Wilkes-Barre Revitalization Plan

THE CITY OF

WILKES-BARRE THE HEART OF THE WYOMING VALLEY

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Table of Contents [01] [02] [03] [04] [05] [06] [07] [08] [09] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27]

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Context + Background .................................................................... pg Knowing Our City ............................................................................ pg Sustainability + Streetscape ............................................................ pg Education ........................................................................................ pg Parks ............................................................................................... pg Amenities ........................................................................................ pg Downtown ....................................................................................... pg Neighborhoods ............................................................................... pg Development.................................................................................... pg Colleges .......................................................................................... pg Public Art ......................................................................................... pg Affordable Housing ......................................................................... pg Community Engagement................................................................. pg Crime Prevention ............................................................................. pg Policy ............................................................................................... pg Employment .................................................................................... pg Drug Problems ................................................................................ pg Homelessness ................................................................................. pg Blight ............................................................................................... pg Events ............................................................................................. pg Collaboration ................................................................................... pg Historic Preservation ....................................................................... pg Transportation ................................................................................. pg Healthy Communities ...................................................................... pg Parking ............................................................................................ pg Resources ....................................................................................... pg Conclusion ...................................................................................... pg

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Wilkes-Barre: The Heart of the Wyoming Valley

Located centrally in the Wyoming Valley, as well as being the major city, this is the heart of the Wyoming Valley.

Wilkes-Barre has the potential to be a major arts, culture, and business center for the Wyoming Valley. The city can also act as a precedent for sustainability, civic pride, education, and overall urban renewal that can help to inform the design and development of the Greater Wyoming Valley area.

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Context + Background [01] In architecture, to design for a space one must understand the space, and the same holds true for cities. What is the background of the city, what is the history, how does the geography play into the design and function of the city? A comprehensive understanding of the conditions and demographics are imperative if Wilkes-Barre is to begin to thrive once more.

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Context

Vision Statement

Located in Northeast Pennsylvania about two hours north of Philadelphia and 2.5 hours west of New York City, Wilkes-Barre is the anchor of the Wyoming Valley. Sitting at the bottom of the of the valley, the city is nestled up against the Susquehanna river, a beautiful ribbon of water that affords economic and recreational opportunity to all nearby. Sitting at the bottom of the valley, the city provides a unique feeling, a feeling that the city is being embraced by the awe inspiring vegetative embrace of the rolling hills of Pennsylvania.

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476

Scranton Williamsport

Wilkes-Barre 80

State College

Pittsburgh Harrisburg

Reading

Philadelphia

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As the center of the Wyoming Valley, Wilkes-Barre has the potential to be an anchor for living, commerce, and the arts. Theatres, the river common, and pedestrian oriented streets create a destination for visitors and residents. This lively downtown attracts people for work and play and can return to it’s former glory as the heart and soul of the Wyoming Valley.

Background Avg. Age = 33

= $31,672

Below Poverty = 28.9%

Land Area = 6.9 Sq Mi

Obesity = 29%

Population = 41,498

Understanding who lives in and experiences Wilkes-Barre must inform the way in which we design and plan our city. With a maximum population of 86,626 people according to the 1930 decennial census data, Wilkes-Barre has scaled back to less than half of that to a population of 41,498 residents as of the 2010 decennial census [down 5.5% since 2000].

Some people consider this to be “right sizing”, but one must challenge this thought and think critically about what the population of WilkesBarre can and should be. Is the right size of this city 42,000, 60,000, or close to 90,000 like it was back in the 1930’s?

50-75 75-100K 100K +

50-75 75-100K 100K +

25-50K

25-50K

20 10 30 10 0 20 0-25K 0

0-25K

65+

50-75 75-100K 100K +

18-65

65+

40 20 60 20 0 40 0

20

0

Other

Other

Ph.D

Ph.D

Other

Master

Master

Ph.D

Bach

Bach

Master

HS [82.7%] Bach. [11.1%] MA [4.2%] Other [1.5%] PhD [0.4%]

HS

HS

Bach

50-75 75-100K 100K +

HS

50-75 75-100K 100K +

50

25-50K

50-75 75-100K 100K +

50 40

40 30 50 30 20 40 20 10 30 10 0 20 0-25K 0 0-25K

25-50K

10

0-25K

0

25-50K

Other

25-50K

5-18

18-65

Asian

Other

0-25K

0-5

5-18

Black

Asian

Other

80

Black

Asian

70 80 60 70 50 60

40 50 80 30 40 70 20 30 60 10 20 50 0 10 White Hispanic 40 0 30 White Hispanic

Black

20

White Hispanic

0

10

SOV [69%] MOV [14.5%] Walk [9.4%] Transit [3.5%] Bike [0.4%]

10

0

60

50 60

40 50

0-5

65+

F

18-65

M

F

5-18

M

F

0-5

M

All statistics are from SocialExplorer.com

30 40

20 30 60 10 20 50 0 10 40

0 30

20

0

10

60

50 60

40 50

30 40

20 30 60 10 20 50 0 10 40

0 30

20

0

10

Female [51%] Male [49%]

White [69.1%] Hispanic [15.9%] Black [12%] 2+ [2.5%] Asian [1.1%]

0-25K [41.46%] 25-50K [27.2%] 50-75K [15.9%] 75-100K [8.3%] 100K+ [7.2%]

0-5 [5.7%] 5-18 [20.3%] 18-65 [57.8%] 65+ [16.2%]

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Framing The Problems [Overview] In order to understand what needs to be done to improve WilkesBarre we first need to address the problems and frame them in a way in which we can fully understand them and have conversations about them. “It’s not actually about trying to find the right answer, it is mainly about trying to identify with precision what the right question is. There’s nothing worse than a good answer the wrong question” Alejandro Araveña. One of the biggest problems is something that has brought Wilkes-Barre into the national spotlight; the drug abuse.

With citizens in Wilkes-Barre and all over struggling with crack, heroin, and other drug addictions, this is something that needs to be addressed. So, what is causing it? Research has indicated that “higher levels of resident depression in areas that had less desirable built environments” [Weich et al 2002] and so if the built environment plays into drug abuse, a critical and analytical look at our existing built environment is necessary.

Existing Multiuse Path

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Some people state that drug abuse is increased because of boredom and lack of other things to do. Lets give the people of the city an abundance of amenities to keep them active, lets provide events for people to get them outside and enjoying the sights and sounds of this beautiful city. We can begin to address the drug issue by providing opportunities for people. And while this will not eradicate our drug abuse epidemic, it is certainly a step in the right direction.

Existing Rain Garden

Framework of Fixing In order to improve Wilkes-Barre, we need to acknowledge several different problems at the same time. First, we need to understand what Wilkes-Barre currently is and what it should be moving forward.

We need a vision statement and a goal for what the city should be like in 5, 10, 20 years time because “If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable” [Seneca the Younger] There is an overwhelming lack of civic pride in the area at this time and one way to begin to correct this is to try to get the residents more involved with what is going on in the city. Increasing public outreach helps to establish ownership and enables the residents to be an agent of change for the city. Surveys, public forums, social media, etc. are all tools that can help to empower the residents and give them a say as to what is happening in the community.

Creating neighborhood goals and master plans allows us to guide areas along and create noticeably different places, we don’t want all of Wilkes-Barre to be exactly the same, and the differing geography doesn’t facilitate that, we need to find new and interesting ways to add value and interest to areas that make South Wilkes-Barre different from North End. Does each neighborhood have it’s own center? Should they have their own centers? Neighborhood goals and goals/visions for the city of Wilkes-Barre are incredibly valuable Rebranding the city is something that needs to happen. Denver, CO for instance, rebranded itself as a major arts and culture hub in the Mid West. This is something that can be done in Wilkes-Barre, to be seen as a major arts or recreational hub in Pennsylvania could help to turn the city around.

It can’t just be Wilkes-Barre on it’s own though, we need the help of our surrounding communities. What can we do with Kingston that will be mutually beneficial? What can be done to improve the border of Wilkes-Barre and Hanover Township that will help generate revenue for both? What can be done in collaboration with Plains to benefit both municipalities?

Kirby Park Nature Area Proposed

Existing Conditions of Carey Ave

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Knowing Our City [02] To understand what is and isn’t working for our city, it is important to understand what is going on in it. There are a great number of tools available for cataloging, displaying, and analyzing data that can help inform us of what is exactly going on in the city.

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“Information is a source of learning. But unless it is organized, processed, and available to the right people, it is a burden, not a benefit�

- William Pollard 11

Information [Overview] Methods

A.] GIS B.] Surveys C.] Social media D.] Increased public forums E.] Online forums

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In oder to create the best city for our residents, having a baseline understanding of who the citizens are, what they want, what they need, what they value allows us to design for them as well as potential future residents. Only once we understand the answers to these questions, will we be able to fix Wilkes-Barre. By opening up as many channels of communication with the stakeholders, we can get a better insight into what they are looking for out of the city.

This information can help us to prioritize different things and better plan out what we can do to make the city an overall better place to live, work, and play. Any intervention to the city without abundant information is just guesswork, and with a budget as tight as that of Wilkes-Barre, the capital for guesswork does not exist.

Information [Methods] GIS [Geographic information systems] is one of the most effective ways of cataloging, displaying, and analyzing data.

The idea that Wilkes-Barre has no open data is a major mistake for the city and presents a gap in the knowledge of the city as a whole. Most cities, regardless of size and population, have at least some basic information in GIS. This tool can help to analyze crime intensity, population density, access to amenities, and a great deal of other topics. This is a great tool for understanding geographic wants and needs for the citizens. This can be done at little cost to Wilkes-Barre with the use of an internship program For a more quantifiable understanding of what people want, surveys provide a great way of gathering data. This method can tell us what people are looking for, and when combined with GIS we can understand what people want and where that needs to be.

Increased public meetings offer an intimate and immediate way of communicating with the public. A certain demographic is more likely to attend public meetings, so these help to garner the input from that demographic. This method, in tandem with other methods help to get the opinions of a well rounded group of individuals from the community.

Social media is something that some of the existing council members are starting to pick up on, but this tool is still not used to the extent that it should be. Social media may also be a way of getting younger residents more involved in the shaping and improving of Wilkes-Barre. Social media is a tool used by most young people and may be the best way to give them a voice and the ability to share ideas and concerns.

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Sustainability [03] As Wilkes-Barre moves forward it is important to think about sustainability and long term solutions to problems that may arise in the future. Energy consumption, the future of automobiles [internal combustion engines vs. electric vehicle], water management, and others are issues that need to be addressed sooner rather than later.

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“The city of the future must be sustainable” E. Paes.

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Sustainability [Overview] Benefits of Sustainability

- Reduces flash flooding - Improved air quality - Recharges groundwater - Diverts water away from the Susquehanna River - Safer alternative transportation - Removes contaminants + sediment from runoff - Softens urban environment

Methods of Sustainability

- Bike lanes - Rain Gardens - Filtration Boxes - Increased open space - Permeable sidewalks - Bioswales - Rainwater barrels - Emphasis on renewables - Efficient, dense living options.

- ADU’s - Parklets

Sustainability has become a major talking point for cities and Wilkes-Barre needs to join this conversation. We must use foresight and think ahead as to what the implications of these decisions will be both in the immediate future as well as long term. We must ask ourselves what are the implications of any design intervention?

