Measuring how the character of buildings and blocks influences urban vitality
MAY 2014
Analysis of data from three major American cities shows that areas with a mix of older, smaller buildings perform better than districts with larger, newer structures when tested against a range of economic, social, and environmental outcome measures.
Older and smaller buildings and a wide range in building age offer real economic and social benefits for neighborhoods and urban centers.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLE NOV. 3, 2016
This year is the centenary of Jane Jacobs's birth.
Two years ago, the National Trust for Historic Preservation tested her theories on old buildings and walkable places, releasing a report called Older, Smaller, Better that strongly supports many of her observations on cities.
This month, a follow-up report is due for release that will greatly expand upon the research. Public Square is revisiting the 2014 study today.
Young people love old buildings
Nightlife is most alive on streets with a diverse range of building ages
Older business districts provide affordable, flexible space for entrepreneurs from all backgrounds
The creative economy thrives in older, mixed-use neighborhoods
Older, smaller buildings provide space for a strong local economy
Older commercial and mixed-use districts contain hidden density
The results are variable—not all of the commercial districts with high character scores performed better.
Overall, the study concludes: "Building age, building age diversity, and the granularity of building fabric emerged as significant predictors of community vitality, even when taking into account the effects of income, access to transit and construction permit dollars."
Here's a link to Robert Steubenville's article published by Congress for New Urbanism
Here's a summary of the 115-page 2014 report as well as opportunities for future research that the follow-up report due this month can expand on.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
All across America, blocks of older, smaller buildings are quietly contributing to robust local economies and distinctive livable communities.
Buildings of diverse vintage and small scale provide flexible, affordable space for entrepreneurs launching new businesses and serve as attractive settings for new restaurants and locally owned shops. They offer diverse housing choices that attract younger residents and create human-scaled places for walking, shopping, and social interaction. These modest, often-overlooked buildings are irreplaceable assets for America’s new urban age.
This study demonstrates the unique and valuable role that older, smaller buildings play in the development of sustainable cities.
Based upon statistical analysis of the built fabric of three major American cities, this research finds that established neighborhoods with a mix of older, smaller buildings perform better than districts with larger, newer structures when tested against a range of economic, social, and environmental outcome measures.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH While these findings illuminate potential relationships between private and public spheres, they also raise new questions.
Even where potentially strong relationships were found between neighborhood performance metrics and pedestrian activity, these relationships did not extend to cyclist volumes or levels of lingering activity in public spaces. in particular, we believe further research should seek to identify how and where activity in public spaces relates to area building metrics.
Do people stay longer in areas with an older or more traditional built environment?
Is there a quantifiable relationship between building scale and its effect on the experience of adjacent spaces?
Do neighbors interact more frequently in historic neighborhoods?
Can a neighborhood with new buildings and low granularity still support public life and the creative economy through imaginative cultural programming?
The limited scope of available public life data makes latitudinal study a prime arena for potential future research. Comprehensive public life data from more granular and historic neighborhoods across San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., would set the stage for nuanced understandings of the relationship between building metrics, public space, and public life.
With comprehensive data available to identify and control for key variables, relationships between buildings and the life that occurs between them may be uncovered.
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