York City. Giuliani learnt of Bratton’s amazing crime reduction plan that helped reduce crime in two other cities. He requested him for the position as police commissioner for New York City and was appointed in 1990. Bratton had previously helped establish an innovative policing program in Boston Back Bay neighborhood and Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. Using the same approach he would attempt to reorganize and help the New
Webber, M. M. (1973). Comprehensive planning and social responsibility: Toward an AIP consensus on the profession's roles and purposes. Journal of the American Institute of Planning, 232-241.
An aging population, a younger generation who prefer walkable places, economic shifts, and the environmental impacts of suburban development are all contributing factors” (Beatz 141). Reshaping Metropolitan America gives an argument, as well as a blueprint, on how we can transform our infrastructure and housing demands by 2030.
Gentrification is described as the renovation of certain neighborhoods in order to accommodate to young workers and the middle-class. For an area to be considered gentrified, a neighborhood must meet a certain median home value and hold a percentage of adults earning Bachelor’s degree. Philadelphia’s gentrification rate is among the top in the nation; different neighborhoods have pushed for gentrification and have seen immense changes as a result. However, deciding on whether or not gentrification is a beneficial process can become complicated. Various groups of people believe that cities should implementing policy on advancing gentrification, and others believe that this process shouldn’t executed. Both sides are impacted by the decision to progress gentrification; it is unclear of the true implications of completely renovating impoverished urban areas; gentrification surely doesn’t solve all of a community’s issues. I personally believe that gentrification is not necessarily a good or bad process; gentrification should occur as a natural progression of innovative economies and novel lifestyles collide within certain areas. Policy involving gentrification should not support the removal of people out of their neighborhood for the sake of advancement.
A new phenomenon happening in our city is the rebirth of many of our older and rundown areas. One of the best examples of this is the "Soulard" area of town, which now has an established nightlife as well as exquisite historical antique homes. Lafayette Square has also enjoyed the same type of success as Soulard. It is still in the middle of a high crime area, but is populated by upper-class people with beautiful homes with elaborate wrought iron fences and intricate security systems. This trend of fixing up old flats is spreading out from the areas of Soulard and Lafayette Square to neighboring communities at a rapid pace. The Compton Heights area is coming back with rebuilt old Victorian styled houses and private gated streets that contrast the French styled flats of Soulard. The Shaw and Tower Grove area are also following the lead of revitalization similar to these charming old neighborhoods.
Gentrification is the keystone for the progression of the basic standards of living in urban environments. A prerequisite for the advancement of urban areas is an improvement of housing, dining, and general social services. One of the most revered and illustrious examples of gentrification in an urban setting is New York City. New York City’s gentrification projects are seen as a model for gentrification for not only America, but also the rest of the world. Gentrification in an urban setting is much more complex and has deeper ramifications than seen at face value. With changes in housing, modifications to the quality of life in the surrounding area must be considered as well. Constant lifestyle changes in a community can push out life-time
The successful use of team practice aims to better serve respected stakeholders. In urban planning, the unity and cohesiveness of a finished work signifies professionalism and clarity, which can only be arrived from a great team. In order to achieve solidarity, good decision making tactics must be enforced. Decision making involves making a logical choice influenced by, and not limited to, facts and information, time, and emotions. These factors may be a sole factor or combined together. Thus, decision making aims to solve a problem. In regards to urban planning, decision making has great influence on the overall success or failure of a plan. This plan may involve key stakeholders or the public, regardless of what party is at stake, decision making must be based on rationality. This paper will examine four decision making practices: (1) decision by authority, (2) decision by majority vote/rule, (3) decision by averaging opinions, and (4) decision by consensus.
One of the problems today is that America’s distrust for their leaders because they view them as ineffectual and removed. There is a need in America to democratize the public planning process and decision-making process. Many times projects, developments, and policy decisions are made without significant public input and participation. This often leads to m...
Schonwandt, Walter L. 2008. Planning in Crisis? Theoretical Orientations for Architecture and Planning. Ashgate Publishing: Burlington, VT. pp. 10