This includes parking lots, razing structures, new construction, or any other design intervention in the city. Approximately 60% of all landfill waste comes from the construction industry, what can the city do to help limit the amount of waste going to local landfills? In addition to waste, green infrastructure is a rising trend in sustainable cities. Ecological investments should be made to the infrastructure such as bioswales, rain gardens, tree boxes, and surface planters, while also focusing on green infrastructure directed towards people and users including bike lanes and permeable sidewalks.

Increased density of the city helps further sustainability. A dense population affords opportunities for more people to live in the same area, helping to reduce automobile dependence and suburban sprawl. ADU’s [accessory dwelling unites, or “granny flats”] are a great way of increasing density as well as supplementing the income of property owners.

Public investment of green infrastructure shows the values of the city, begins to clean it up, and displays an investment in the city. Green infrastructure can be started in a neighborhood or group of neighborhoods at the demonstration level, which shows of revitalization of areas that can be a catalyst for additional investment and development.

Grattix Rain Garden in a Box

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Sustainability [Precedents] Municipalities across the country have started to implement rainwater best management practices, or BMP’s in their respective cities because of their many benefits. Pittsburgh and Denver are two cities that experienced economic depression as a result of fleeing industry. These cities have reinvented themselves and have seen the value of green infrastructure.

Storm water management can also help to increase the sustainability of a neighborhood or city. In a city such as WilkesBarre, storm water management should be given much more consideration than it historically has received. Rather than concerning ourselves with increasing levee heights, if we could develop ways to minimize the water entering the river, it would effectively serve the same purpose. Increasing the amount of permeable material, perhaps through the use of permeable pavers we could help to improve water quality as well as help to limit the amount of water entering the river. Additionally, the

Sample Street Parklet

introduction of rain gardens or bioswales to the streetscape of our city can help. The average rain garden has the capability of holding 3000 gallons of water as well as introduces a new aesthetic dynamic to our downtowns. We must be humble though and acknowledge that these will have little impact on the river level in Wilkes-Barre, but this can set the stage for the region and show the aesthetic, environmental, and economic benefits throughout the greater Susquehanna River watershed. Further, by introducing green infrastructure into our streetscape, we begin to convey a different message about our communities and make them look more desirable to live in.

If these methods are adopted by the Greater Wyoming Valley area and entire Upper Susquehanna River Watershed we can reduce the risk of flooding in urbanized areas along the banks of the river [I.E. Wilkes-Barre] while simultaneously improving water quality.

Rain Garden Section Detail

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Sustainability [Ecological] Ecological sustainability is a major point for cities of the future and should be viewed holistically to encompass air and water quality, stormwater management, and softening of the urban environment. Many great BMP technologies have emerged over the last several years including rain gardens, advanced tree planters, and downspout gardens, all of which help to manage stormwater runoff as well as treat it for pollutants.

Rain gardens are a great piece of green infrastructure that are capable of holding an average of 3,000 gallons of water [depending on dimensions] as well as helping to filter out heavy metals, oils, and other pollutants from rainwater and roadway runoff that will end up in the Susquehanna.

Example Curb Rain Garden

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Sometimes opportunities do not present themselves for a large rain garden, but there is an alternative, a rain garden in a box. These small interventions can be connected to a roof downspout to capture roof runoff, which is typically contaminated with heavy metals and other contaminants. The benefit to this system is that it is relatively cheap and easy to build/ install. Some communities, including the Park Hill neighborhood of Denver, have hosted workshops in which residents are provided the materials and advice on how to build a raid garden in a box. Plants and soil media vary from region to region and can be customized to best fit the climate of the installation.

Improving existing tree wells with modern innovation to manage stormwater and runoff is another great opportunity for Wilkes-Barre.

And while these individual practices may not reduce runoff to the river by much, the sum of the parts is greater than the individual BMP’s themselves. By starting with a few

Street Tree BMP in Vandergrift, PA

demonstrations, particularly at city owned property such as city hall, we can set an example for the residents of Wilkes-Barre and surrounding communities. This ripple effect is what will really help to reduce the runoff to the river and the natural filtration of water locally.

Wilkes-Barre can learn a great deal just by looking around to see what others within the state of Pennsylvania are doing. Vandergrift Borough has transformed Columbus Ave into a BMP by improving sidewalk tree plantings and incorporating silva cells - a tool that supports concrete above, while preventing soil from being compacted to improve absorption and health of the trees.

In Scottdale Borough, a library capitalized on an unused part of its site to create a stormwater rain garden to capture rainwater.

There are plenty of additional examples within the commonwealth.

Scottdale Library Plaza BMP, Scottdale, PA

Sustainability [Streetscape] Green infrastructure demonstrations also begin to alter the streetscape of the urban environment. These installations provide opportunities to help to soften the hardscape which is particularly beneficial in the downtown core where the hardscape really dominates the landscape. But green infrastructure isn’t just about softening the landscape, it’s about how people circulate through the space. One popular take on green infrastructure in the urban environment is bike lanes. Bike lanes offer and encourage ways to move about the city without the harmful externalities of automobiles. However, bike lanes can be expensive, and in a city with narrow streets like Wilkes-Barre, may not be feasible in all locations. Fortunately, we have a great network of quiet, residential streets with low

speed limits, this provides opportunities for “sharrows” rather than bike lanes. A sharrow is a street that cannot accommodate a bike lane, but instead prioritizes bicycles and affords them the right of way and are well marked to indicate the sharing of the roadway between bicycles and automobiles.

In addition to bike lanes or sharrows, permeable sidewalks and pavers are a great way of improving the sustainability of the streetscape.

The ability of water to infiltrate materials that are typically impervious helps to contribute to the ecological sustainability mentioned before by allowing water to infiltrate the ground and recharge the water table rather than running off into a storm drain that leads to the river.

Sample Multiuse Path

Top: Wheat Ridge, CO Parklet Middle: Existing Bike Lanes Bottom: Proposed Rain Garden in a Box

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Education [04] The urban environment offers almost infinite possibilities for education. By incorporating education into daily life, the gap between the haves and the have-nots is narrowed.

Education is something that should be inclusive and for everyone, so the city should utilize any resources available to holistically influence and provide educational opportunities for all residents in Wilkes-Barre regardless of gender, race, or economic background.

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“The path towards school success starts when children are zero to three years old�

- K. Hirsch-Pasek 21

Education [Overview] Education is a critical component of any city, and with the current state of the WBASD, we need to consider education in the built environment as much as possible to bolster the education of our youth. For instnace, in 2018 Dan Flood Elementary and Dodson Elementary scored 37.8% and 29.7% proficient or advanced in English Language Arts [respectively], 15.2% and 12.4% in math [respectively], and 76.5% and 48.8% in science [respectively]. At the high school level, “among Luzerne County’s high schools, GAR had the fourth lowest percentage (29.6) in algebra, second lowest (28.5) in biology, and fourth lowest (45.1) in literature. Meyers had the poorest results in algebra at 23 percent, and the third lowest results in biology (30 percent) and literature (44.4 percent)” [Guydish, 2019]“By many measures, American educational achievement lags behind that of other countries; at the same time, millions of American

Example Signage for Educational Benefits

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students, many of them poor and from minority backgrounds, remain far below national norms” (Kohn, 2015). One way of improving the education system for young people is to begin education at an earlier age. What would this cost the taxpayers though? How many more educators would we need? Instead, lets look to the built environment to help to educate children and improve dialogue between parent and child, an important element for cognitive development in children.

Only 20% of a child’s time is spent in school, and with our city schools currently struggling, we need to find ways to fill in the gaps. How can we make learning a seamless occurrence for our youth? Kathy Hirsch-Pasek and her colleagues have started to address this problem by weaving learning experiences into the urban fabric. Grocery stores, transit stops, streetscapes, and parks offer opportunities to encourage learning through program and even through increased conversation between parent and child. This can even be paired with the green infrastructure practices mentioned above. Programming educational elements into everyday life can help to teach basic math, science, history, etc.

Youth Learning in Nature

Education [Precedents] In recent years, many people and organizations have begun to focus on the idea of education outside of the classroom setting, include on the streets, in parks, and in retailers. The work of Conscious Cities for instance, can be seen incorporating educational elements into the urban environment.

They are doing this by adding puzzles to bus stops and interactive lighting to inspire children to think and enhance their cognitive functions. Their first installation has been built in Philadelphia and is specifically designed to benefit children in a disenfranchised neighborhoods. Similarly, the organization called Environmental Learning for Kids (ELK) in Denver that “is an inclusive non-profit organization that develops inspired and responsible leaders through science education and outdoor experiences for under-served, urban youth ages 5-25. This organization serves three main purposes which are to inspire youth to have high expectations of themselves by exposing them to the outdoors and engaging them in

Thinkscape Precedent

service learning projects. For many of the youth ELK serves, it’s their first experience with the outdoors. It also educates youth through science and environmental education embedded in all programs and activities, furthers students’ understanding and attitudes toward science, the outdoors, their communities, college, and careers.

And finally, it transforms youth by endowing them with increased academic skills, civic and community leadership, environmental stewardship, and employment opportunities.

Public - Private Partnership

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Education [Streetscape] The urban environment is a rich, dynamic area that provides many opportunities for education to be incorporated into daily life, but is missing in Wilkes-Barre along with nearly every other city in the United States. Below are some examples of ways in which educational opportunities can be integrated into the urban environment created

by Itai Palti and Kathy Hirsch-Pisak. Introducing play into the urban environment can help to improve cognitive development. These methods shown below are designed to stimulate young children and to narrow the gap between affluent and the destitute.

In an average year, children hear approximately 11 million words in professional homes, 6 million words in working class homes, and 3 million words in welfare homes. Through these and other methods, we can begin to blur the lines between the children in professional homes and welfare homes. This has the potential to improve social mobility, increase graduation and college attendance rates for children who grow up in these more destitute conditions.

Other elements that improve urban life, such as public art, and help to improve the education gained while walking. Public art for instance, can help to stimulate conversation between parent and child. This informal conversation helps to increase the words a child hears and improve cognitive development.

Example Thinkscape

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Example Public Art

Education [Streetscape] “Once you know about the arc of development, you can design environments and contexts the spark collaboration. One example comes from a children’s museum that had a bucket hanging from a large crane. To pick up anything in the bucket, you needed to have one person putting things in the bucket and one operating the crane.

Collaboration was built into the activity” [Golinkoff, 2016]. Golinkoff goes on to point out that collaboration is a life skill and is something we see through all stages of education in group projects, as well as in the real world. Collaborative play helps build social skills that some children may struggle with and can help them to understand the importance of not just working with others, but understanding others.

Thinkscape Precedents

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Education [Parks] The effects of park play have been studied extensively. Park play should stimulate all aspects and stages of child development, offer multi-sensory experiences, stimulate informal play experiential learning, and natural learning cycles, offer children a feeling of “intense peace”, among many other benefits. These benefits can be seen even more in children from socioeconomically disadvantaged families. Education in parks can reach out to students who have been traditionally overlooked and under-encouraged in science and science-related careers, including youth of color and females.

Wilkes-Barre has many public housing projects and low income neighborhoods. Environmental education can help to provide opportunities for children where opportunities may not currently exist.

Educational Signage

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“Urban environmental education programs in the Bronx help young people see ecological aspects of the urban landscape as legitimate and worthwhile. These programs teach students to view cities as places to interact with nature, grow food, and engage in outdoor recreation and learning. Such sense of place may ultimately enhance environmental stewardship in urban communities” (Kudryavtsev, 2012). Even simple things such as signage pointing out flora and fauna in areas can help to peak interests and inform young children of the natural elements in their community. One of the biggest benefits of properly designed parks is the opportunity to learn through play.

“Hideaway Woods, which opened in 2015, provides opportunities for outdoor exploration, imagination, and nature play” [Derr, 2016].

Children Interacting With Nature

Education [Parks] Learning landscapes are the idea of incorporating natural learning experiences into the built environment. A great deal of research exists on this topic, and so it is not necessary to reinvent the wheel, but just extrapolate what makes sense for Wilkes-Barre and modify it to fit our circumstances. The city of Denver has published a set of design guidelines for “nature play in the built environment” which details not just how to design urban natural spaces, but why we should and what the benefits are among all age groups.

Coal Street Park is a prime candidate for a learning landscape intervention as it has an existing unused natural forested area that could be incredibly beneficial to the residents of Sherman Hills/ Interfaith Heights. Many children living in this area do not experience the natural environment and would greatly benefit from having access to a space like this. Many of the youth living in the city, and specifically these housing projects, are experiencing Nature Deficit Disorder [NDD] which is describe by Richard Louv as “the idea that human beings, especially children, are spending less time outdoors, and the belief that this change results in a wide range of behavioral problems” By incorporating educational elements into this design we show the value of education and help to facilitate learning in youth that may be in at-risk situations. The redesign proposed to the right illustrates how we can redesign the park to best fit the needs of the immediate community surrounding it. With an education center, numerous nature-based play nodes, and several habitat areas to mimic natural environments, youth are offered play spaces and educational opportunities while a meandering path facilitates movement and circulation for people of all ages and physical abilities for mental and physical recreation. ”Children of all ages need places for security, social affiliation, and exploration.

But how do communities with high crime and gang violence create such spaces? One means to do this is by restoring degraded landscapes into vibrant greenspace” [Derr, Simons, 2017].

Potential Coal Street Park Site Plan

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Parks [05] Parks are of great importance to the urban environment and need to be well thought out to maximize accessibility and use. Parks can help to unify neighborhoods and create locations that introduce nature into the lives of residents, particularly those who do not have the means to travel to the countryside.

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“What is well designed to recreate the mind from urban oppressions through the eye makes the park the park�

- Frederick Law Olmstead 29

Parks [Overview] Parks provide the following benefits to cities:

A.] Increased livability of a city B.] Improved air quality C.] Can reduce depression D.] Reduces obesity rates E.] Allows experience of natural elements without long drives F.] Can be used as alternative circulation [linear parks] G.] Improves nearby property values H.] Increases recreation/exercise I.] Builds communities ties/networks J.] Should be spaced no more than a mile apart K.] Should be designed to be multi-functional L.} Can serve as community gathering places “ The neighborhood park is where you feel comfortable with people who are just like you whereas central park is a park in which you mix with strangers. Different kinds of public space enables a different kind of sociability.� - Richard Florida

Central Park, New York City

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Linear Parks offer great possibilities, particularly for Wilkes-Barre. Given the existing levee trail, we can expand upon this to make a comprehensive network of multi-use paths or trails. Linear parks offer opportunities for recreation or even routes for alternative transportation.

At a larger scale, these parks are the anchors for the city. The large scale parks are destinations for citizens of Wilkes-Barre and the surrounding municipalities and should offer opportunities for people of all backgrounds ways to physically and mentally recreate. In Wilkes-Barre, these parks are Kirby Park and Coal Street Park.

Mid size parks can serve as community centers and meeting points. These parks are destinations that most community members can walk to in a short period of time and offer many ways to recreate while being smaller in size. Miner Park for instance has a playground, basketball courts, ball fields, and other amenities that help to serve South Wilkes-Barre.

Small scale parks are the connectors that serve a small area, perhaps a 1-2 block radius. These small parks can be the size of a building lot or that has a small selection of amenities to serve the immediate area.

This creates opportunities for neighbors to meet frequently and offers the potential for these neighbors to organize events to strengthen the bonds that are essential for a great neighborhood.

In Copenhagen for instance, from any given point in the city you are within a 15 minute walk of a park. This is a great model for Wilkes-Barre as we have the infrastructure in place already to support this. The existing park system is good, but can always be improved. The biggest gap is in the area of linear parks that can serve as both parks and alternative transportation routes. By addressing this issue, along with creating small scale parks where possible [for instance, parks in the place of houses that have been torn down by the city] we can improve neighborhoods through beautification and providing tools for blocks and neighborhoods to form stronger connections.

Parks [Benefits] Every Year ~600,000 people die prematurely because of “sedentary lifestyle illnesses. Parks are a great way of combating this national epidemic. A strong parks and open space system helps to facilitate the movement of people and thus helps to prevent health problems such as diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. “Access to vegetated areas such as parks, open spaces, and playgrounds has been associated with better perceived general health, reduced stress levels, reduced depression and more” - “Experiencing nature—going on a hike, relaxing on a beach, or even sitting in a park—can help recharge our cognitive capacities, acting like a reset button for our human RAM” As you can see, parks offer a great deal of physical and mental benefits for the community at large.

Parks also offer opportunities for transit-dependent people within the city by offering ways to experience, interact, and play with nature while still within the city. This type of experience for young children is critical in cognitive development “Being surrounded by nature and natural items provides infinite benefits to children. Nature instills in everyone a sense of beauty and calmness. It exposes us to things that are alive and growing and promotes curiosity and exploration.

All senses become engaged when children interact with the natural world” [Ward, 2016]. “Children thrive when they engage in free play, which involves active engagement and is fun, voluntary, and flexible [Burghardt, 2011]

Bloedel Reserve: Seattle, WA

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Parks [Linear] “Linear parks and open spaces make compact living attractive and viable. Trail networks link individual parks, making them easier to bike and walk� [Ward, 2016]. New York City has The Highline, Boulder, CO has the Boulder Creek Path, and many other cities around the globe have been creating linear parks in their city. These parks offer many opportunities for residents to recreate in different ways, but they also allow and encourage alternative transportation. These linear parks are amenities that are highly utilized and serve the community well. These offer different experiences than traditional parks and can be used programatically differently. A local example of this would be the Back Mountain Trail, a former train track that had been abandoned and converted into a greenway connecting Shavertown to Luzerne. This is a great amenity that is used by a wide range of people and has helped to improve community health and family strength. Further, creating obvious, and well designed routes that connect these linear parks is critical. Creating a single wayfinding signage that is used across the county is a potential solution to ease the burden of finding these pathways.

The Highline, New York City

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Top: Back Mountain Trail near Shavertown Bottom: Boulder Creek Path, Boulder, CO

The most obvious choice for a linear park in from the Black Diamond Bridge to the Northampton Street river common portal. This section is the esplanade for Wilkes-Barre and by creating a user-friendly path here, we can create a network that extends from the Buttonwood section of Hanover to Downtown. This connection can help to encourage and facilitate exercise, and movement from people in this area, but more likely, people from South Wilkes-Barre. By creating this linear park, we are creating a continuous path from Buttonwood through Lynwood, through South Wilkes-Barre, right to the downtown core.

This uninterrupted path means that people can easily and safely walk downtown without ever needing to cross a road [once they get to the path]. This esplanade will also connects to the Levee Trail on the other side of the river, and can create a 6.5 mile long path in which people never need to cross a single street because of underpasses at the bridges. Further, Kingston/Forty Fort is working on

Proposed Esplanade in Red

connecting the path from Rutter Ave to that behind the Forty Fort Cemetery, which means that with this connection we can have an unimpeded path for incredible distances!

A boardwalk style path provides opportunities for this to be slightly elevated and makes it have a minimal impact on the important permeable surface below, and can also keep this path usable during times when the river is slightly elevated.

Other options include concrete, and crushed cinders, but these options are less functional than an elevated boardwalk. By keeping this lower and closer to the river, it can help to facilitate interactions with the river and it may even prove to have educational opportunities. Children may be able to learn about riparian zone ecosystems here and other biological elements based on the flora and fauna native to this ecosystem.

Esplanade Rendering

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Parks [Large Scale] Large scale parks in Wilkes-Barre, such as Kirby Park [52 acres] and Coal Street Park [37 acres] [the two largest parks in the city] should be seen as destinations with a variety of programmatic elements that entertain a wide range of people. These primary parks are large enough to house recreational elements the city is currently lacking, such as a skate park or other activities.

By catering to a wider range of people, we encourage more active lifestyles and more opportunities for community engagement amongst one another.

The large parks of the city offer the best opportunities for interactions with a natural environment.

Coal Street Park is directly across the street from Sherman Hills which creates a great opportunity for the park. Low income people typically have less opportunity to interact with the natural environment and this could begin to fill the gap. Looking at Montbello Park in Denver, a 5.5 acre section can be redesigned to fit the needs of the surrounding community. By removing an existing softball field and redesign it to include elements of play-in-nature style elements such as a stump maze,

Montbello Park, Denver

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a small boulder field, an outdoor classroom, and other natural play nodes, we provide opportunities for the nearby housing projects to be reformed. Introducing educational elements and naturalized elements into the landscape near Sherman Hills may help to reduce some of the problems the housing projects are currently experiencing. “Working with Denver nonprofit Environmental Learning for Kids (ELK), we are transforming 5 acres in the city’s Montbello neighborhood into a restored natural area with native gardens, educational kiosks, walking trails, and interactive nature play spaces. Part of ELK’s mission is to provide science and outdoor programs to youth who have been overlooked and under-encouraged in science and science-related careers” (Denver Trust for Public Land, 2016)

Existing Coal Street Park

Kirby Park on the other hand offers a mix of natural and man-made elements. The manicured side of the park functions very well, but could use modern elements that help to bring it up with the times. The “Nature Area” however, is desolate and underutilized. By addressing this, we can convert the nature area from poorly performing area to a great amenity for Wilkes-Barre and other nearby communities. With programmatic elements that encourage walking, facilitate education, and increase appreciation of nature in an urban setting, we can create a space that citizens in Wilkes-Barre as well as adjacent municipalities enjoy visiting and using. This park has the space for,

Top: Existing pond in Kirby Park Natural Area Bottom: Bloedel Reserve, Seattle, WA

and capability, of housing educational elements such as interactive play spaces, informational signage, and outdoor classrooms while allowing for an expanded path/trail system in the existing “nature area”. These paths will help encourage people to dive deeper into the nature of this space while encouraging walking and additional healthy lifestyle habits. Looking at the Bloedel Reserve and Denver Botanic Gardens as precedents, we can see that this area is rife with opportunity, to leave it as an area that is left to its own devices is careless and irresponsible. Lets clean it up and turn it into something we are proud of.

Top: Existing Foundation Wall in Kirby Park Bottom: Elevated Garden in Denver Botanic Gardens

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Parks [Large Scale]

The moss garden at the Bloedel Reserve creates a mystical feeling that is widely enjoyed and can be invoked at the existing wetlands area next to the pond. Moss is effective in mitigating mosquito problems and has a great carbon sequestration properties.

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Top: Moss Garden at Bloedel Reserve Bottom: Rendering of Moss Garden at Kirby Park Nature Area [Rendering by Brian Ferry]

A bridge crossing over the existing pond creates a sense of interaction with the pond as well as increases visual interest from all angles.

This intervention allows users a new perspective of the site and can coincide with the style of the space as it is bordered by the black diamond and Market Street bridges.

Top: Varsity Lake, University of Colorado at Boulder Bottom: Rendering of Bridge Over Pond at Kirby Park Nature Area [Rendering by Brian Ferry]

The existing reflecting pool is neglected and is a dirt/grass pool. The reflecting pool area has a great deal of room for improvement and can be revitalized as a relaxing or educational space. An existing raised platform has the potential to create an amphitheater that can be used for educational or recreation.

Top: Existing Reflecting Pool Area Bottom: Proposed Reflecting Pool + Amphitheater [Rendering by Brian Ferry]

A raised garden or sitting area makes use of an existing foundation wall in the space. Surrounding this with a boundary of black spruce trees creates a hortus conclusus, or walled garden, that creates a semi-private outside room.

Top: Existing Foundation Wall Bottom: Proposed Raised Sitting Area [could also be raised garden] [Rendering by Brian Ferry]

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Parks [Medium Scale] Medium scale parks are like a joint in the human body, they bring together two separate entities and create a system that works and transcends the two separate pieces, but in this case, we are talking about neighborhoods rather than knees or elbows. Mid size parks, such as Barney Farms Park, the River Common Park, and Miner Park, begin to address the needs and opportunities to create interesting, dynamic places that appeal to all ages and abilities. Well designed walking paths, educational elements, play spaces, and recreational amenities should all exist within the mid-size parks of Wilkes-Barre.

Existing conditions of Miner Park

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Mid-size parks allow larger functions to happen to help unify entire neighborhoods or communities, while still being small and intimate spaces. These secondary systems are less of destinations than Kirby or Coal Street, but should offer amenities that help to draw people from a distance greater than a quarter or half mile [where small parks thrive].

Existing conditions of Barney Farms Park

The existing stock of mid-size parks in Wilkes-Barre is strong, but the design of these parks is lacking. Many of these parks are of minimal use and focus on two or three activities rather than being designed broadly to accommodate a wide demographic. Miner park is largely made up of two softball fields, a baseball field, and a basketball court. Looking at the existing design of the park it seems to make poor use of the space available. This park can and should incorporate amenities for a wider range of people. Walking and jogging trails can be added to the site as well as educational elements that could help to supplement the curriculum of courses at Kistler. Barney Farms park also has a baseball diamond, and

Newmarket Park - Aukland, NZ

is located a mere quarter mile away, while further down Gordon Ave there is yet another baseball diamond and two additional softball fields. One must begin to ask, are all these fields needed? One may begin to think that the area may benefit from a reduction of baseball fields and a shift towards a more experiential, less sports oriented park. Diversifying these spaces may be able to benefit the residents of the area from young to old.

Oakledge Park Rendering - Burlington, VT

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Parks [Small Scale] Parks at the small scale, also known as pocket parks, can range anywhere from the size of a parking space or two, up to the size of an average building lot or two. This tertiary system of parks helps to unify the primary and secondary parks to create a comprehensive network that serves as a direct link to every community. Small parks can help to create familiarity between residents of a community and build a sense of togetherness. Small community green spaces help to serve those without yards and can provide places for children to

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Top: Pocket Park in Boulder, CO Bottom: Parklet

Top: Small Park Precedent Bottom: Paley Park, New York City

recreate or even act as places to host small family or community events. These pocket parks have become popular in a wide range of places with a variety of different design styles. The Goss-Grove pocket park in Boulder is a typical vegetative space with places to sit with not much else going on. Paley Park in New York City is different from this, it is a much more urban space with hardscape that mimics European plazas. The most notable thing about each of these public spaces is the way they respond to their surrounding environments.

One option for introducing small parks into the city is by capitalizing on vacant lots. Vacant lots take away from the feeling of security and aesthetic of an area. Main Street can benefit from this by [even temporarily] converting the Blum Bros. lot into a park. The current conditions detract from the aesthetic of downtown and can contribute towards feelings of lack of safety, and overall lack of investment from the city. By pushing the wall back by even 100’ we can landscape this space and create a small park that will benefit the overall city, but also the elderly residents of Provincial Towers across the street.

Top: Existing Conditions on Main Street Bottom: Proposed Parklet on Main Street [Rendering by Brian Ferry]

In residential areas, a park can help to create 5-minute neighborhoods.

A small park within 5 minutes of a residence can help to create strong neighborhoods and increase the “eyes on the street” and improve safety and quality. Small neighborhood parks also allow for educational opportunities such as mentioned before. This could yield great benefits in certain parts of the city, such as this vacant space on Carlisle Street in South Wilkes-Barre. Small interventions such as this can help to improve the perceived notion of a block or neighborhood and make residents feel safer in these environments as well as increase civic pride. This has the potential to start a virtuous cycle in which residents feel better about their neighborhoods and being to make other improvements.

Top: Existing Conditions on Carlisle Street Bottom: Proposed Parklet on Carlisle Street [Rendering by Brian Ferry]

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Amenities [06] Wilkes-Barre offers many opportunities for great amenities, but struggles to capitalize on them. By creating a plan to harness these opportunities we can greatly increase the chance of creating them. Increased amenities will help to keep high school and college graduates in the area while simultaneously generating additional tourism revenue and bolstering the existing businesses.

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“Amenities are a catalyst for driving downtown’s next wave of business vitality, social improvement and cultural renewal.”

- Steven Cramer 43

Overview

Precedents

Amenities provide the following benefits to cities

A.] Increased livability of a city B.] Improves local economy C.] Can reduce depression D.] Reduces obesity rates E.] Affords more options to those who are transit restricted F.] Tourism G.] Can draw new businesses to the area H.] Potential to reduce drug abuse I.] Variety of amenities can serve a broad range of demographics

Infographic of benefits

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So how do we know that these investments are going to work? Well in Long Beach “reduction in crime since the skate park was installed: From 2003 to 2008, crime has dropped in the immediate area around the park, which has historically been a very high crime area of the city. “Since 2003,drug related incidents have dropped 60.9%, violent crime has dropped 29.3% and overall incidents have dropped 22.8%.

Further, calls for service have dropped 23.0%.”(Kamlan, 2014) Bike lanes and multi-use paths have proven to be highly successful in cities like Boulder, New York City, and countless others around the world.

This proves that if the infrastructure is in place, weather plays only a minor role in the amount which these amenities are utilized. and while river-based amenity results are difficult to find, it’s easy to assume that the improvements to fishing opportunities will be beneficial because of the strong fishing culture and blue collar roots of Wilkes-Barre. Leisure tourists are attracted by an area’s special traits, such as proximity to the ocean, scenic views, history, architectural beauty, and cultural and recreational opportunities. But these are the same characteristics that attract households to cities when they are looking for a place to make their permanent home. We find that, all else equal, population and employment growth is about 2.5 percentage points higher in a metropolitan area with twice as many tourists. Housing prices also grow faster in “beautiful cities”” [Saiz, 2008]

Multi-use Infrastructure in New York, NY

Skatepark

Climbing Wall

A skate/BMX park is an amenity that many cities have, it’s something that Wilkes-Barre is missing. This is a big amenity that gives youths a place to go and helps to instill hard work and dedication. Skating and BMX provide opportunities for adolescents to get outside and refine their skill, but also helps to build careers around the extreme sports lifestyle. Many local skate/BMX groups have produced films around their abilities and the experiences they have with friends while out, this is a valuable experience and something we should foster rather than discourage. The idea of starting BMX as an adolescent also stays with people as they grow older. Many riders eventually turn into mountain bikers or road bikers as they get older, some even continue BMX into their 30’s and 40’s. This facilitates a healthy lifestyle, a healthy Wilkes-Barre, and improves the local economy through keeping our local bike shops open.

Possible Skatepark in Kirby Park

Outdoor climbing walls are another great way of getting residents outside and providing great amenities. A climbing walls offers a fun and unique experience for people in the area and is something that has proven to be successful in other areas. In Boulder and many other locations throughout Colorado, climbing is a lifestyle for the residents, a lifestyle that started because of the natural rock climbing opportunities available in the area. This inspired people to build climbing gyms, and exterior climbing walls to expand their love of climbing. This is something that could and should be done more in Wilkes-Barre and the greater NEPA area. Downtown Wilkes-Barre already has a climbing gym on Main St and equipment available to buy right next door at Top of the Slope. So with this, we are able to provide recreational amenities for residents and help to reinforce the local economy, helping businesses that have been downtown for decades. Horizontal climbing walls are safe with very small falls possible and can utilize existing walls.

Climbing Wall

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Trail System

Bike Path + Multi-use Paths

The area sees a decent number of people walking the existing levee path on the top of the dike in Kirby Park, Nesbitt Park, and near the Forty Fort Airport, but these trails largely keep you separated from nature. We have the ability to improve the system of trails that really help to bring people back into the natural environment, something that is very important in a dense urban environment such as WilkesBarre. The “nature area” of Kirby park is a huge area that has a path, but is completely useless during the warmer months because of mosquito infestations. Further, only having one path in this area is quite underwhelming considering the amount of space we have available for a comprehensive trail system. Coals Street Park also offers opportunities for a small trail that could be beneficial to the residents of Sherman Hills, Interfaith Heights, and the rest of the residents in that area. “With the emphasis on health and fitness in today’s society, trails are becoming just as important as streets and sidewalks in our communities.” (Martin, 2008)

Walking Path

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As mentioned in the previous section, bike paths or multi-use paths offer a great opportunities for recreation as well as safe travel. These types of paths help to increase connectivity throughout the city but often go about, below, or work diligently to avoid roads. In Boulder, CO for instance, these types of paths often follow Boulder Creek and provide a safe, effective way for residents to traverse the city and bypass many major streets or intersections by going underneath them. This network of bike lanes or multi-use paths could and should be anchored by the river common portals. These portals serve as connectors from the levee trail to the downtown core, from this, a network of paths can be laid out on the existing grid to improve connectivity to these portals

Boulder Creek Path: Boulder, CO

Kayak Park

Fishing Opportunities

One way of integrating additional recreation in Wilkes-Barre is to begin to capitalize on the best resource in the city, the river. We often fear the Susquehanna for its flooding potential, but we must realize that this is a great resource that we can work with rather than fear. A kayak park is a feasible use of this amenity running right through our downtown district and connecting to other parts of the city. Residents from throughout the city could enjoy this great amenity and it could help bolster downtown living, downtown businesses, and the enrollment of the colleges. Further, a kayak park strategically located can help to bring life to the constantly struggling River Common Park. This in itself is a great amenity but lacks programmatic elements and fails to draw people to the space.

This has made it a popular place among drug users and transients, making it feel like an unsafe place for people to recreate and spend time. Manchester, Iowa recently completed a project very similar to this and have seen the park to be surprisingly busy and expect it to generate $2 million dollars in economic activity annually.

Manmade Rapids: Manchester City, IO

Fishing is a popular hobby in Northeastern Pennsylvania, so what could the city do to help facilitate this? Many people are seen out on boats, but not everybody has access to boats, so could improved edge conditions help to encourage river fishing? This, combined with a designated path along the shoreline could be designed in a way that is universally designed, meaning that it is ADA compliant, thus increasing opportunities for a wider range of people to go fishing and relive the joys of their youth. Many other places have started to do this because it improves the quality of fishing while improving habitats for fish and other aquatic life in the river.

Fishing the Susquehanna

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Riparian Corridor Recreation

Formal Pedestrian Bridge

Formal Lawn

Connective Boardwalk

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Moss Garden

View to market street

Raised Garden

reflecting pool education area

Reflecting Pool

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Downtown [07] The downtown core of Wilkes-Barre is critical for the future of the city as a whole.

A vibrant downtown can help to attract jobs and businesses to the area, which will help to keep existing residents and college students in the city. A lively downtown core can increase the walkability of a city and ripple throughout the entire city and possibly even the valley creating a safer, more welcoming built environment.

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“a downtown that—after decades of doubt and neglect—is once again the heart and soul of Asheville” Charles Montgomery 51

Downtown [Overview] Basic downtown design guidelines:

A.] Reduced parking minimums B.] 3 story minimum C.] High transparency facades D.] Mixed uses [work, live, play] E.] New buildings to existing material palette F.] Public space improvements [public square, Midtown, streetscape] G.] Mix of Incomes H.] Good public spaces I.] Variety of amenities can serve a broad range of demographics

The downtown core is the heart and soul of Wilkes-Barre, the financial and retail center of the city. This essence of being a retail and financial center has been lost over the decades, lost to Wilkes-Barre Township, Plains Township, and other surrounding areas. This loss of commerce has been problematic for Wilkes-Barre over a long period, we must work to regain the retail and commerce that we have lost over the decades and breathe new life into the downtown core.

Top: Historic View of Public Square

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People are attracted to dense downtown living and can be seen through the redevelopment of the Allegheny Building, the PNC Bank Building, and other redevelopment efforts in the downtown core. This reuse is excellent for Wilkes-Barre and gives us time to develop design standards for new construction projects that may take shape in the core. Design standards allow us o create a strong, cohesive, and unified downtown that has dynamic and visual appeal while maintaining a sense of order and consistency that people want in a downtown.

We should look to the past as a guiding light for the downtown in the future.

This historic look at Wilkes-Barre gives us the basic principle for what downtown could and should look like. This also gives us an idea as to what Wilkes-Barre will look like as populations rise to the 60-75K “rightsize�.

Top: Historic View of Market Street

A dynamic, well designed downtown capitalizes of the urban triad of live/work/play. By offering all three of these we start to create an area that provides 24 hour activity. Wilkes-Barre should be able to offer activities downtown for users of all ages and economic status.

Leisure is important particularly in the downtown core as it is centrally

located and serves the greater Wilkes-Barre city, but also serves as a template for the rest of the city. Spontaneous recreation is another important element to the city. Public art, plazas, wayfinding, and other design pieces are critical for the success of downtown.

This map shows a quarter mile [5 minute], and half mile [10 minute] walk in all directions starting from the center of Public Square

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Downtown [Main Street] “Main Street is often thought of as the heart of the community, occupying and iconic position within the typical American small town� But first, we need to answer one question; what is the feeling that we are trying to create for Main Street? The answer to this question is what will become the guiding principle for development and will inform design standards that need to be developed in order to make this space successful. Main Street is the focal point for Wilkes-Barre and that needs to be highly emphasized.

Aesthetics of this area have improved over the years but we fail to have a finalized view of what this space looks like and performs as well as how this connects to surrounding areas. Looking at Belmar in Colorado as a precedent, we can enhance the aesthetic appeal of Main street and continue this aesthetic to provide a visual connection to other areas such as Midtown Village, the north end of Main St etc. Larimer Street in Denver is another viable precedent for Main Street. Larmier is a lively, street with a prominent nightlife and feels enclosed because of the use of overhead lighting. This creates a warm, comfortable feeling for the street that helps to attract people and make them feel safe day and night.

Main Street Wilkes-Barre needs to be designed to fit the needs of people first. Slow traffic speeds, humanizing elements such as trees and other greenery, plenty of seating [familiar vocabulary of seating], and a dynamic range of the urban triad - work, live, and play.

Larimer Street, Denver

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Midtown Village has struggle to maintain tenants over the years with a few exceptions [Katana, for instance]. We must think critically about what can be done to help small businesses be successful in this space. Is the problem with the space itself, is it not as inviting as it can be? Could this area be redesigned as a more formal urban plaza that is successful in major cities? The design of the buildings enclosing this space certainly isn’t doing any favors to the space, but can we redesign the space without tearing down more buildings to create a comfortable, functional space? In keeping with the ideas from the improvements for Main Street, we can use design elements that revitalize the aesthetics of Main Street to redesign Midtown Village in a way that works with Main Street and acts as an extension of it. This space offers the ability to be a desirable location for restaurants because of the ability to accommodate cafe seating in addition to hosting a wide array of events.

Kic Park, Shanghai

Downtown [Washington Square] A square on N. Washington Street follows the traditional colonial era design of historic cities in Pennsylvania and throughout the Northeast Corridor. Philadelphia, for instance, was designed with public squares in mind, equidistant from a central square that became city hall. These small urban green spaces now serve as economic engines, with Rittenhouse Square being a thriving area of the city. This is something that can and should be replicated in WilkesBarre. A new square that stretches from North to Jackson and Pennsylvania to Washington offers new green space and economic stimulation to a region of the downtown core that has been stagnant for decades. This eliminates unnecessary parking and a redundant Turkey Hill, replacing with a traditional urban park giving a new character to the entire neighborhood.

There are plenty of developers that are interested in investing money into the Wilkes-Barre area, but want to be assured that their investment will be protected and pay dividends, by having plans for a new urban park, we offer an incentive and a logical place for developers to build. This is a proven fact as developers were competing for the Sterling site and other developers have decided to build on River Street near River Grille - a move that would have possibly been downtown had developers known of improvement plans for the downtown core.

Top: Rendering of Washington Square Bottom: Rendered Site Plan Of Washington Square

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Neighborhoods [08] The downtown core is a critical component of Wilkes-Barre, but it can be argued that the neighborhoods are just as important [if not more important] to the success of the city.

We must think critically about what can be done to improve the neighborhoods for the residents of Wilkes-Barre to ensure safety, comfort, civic pride, and enjoyment.

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“There is good evidence that most US adults want more walkable neighborhoods, like to live in mixed use neighborhoods, and want safer places to ride bicycles�

- James Sallis 57

Woonerfs [Overview] Woonerfs change the dynamic of streets and neighborhoods A.] Slowing down vehicular traffic speed B.] Gives equal importance to bikes, vehicles, and pedestrians C.] Transform street into recreational space D.] Increases socialization and activity E.] Creates more attractive streets F.] Increases “natural surveillance” G.] Provides increased mobility to the elderly H.] Improved environmental quality

Woonerf in Delft

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“The integration of vehicular traffic with pedestrian activity was deemed a central, positive principle in the design and planning of woonerfs. The result was a streetscape that valued the residents and provided a rich environment that fostered social interaction in addition to calming the traffic”. [Hand, 2012] The woonerf is a design strategy that can be implemented on certain streets [preferably those with back-loaded alleys] throughout the neighborhoods of WilkesBarre. By starting out with a small network of streets it allows us to gauge how effective they are in our current environment as well as see how they are received by the residents. The conversion of a network of residential streets can be converted into woonerfs in a fiscally conservative manner by the city through the use of state and federal grants. The availability of LSA monies, along with the recently revealed 10-year infrastructure bill, means that money will be available for roads and bridges - this is an excellent application of that money as it improves the safety of a neighborhood as well as improves road conditions.

Dutch Woonerf

Woonerfs [Demonstration Locations] Woonerfs provide great opportunities, but can be costly to install and may take some time for residents to acclimate. Improving residential street design is much like going swimming, you don’t just dive in head first, you dip your toes in and feel the temperature. In order for these to be successful we need to carefully study locations that make the most sense and cause the least disruption. Blocks with few houses or blocks that have back-loaded alleys make the most sense for design interventions as these are the most pliable and least affected by the removal of some parking spaces.

Carefully analyzing one or two locations in each neighborhood of Wilkes-Barre allows us to install demonstration sites that allow us to gauge the benefits and detriments [if any] along with the public opinion post construction. As demonstrations are installed and evaluated, we can begin to look at additional locations in which woonerf would potentially work and make sense. Woonerfs are often one component of “Vision Zero”, a road traffic safety project that aims to achieve a roadway system with no fatalities or serious injuries involving road traffic. The slowing of traffic and prioritization of pedestrians helps to push this initiative. Slower traffic will do little if anything to impede traffic flow on small residential streets, such as those in South Wilkes-Barre where people have no reason to drive fast in the first place. As you can see below, I have

Example of Woonerf Demonstration Location in South Wilkes-Barre

highlighted three small blocks in South WilkesBarre where woonerfs should work and make sense, while adding character to the street and providing a safer environment for children to play.

Woonerf Rendering by Addicks Howell

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Neighborhood Centers Neighborhood Center Commercial Districts can A.] Spur economic activity in an area B.] Encourage small business C.] Make communities more walkable D.] Fill voids in the neighborhood E.] Create more attractive streets F.] Provide gathering spaces for community members G.] Increase connections between neighbors H.] Enhances quality of life for those without cars

Most neighborhoods in the city contain areas that are commercial/mixed use that act as a neighborhood center, but this is something the city should focus on and work with stakeholders to create strong neighborhood commercial areas to help strengthen the community they serve. For example, South Wilkes-Barre has “the crossroads”, an area with commercial activity and that acts as the southern

Woonerf in Delft

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gateway to the city, but this is poorly laid out [to put it mildly] and misses a great deal of opportunity. Hazel Street, in the area of Angelo’s Pizza is another potential neighborhood center for the Rolling Mill Hills section of town. With an improved overall design strategy and long term plan, we can help breathe new life into a struggling area that houses many great businesses, but needs the help of the city with good planning and design. Rezoning entire blocks with standards can help to inform development while incentives help to make it viable. Spot zoning is another tool that can be used. Spot zoning to create a pocket of higher density housing, or affording the opportunity for a stakeholder to open a local cafe offers potential to improve quality of life for neighborhood residents. “When appropriately designed, neighborhood businesses can enhance local and regional character and be integrated into predominantly residential areas” [New Design for Growth, 20018]. By identifying and acknowledging these economic zones we can begin to allocate grant monies towards improving these areas.

Streetscape projects and design guidelines can be used much like they are in downtown cores to facilitate a vision and inform developments. This will help to rebuild our neighborhoods and reconnect residents while spending relatively small amounts, but it must be done deliberately and precisely by prioitizing the main arteries of these districts for streetscaping, repaving, etc.

Proposed Mixed-Use Development by KFA Architects

Complete Communities Complete communities offer many benefits:

A.] Increase walkability B.] Strengthen the community C.] Benefits everyone, but provides greatest benefit to the youth and the elderly D.] Community livability E.] Improved health F.] Offers and encourages a more active lifestyle G.] A greener, more aesthetic built environment

Woonerf in Delft

Complete communities are critical for Wilkes-Barre as a whole to function the way it ought to be. As mentioned earlier in the Parks chapter, the five minute walk is incredibly important to the well being of a neighborhood, and so we need to look at what out communities offer holistically in a five minute walk, and how those are connected. Small neighborhood parks that are close to small neighborhood centers connected by complete streets is what I think of for complete communities. This triad is what makes great communities to experience as well as socially connected communities where everybody knows everybody in the way that Wilkes-Barre used to be. “The case of Kirkland, Washington, should give heart to planners seeking to increase the density, mix and balance of land uses in their communities. It has managed to attract jobs and housing, become one of the most compact and complete communities in the Pacific Northwest, and contribute to less auto dependence and more land conservation in the region while creating a vital, attractive, livable community.� [Pivo, 2005]

Complete Streets Diagram

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Business Improvement Districts What are Business Improvement Districts:

A.] Business-led initiatives to improve areas B.] establish their relationships with local authorities C.] Make communities more walkable D.] Fill voids in the neighborhood E.] Create more attractive streets F.] Provide gathering spaces for community members G.] Increase connections between neighbors H.] Enhances quality of life for those without cars

One critique citizens commonly have of Wilkes-Barre is that all of the focus is on the downtown core. Along with enhancing parks, improving connectivity throughout the city, beautifying the streetscape, and the other ideas presented throughout this book, we are able to bring a focus back to the community. But those are just small components, one of the bigger components to improving

Woonerf in Delft

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the city holistically is by looking at the commercial areas in each neighborhood/ district of the city. Most neighborhoods in Wilkes-Barre already have nodes of commercial activity as well as commercial activiy randomly placed throughout.

If we can better define thse nodes and work to concentrate the businesses it is likely they will see more business as the design and functionality of these nodes is improved. For instance, the crossroads is the southern gateway to the city, but is incredibly poorly designed with no thought on the design and functionality, or the user experience such as axis/procession/pause. One way of facilitating this shift can be through Business Improvement Districs {BID’s}.

A business improvement district is “defined area within which businesses are required to pay an additional tax (or levy) in order to fund projects within the district’s boundaries. The BID is often funded primarily through the levy but can also draw on other public and private funding streams. But in relation to other chapters withing this book, BID’s can help with crime prevention. Smart planning of business placement and the facilitation of activity can help to deter crime through many different avenues such as increased “eyes on the street” and “stewardship/ownership”. Research has shown that “BIDs that spent the most on beautification and crime-prevention efforts showed the greatest decrease in crimes” [Maximino, 2014]

Proposed Mixed-Use Development by KFA Architects

BID’s [In The Neighborhoods] BID’s in the neighborhoods can:

A.] Improve networks between stakeholders B.] Unify commercial districts C.] Act as neighborhood centers D.] Stimulate local economy E.] Inspire revitalization efforts in the neighborhoods F.] Improve safety within the community G.] Enhance the streetscapes in neighborhoods

The Diamond City Partnership is the BID orgranization for the downtown core

So what can BID’s do specifically for Wilkes-Barre? Well, first and foremost they are a statement to local stakeholders. By developing BID’s in the area we are inviting small businesses to the city and showing them that we can offer a safe, pleasant experience for workers and patrons alike. They illustrate that we have a long term plan and vision for the area and that these specific areas are going to be areas of concern for a long time. By implementing a BID in each district of the city we are able to provide a degree of revitalization desperately needed to each community while enhancing the social ties of homeowners, renters, businesses, and others. As previously mentioned, the Crossroads is the southern gateway to the city, but you would never know it in driving by. Elaborating on the importance of the location as well as improved streetscape design and building design guidelines can help to restore this area and South Wilkes-Barre as a whole, as well as possibly aiding the development of the area on the Hanover Township side - collaboration is vital here. That leaves the question of “what are the other best locations for business improvement districts in Wilkes-Barre?”.

The Crossroads Will Benefit From A Business Improvement District

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Complete Streets [Network] In Wilkes-Barre many people are unaware of how to proceed when cyclists are on the roads, or that cyclists in fact belong on the road.

Sharrows, as shown below, are a great and cost effective way of getting people on bikes into the roadways where they belong while indicating to drivers that cyclists do belong in the roadway.

Most neighborhoods in the city has areas that are commercial/mixed use that act as a neighborhood center, but this is something the city should focus on and work with stakeholders to create strong neighborhood commercial areas to help strengthen the community they serve. For example, South Wilkes-Barre has “the crossroads”, an area with commercial activity and that acts as the southern gateway to the city, but this is poorly laid out [to put it mildly] and misses a great deal of opportunity. Hazel Street, in the area of Angelo’s Pizza is another potential neighborhood center for the Rolling Mill Hills section of town. With an improved overall design strategy and long term plan, we can help breathe new life into a struggling area that houses

Partial NYC Bike Lane Map

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many great businesses, but needs the help of the city with good planning and design. Rezoning entire blocks with standards can help to inform development while incentives help to make it viable.

Spot zoning is another tool that can be used. Spot zoning to create a pocket of higher density housing, or affording the opportunity for a stakeholder to open a local cafe offers potential to improve quality of life for neighborhood residents. “When appropriately designed, neighborhood businesses can enhance local and regional character and be integrated into predominantly residential areas” [New Design for Growth, 20018]

Will become map of W-B network

Complete Streets [Overview] Complete streets offer many benefits:

A.] Reduced automobile emissions B.] Safer streets C.] Transportation equity D.] Community livability E.] Improved health F.] Offers and encourages a more active lifestyle G.] A greener, more aesthetic built environment H.} Enhances social equity

Complete Streets Schematic

Complete streets are “a road that is designed to be safe for drivers, bicyclists, transit vehicles and users, and pedestrians of all ages and abilities. The complete streets concept focuses not just on individual roads but on changing the decisionmaking and design process so that all users are routinely considered during the planning, designing, building, and operating of all roadways. It is about policy and institutional change�. [Laplante, 2008] But looking at the current roadways in the city, we aren’t too far off from having complete streets! In order to complete our streets we need to evaluate the network as a whole and understand what components are missing and from where. It makes sense to start with the more important [collector] roads in the city, as they are the most likely to be funded by the federal infrastructure bill.

Complete Streets Rendering

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Development [09] Along with the Main Street, there are several areas throughout Wilkes-Barre [some downtown some not] that are imperative to the future of the city. Development needs to happen in smart, progressive ways that reduce surface parking, improve economics, and increase density in the city. The following projects are some of the most important locations in the city and need to be designed and developed properly if we want to improve Wilkes-Barre.

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“City development is the key social and economic organizing units of our time, bringing together people, jobs, and all the inputs required for economic growth�

- Richard Florida 67

Development [Overview] Smart development can provide the following benefits

A.] Increased livability of a city B.] Increase density C.] Strengthen local economy D.] Diversify housing products and types E.] Create more walkable communities F.] Increase population G.] Provide well defined community centers H.] Potential to reduce drug abuse I.] Variety of amenities can serve a broad range of demographics

There are several lots or locations within the city that are imperative to the future of Wilkes-Barre. These locations must be designed to accommodate the changing needs of cities and fill the gap of a largely walkable city. This means that we need to increase density, reduce parking, and accommodate the basic needs of residents within close proximity of these locations. Three locations prove to be the most critical for the future success of the city including the Market Street Square, the Murray site, and the Crossroads. Given the geographic locations of these areas, and the economic/developed status of the area surrounding the respective locations, these can all be catalysts for new development and a revitalization of the immediate area, as well as neighboring areas.

A strategic plan to the development of Wilkes-Barre is critical, and identifying the most important locations of development can help to guide the development within the city. A set of design guidelines can help to inform the design of the site so that these are developed in a way that fits the needs of the city as well as the residents. Design guidelines can help to create a cohesive city and has proven to be a successful way of developing cities and has been used in many cities that vary in size and geography from New York City to Boulder Colorado, and even resort towns such as Vail. These guidelines may include sidewalk widths, tree placement, and general building form, just to name a few examples of what they may regulate

Modern Development in Boulder Colorado

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Proposed Mixed-Use Development by KFA Architects

Development [Overview] Development such as this facilitates downtown living and increases support of local businesses. This increase in dwelling units and businesses can help to generate additional revenue for the city, which is desperately needed. Single story, single use buildings are inefficient uses of space, particularly in a downtown area where urban space is limited and comes with a premium price in most areas. Multistory mixed use developments offer a wealth of opportunities and allow people to live, work, and play all within a tight radius, something that many people are searching for in modern city living while creating a stronger tax base to benefit the city and county [See chart on page 144]

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Development [Market Street Square] The development of Market Street Square is critical to the success of Wilkes-Barre. Located within the central business district and along a major corridor (Wilkes-Barre Blvd), this 6 + acre plot of land boasts great potential.

A mixed use retail/office/residential project will help to create a destination in downtown Wilkes-Barre. The Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, CO provides a great precedent for what could be done on this land. A pedestrian corridor with restaurants, retail, offices, and residences, this area is a vibrant, thriving destination in Boulder. The property values here are among the highest in Boulder because of such high demand. A development like this in WilkesBarre has the potential to reinvent the downtown core with a significant increase in small business and downtown residences to help sustain these businesses.

The Mercato in Naples, FL

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Top: Downtown Olympia, WA Bottom: Larimer Street: Denver, CO

Development such as this facilitates downtown living and increases support of local businesses. This increase in dwelling units and businesses can help to generate additional revenue for the city, which the city desperately needs.

Single story, single use buildings are inefficient uses of space, particularly in a downtown area where urban space is limited and comes with a premium price in most areas. Oftentimes the first floor is restaurants, bars, retail, and offices. This can be geared towards college students and young professionals. Further, a well designed redevelopment of this site can help to inform and encourage additional development of nearby properties. The Stegmeier Bottling House is a striking building that is currently being used as a warehouse. This fantastic structure has the ability to be so much more than just a warehouse, but a well designed, strongly thought out development of Market Street Square is critical for this building to be used as anything other than a warehouse.

Top: Existing Site + Context Middle: Existing Site Bottom: Existing Conditions

Top: Existing Conditions

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Development [Market Street Square]

Proposed Design for Market Street Square [without trees to better understand design ]

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Proposed Design for Market Street Square

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Development [Murray Complex] “All across America, from Cleveland and Buffalo to Portland and Pittsburgh, people from all walks of life—led by the young, diverse, millennial generation—are choosing to live, work, and play in historic neighborhoods. When asked why they moved to these areas, residents often talk about the desire to live somewhere distinctive, to be some place rather than no place. They want things like windows that open, exposed brick, and walkable communities, and continually use words like “charm” and “authenticity” to describe what they are looking for” [Meeks, 2016]. Many cities have started to repurpose and breathe new life into historic factories, much like the old Murray factory, creating attractive and high end residences, retail, and offices. For instance, the LoDo [Lower Downtown] neighborhood of Denver housed many turn of the century brick warehouses, most of which have been retrofitted into mixed use buildings, a move that has transformed the neighborhood from skid row into the most desirable place to live in Denver. Similar things have happened in other cities as well, such as NYC, Portland, and many others. These types of retrofits pay tribute to the industrial past of cities and provide an architectural and material dynamic and richness to the city. But beyond the architectural design, the idea of preserving what we’ve already got has environmental benefits. The Green Building Council [GBC] encourages the adaptive reuse of buildings such as these, as the embodied energy in the existing walls is very high. To be able to preserve the existing exterior walls of a building - combined with modern construction methods - provides us with buildings that can last centuries while being efficient and pleasing to look at.

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Top: Wythe Hostel, New York City Bottom: The Watertower Building, Denver, CO

Top: The Warehouse Lofts - Scranton, PA Bottom: The Steelbridge Building - Denver, CO

Top: Ambler Boilerhouse - Ambler, PA Bottom: 500 Seneca Street - Buffalo, NY

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Development [Murray Complex] The Murray site offers a great opportunity for the city to embrace the historic past, while building upon it. The current stock of buildings on the site offer fantastic visual interest that hints at the industrial history that established the city, while allowing it to be repurposed for modern use. This can be converted into a mixed use property with retail, offices, and lofts. Flats and offices in historic buildings are very attractive to people, particularly young professionals. If we include spaces for startups, we may be able to increase the number of Wilkes and Kings graduates to stay in the area rather than discouraging them to stay through the lack of opportunities the area presents. “The Complex’s industrial architecture is unique, and ideal for adaptive reuse as residential, commercial, retail and restaurant space” - Alex Belavitz, local architect.

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Top: Existing Conditions of the Murray Complex Bottom: Existing Conditions of the Murray Complex

Top: Existing Site Conditions

Proposed Rendering From Facility Design and Development

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Development [Carey Ave] We often see the Coal Street corridor as the “gateway to the city�, but it can be argued that Carey Ave is the second gateway. The area sees a great deal of traffic and is the entrance to Wilkes-Barre from Plymouth, Larksville, and often further municipalities such as Chase and Shavertown. This area also welcomes people from Nanticoke and beyond. Seeing that so many people travel this route every day, it only makes sense for both Wilkes-Barre and Hanover Township to design the space in a way that is socially and economically beneficial to both.

The existing crossroads area is plagued with single story, single use buildings each surrounded by a sea of parking. This does not make good use of the available space and does little to capitalize on the amount of traffic seen at this intersection each day, which is around 18,000 cars per day [Google Earth Pro, 2017]. Additional development of the site can help to sustain businesses at this location in addition to the daily drive-by traffic.

Existing Conditions at the Crossroads

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By redesigning this area as a mixed use development, we can reinforce this as a retail and commercial district while simultaneously improving the quality of life for residents in South Wilkes-Barre and Hanover Township. This would also help to provide new and exciting living and business opportunities in the area, which could help to breathe new life into a depleted tax base, something that the city desperately needs.

To start this, we need to create a set of design guidelines and the city must rezone this as residential mixed use [RMX]. The city must talk with current property owners and potential developers to see if there is potential interest in this project. Incorporating design guidelines prevents property owners from tearing down and building new on the site more single story, single use structures on the site that would hinder future development of it.

Existing Conditions at the Crossroads [it’s a mess]

South Wilkes-Barre is a largely residential neighborhood with a small amount of commercial activity, particularly on the Carey Ave corridor, anchored by the activity at The Crossroads, but still seeing a great deal of residential activity through the corridor and adjacent to it. This indicates that this s a great opportunity for a mixed use development to take shape here. By focusing on the crossroad area, we are leaving the feeling of the neighborhood intact while increasing density and creating a stronger neighborhood center at the site.

This development may be the breath of fresh air that South WilkesBarre and Hanover Township needs. This can help to integrate new living accommodations to the neighborhood that are currently missing while increasing density and the “eyes on the street�, thus making it safer. Additionally, the increased density and commerce will help to encourage people from all over South Wilkes-Barre to walk or bike to these establishments rather than drive, further increasing the safety of the neighborhood.

A well designed mixed use project here can increase the commercial activity and provide locals with more options for businesses to patronize. Residential units above commercial helps to ensure the businesses have customers within walking distance and can help these businesses thrive in addition to the daily traffic.

One concern with this development would be the threat of flooding.

This is something that always has and always will be a concern for Wilkes-Barre, but we cannot let fear hinder progress. By designing smart structures that minimize damage when flooded, we will be better able to deal with these consequences.

Mixed Use Precedent in Chicago, IL

Rendering of 4 Story Mixed Use Project

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Development [The Crossroads]

Street View of Proposed Crossroads Design Standards

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Axonometric View of Crossroads Site Plan

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Colleges [10] The colleges are a critical component of the city, specifically the downtown core. They offer a great amount of potential, but the city needs to have a strong partnership with the colleges and engage is strong dialogue to best determine the future that best fits the needs of the city and the colleges alike.

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“Cities need partners to address challenges.

Colleges, universities, and hospitals—so-called anchor institutions—serve as engines of innovation and growth for local and regional economies. ” - Liza Getsinger 83

College [Partnership] Benefits of city-college partnership

A.] Better planning for the city as a whole B.] Providing a degree of continuity C.] Internship opportunities D.] Services provided that the city cannot afford E.] Affords new opportunities for the institutions

It is mentioned in other chapters that a partnership between the city and the colleges could go a long way in helping both parties. One potential partnership opportunity is through the implementation of an internship program. For instance, Wilkes-Barre has no open GIS data available for the city.

This obvious lack of data is a hindrance to the city, as GIS data can be used to identify many problems within the city and allows us to compare datasets and analyze complex variables. This missing information can be acquired through the use of interns, while simultaneously offering these students real world opportunities and possibly college

Wilkes University Main Street Improvement

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credits. But what about safety? A number of colleges across the country are moving towards a system where their campus security employees are full fledged police officers with power to arrest and all other responsibilities afforded to local police officers.

We’ve seen improved streetscape projects by the local colleges,which is fantastic! The new gateway for Wilkes created a new, safe and attractive corridor that connects the core of the campus to Main Street. But, there are certain design elements that maybe don’t fit the character of the city and historic precedent set for Wilkes-Barre. For instance, the tree removal on Ross street near the student center of Wilkes. Replacing the removed trees is a great thing, however the tree placement is rather poor and many experts suggest that urban street trees should be placed every 25-30 feet on center. Design guidelines [as mentioned in other chapters] can help to layout a consistent street tree placement that helps the consistency and rhythm throughout the urban core. This is just one example of how the colleges can partner with the city to enhance their respective campus, as well as the city at large.

Additionally, the city can and should work more closely with the institutions to establish a stronger policing policy. The University of Colorado has a full police force in which they are employed by the university, but have full policing authority and are Act 120 certified.

Kings College Conversion of the Ramada Hotel

College [Growth] As both colleges continue to grow and expand, we need to look critically at how they are doing so. When developers buy large tracts of land and develop poorly designed homes on poorly designed layouts we call it sprawl, but we are rarely critical of college campuses that do essentially the same thing. It feels as though the colleges are buying anything they can with no real plan of continuity or rationale, and it feels like a missed opportunity for the city and colleges alike.

One way of preventing this is to encourage the colleges to provide the city with a 30 year plan that would detail buildings, parking, green space, etc. The colleges need an experienced planner and landscape architect to develop campus master plans that will illustrate to the city and the residents what the campus will look like in the future. The idea of Kings and Wilkes buying any given building to tear down to add an additional 10 parking spaces is absurd and it should be noted that both should have a centralized “parking district�. The same logic holds true with green space, a well connected , well thought out series of green space is important to any college campus, and again with the network of buildings. How do students use the green spaces? How do students circulate between buildings? What are

Campus Master Plan for University of Kentucky; Sasaki

some of the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities available on the campuses? A strong dialogue between campus planners and city officials can go a long way towards addressing the needs and desires of students, residents, and other stakeholders to create the best campus that works well for everyone in the area.

Campus Master Plan for Auburn; Sasaki

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The Arts [11] “Artists can be catalysts for other things to happen, at their best, cultural centers thrive when they’re interacting with other parts of the city� - Paul Owens. Wilkes-Barre has a great potential to be the arts hub in they Wyoming Valley, which can lend itself to urban revitalization.

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“Public art is pedagogical and performative. With regard to public art, I have found that it is multiply public in terms of sphere, space, and realm. It is through each of these that public art is possible.�

- Joni M. Palmer 87

Public Art [Overview] Benefits of public space

A.] Visual interest B.] Can be a wayfinding system C.] Helps redefine areas or the city as a whole D.] Helps facilitate conversation amongst strangers E.] Can create dialogue between parent and child F.] Can tie into sustainability movement [see LAGI] G.] Can help encourage growth of other local arts movements H.] Creates good public spaces and placemaking “Public art plays a significant role in the everyday lives of an urban public” [Palmer, 2012]. Public art is a valuable tool for urban design and can help a city re-brand itself. Public art provides visual interest, stimulates conversation, and can be used as a wayfinding mechanism throughout the city, while serving as an avenue for a city to attempt to re-imagine itself, much like Denver has done. “Public art programs, if they are to be taken seriously as players in re-imagining cities, must understand how people

Public Art Precedent

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involved in the production of public art define “public” conceptually, and how they approach and employ “public” in an actionable manner” [Palmer, 2012]. Public art has also shown to help improve the local economy by creating small artist studios in places that would struggle to fit the needs of most other offices or businesses. The Bel-Mar development near Denver uses small artist studios to front their existing parking garages, a tactic used to keep eyes on the street and create a more interesting walk.

Public art can also serve a higher function, as demonstrated by the Land Art Generator Initiative. This group hosts design competitions and tirelessly researches ways in which public art can be used to generate power in a sustainable way. The group is in the process of building what is called “wind nests” in Pittsburgh, a rendering of these public art installations is shown below.

The Land Art Generator Initiative Wind Nest

Public Art [Precedents] This is a viable option for Wilkes-Barre seeing as many bands from the area have gained national recognition such as Breaking Benjamin, The Menzingers, Title Fight, and many others. Wilkes-Barre also has many great venues to foster the growth of local musicians such as the Kirby Center, Bart and Urby’s The Other Side, and Arts Youniverse on Franklin Street. In addition to the music scene, local artists are pursuing other avenues for art. The city is making an attempt to strengthen its stance on public art, most notably with the commissioning of “The Ribbon” at the River Common Park.

With the current art scene in Wilkes-Barre being prominent, it could really be something used as a way for the city to reinvent itself and to serve as a guiding principle for which the city begins to revitalize itself.

Many cities are incorporating arts districts or at least considering areas to serve local artists. This is something that may be very beneficial for both local artists and the city.

Located between New York and Philadelphia is something that we should play to our advantage in the arts community as well. The former Cafe Metropolis did an excellent job at this as they were able to secure the performances of many up-and-coming bands on tour, largely due to the location of the city.

Wilkes-Barre has the opportunity to become a major arts hub for Northeast Pennsylvania while improving the quality of urban life as well. By commissioning more public art installations we can create a more interesting walk, stimulate conversation, and really begin to re-imagine the city.

Existing Public Art in Wilkes-Barre

“National Velvet” Public Art in Denver, CO

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Current Conditions Benefits to public space A.] Visual interest B.] Can be a wayfinding system C.] Helps redefine areas or the city as a whole D.] Helps facilitate conversation E.] Create dialogue between parent and child F.] Can tie into sustainability movement

Along with helping to encourage the arts by incorporating public art throughout the city, the city can work with private entities to help grow businesses and work in tandem in a way that is mutually beneficial. The newly formed Karl Hall music venue on N. Main St. for example, if they were to be interested in hosting outdoor music events at any public space that should be

Public Square Serpent

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encouraged. The River Common Park area is greatly under utilized and is designed by Sasaki with performance art in mind.

Getting away from performance art though, the city has an interesting collection of public art right now, but if we grow the collection and determine a way to curate it in a way that brings it all together and really makes sense of it all we can use that as a strong wayfinding tool and a mechanism to facilitate movement in the area. The deer on the courthouse lawn has long been an interactive sculpture in that people have always taken pictures with it. The arch stature accomplishes something most modern public art does, it raises questions and facilitates discussion - many people wondering what it is/is supposed to be. The latest addition to the collection is the ribbon - a prominent display that catches the eye and is ambiguous enough to represent any ribbon-cause that people can relate to, making it special and meaningful to just about everyone.

Public Square Arch

Courthouse Lawn Deer

Facilitating the Arts One way of facilitating the arts in the city is to develop a public/private partnership with local organizations. With many great music venues in the city such as The Other Side, Karl Hall, and the Kirby Center [along with the eventual build out of the Irem Temple] we are in a great position to be a live music destination. The music scene in the area has always been quite strong, plus being a stopping point for touring national acts, we can play to our strengths both in terms of our existing scene and our geographic location. The Kenmore neighborhood of Akron OH is a great precedent for us to look at. “Kenmore has always been a working class community, through and through” [Stempak, 2018], much like Wilkes-Barre. This neighborhood was plagued by many of the same issues as Wilkes-Barre and other rustbelt cities in the US - dwindling population, pessimism among the residents, closed neighborhood schools, etc.

Further, artist Mary Miss “has worked at the intersection of sculpture, public installation and landscape design for decades, and she believes that artists are a resource city agencies aren’t tapping effectively” [Kinney, 2017] Miss says that opportunities like having an artist residence program is low cost, providing a low pay to the artist, but

Existing Public Art in Wilkes-Barre

granting exposure and experience. This is a method that has been used in places such as Calgary, LA, and others. But this also affords opportunities to combine public art with things like sustainability. As previously mentioned, the Land Art Generator Initiative finds ways to use public art as an attractive energy source, but public art can also serve as a stromwater management tool, something else discussed earlier in this book. “The city of Milwaukee - a city that is aggressively trying to address stormwater and sewage overflows — Miss is trying to make residents aware of their role in the water ecosystem. The focal point of her project is to light the water treatment plant’s stack so that it glows blue most of the time, but turns red the night before it’s forecasted to rain. Through education, residents will understand this as encouragement not to run their dishwashers or washing machines or take baths until the storm has passed.” [Kinney, 2017]

“National Velvet” Public Art in Denver, CO

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Affordable Housing [12] The affordable housing neighborhoods of Wilkes-Barre are in need of attention. In 2013 Wilkes-Barre had 13 homicides and the affordable housing neighborhoods have been a hot spot for drugs and violent crime.

This chapter looks at several precedents and distills those to ways that could be used to enhance the neighborhoods in Wilkes-Barre

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“If we can change the place, we can change outcomes for the people who live there.�

- Purpose Built Communities 93

Affordable Housing [Overview] Affordable housing guidelines

A.] Mixed incomes B.] Mix of ownership and rentals C.] Well designed public spaces D.] Porches and other outdoor seating areas E.] Strong distinctions between public v. private spaces F.] Community Gardens G.] Community center H.] Mix of housing and light commercial I.] Street trees and other foliage J.] Community engagement K.] Unique, identifiable structures [rich and diverse paint palette]

Valmont Road Public Housing: Boulder, CO

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Affordable housing is an integral piece of any city and there are many ways in which these affordable units can be integrated throughout the city. The current model for Wilkes-Barre has failed and is something that needs to be addressed immediately in order to improve the lives of the residents of these affordable units as well as reduce crime while encouraging upward social movement. Failures of the past have shown us that poorly designed structures and neighborhoods that segregate those in need of public assistance, only hinders that upward social mobility. The precedent cases on this next page illustrate ways methods proven to work in areas with similar conditions to those we are seeing in Wilkes-Barre. Improving the structures and the neighborhoods helps, and so does mixing the income, a method used today in Boulder, CO. There, 20% of all multifamily housing must be “affordable” rather than market rate,This helps to mix incomes and stops prevents an area from becoming “the bad part of town” or “the rich part of town” and creates dynamic, strong cultured neighborhoods as well as facilitates that upward social mobility. “Racial and economic segregation is segregation from opportunities critical to quality of life, financial stability, and social advancement” (Kirwan Institute). Social control is another byproduct of mixed income, mixed ownership projects. Residents with higher incomes will call for an increased level of accountability thus creating a safer and more ordered neighborhood. In addition to social control, behavior modification comes from mixed projects. Evidence shows that higher income (respectively) residents will serve as role models for lower income residents around home ownership, work ethic, and other individual actions, though this is still debated today as this is a difficult concept to measure or quantify.

Affordable Housing [Examples] The Paseo Village neighborhood in Anaheim, CA is a great example of restoring a troubled neighborhood. Crime was a serious problem in the area including violent crime, drug use, and prostitution, very similar to the conditions we are experiencing in some of our neighborhoods in Wilkes-Barre. They began to revitalize [not gentrify] the area and in the first 6 months within completion of the revitalization, calls for police assistance were reduced by 90%, from 826 call the year prior to revitalization down to 46 in the first six months. They were able to achieve these results through improvements in planning, to the architecture, and management policies. “Involving residents in all phases of the planning process is the most important principle in neighborhood design. In fact, the process itself helps restore a sense of community by initiating the idea of civic engagement.” [Zelinka, 2001] Diggs Town, a public housing project in Norfolk, VA is another example of turning around a troubled area. This case is interesting as it was built in the 1950’s, much like O’Karma Terrace. It was plagued

Diggs Town Before

with crime, drugs, unemployment, and decay and residents felt that control over the community was lost. Though public involvement it became clear that there was a lack of definition between public and private spaces. Eventually, planners broke it down into 8 categories that needed to be addressed to improve the area including the dwelling, the lot, the front yard, backyard, the block, the street, the public spaces, and the neighborhood. By identifying the problems in such a clear way, they were able to come up with clear solutions.

After the project was completed, they determined through analysis that a decent looking home is important to improving a residents self esteem and sense of connection to the community.

East Lake, in Atlanta, is another public housing project that reinvented itself to curb crime. “The model was this: Create mixedincome housing, but pair it with quality schools and services like job counseling and child care to help existing residents” [Yu, 2015]. And so by looking at these precedents we cam conclude that change is possible and improvements can be made, they just need to be pursued.

Diggs Town After

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Affordable Housing [Sherman Hills] Sherman Hills and Interfaith Heights have a bad reputation given the drug and violent crimes taking place in these neighborhoods. The easy solution is to blame the residents and suggest it be torn down, but this just displaces people, discourages people, and passes the buck as we do not see this as a failing of our society. One problem with many of these public housing projects is the design, they do not facilitate individuality, nor do they foster safety through design.

None of these housing projects offer porches in which residents can sit outside and provide the “eyes on the street” effect that helps to reduce opportunities for crimes to take place. “There must be eyes upon the street, eyes belonging to those we might call the natural proprietors of the street. The buildings on a street equipped to handle strangers and to insure the safety of both residents and strangers, must be oriented to the street” (Jane Jacobs). In addition to improving the projects themselves, we need to look at the surrounding environments. Wilkes-Barre recently invested money

Sherman Hills Tower

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into the Coal Street Park and the Ice-A-Rama has been revitalized.

But we can still do a great deal more to improve the park to better serve the residents of Sherman Hills and Interfaith Heights, as mentioned earlier in the Parks chapter of this book. Policy changes can occur that improve the quality of life for all residents, such as mixed incomes and a mix of rental units and privately owned homes.

Top: Existing Conditions of Sherman Hills Bottom: Existing Conditions of Interfaith Heights

Affordable Housing [OKT] O’Karma Terrace was designed in 1965, a time when very little was known about public housing. For a frame of reference, Pruitt Igoe was built in 1954 and won architectural awards based on its design, but this was one of the biggest failures in the history of public housing history. Over the years we have learned from both the successes and failures of public housing since this time and we now have the tools to fix these problems and improve them, and by extension, the image of the city as a whole. But when we look at the design of this project it is very similar to that of Diggs Town, a beacon of hope that this can be as much a success story as that. O’Karma Terrace has many of the same design flaws seen in Diggs Town, a lack of porches, blurred lines separating public and private spaces, so this sets up a great framework for us to use in the revitalization of this neighborhood. The effects of improving this housing project will not just benefit the project, this will help to restore value and quality of life to nearby residences. In the area surrounding OKT, the south side of Welles Street for instance, many buildings have been abandoned or neglected over the years and look to be in bad shape, further adding to the problems of the area. By breathing new life and confidence into the public housing, we can begin to restore the entire neighborhood. This would be beneficial to the residents of

Existing Conditions of O’Karma Terrace

O’karma Terrace as well as the greater Rolling Mill Hills neighborhood.

Urban agriculture is another way of improving a neighborhood. This is something seen in many rustbelt cities. Detroit has many of these that are very popular, Cleveland has them in their neighborhoods, and they prove to work well if they are designed right and residents are informed of them. This neighborhood does in fact have a community garden, but it is underutilized. This is because it is across a major street. It is not easily accessible and therefore not used.

Proposed with porch roofs and outdoor bike storage units [Rendering by Brian Ferry]

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Community Engagement [13] To get the community involved is to enable people to take back and fix their community.

Members of the community are great agents of change if given the right tools. Further, community engagement provides residents a stronger sense of ownership within the community and helps to take back their community and make it what they see fit.

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“This process isn’t about numbers, it’s an open format for creativity and involvement” - James Rojas 99

Overview Benefits of community engagement:

A.] Provides sense of ownership B.] Dialogue helps identify problems C.] Crowdsourcing solutions D.] Enhances community bonds E.] Modern technology enhances ways to get involved

As the old saying goes “the many are smarter than the few�.

This means that a crowd of unique individuals bring their own experiences and ideas to the table to improve the ideas and generate discussions that elevate the ideas of the group as a whole. We must include everyone in the decisions making process - [James Rojas] Incorporating a stronger sense of public engagement gets residents more involved and invested in their own city and neighborhood as mentioned in the affordable housing chapter.

And now with technology, community engagement is easier than ever. The internet is a powerful tool in bringing people together and allows people to voice their opinions without needing to be at a public meeting. This allows people to participate regardless of their schedule conflicts or any other reason that may prevent them from attending a meeting. This also allows people to voice their opinions without the fear of standing in front of a large group of people. Some people are shy and don’t feel comfortable speaking up at public meetings, other times certain people talk too much or talk over others, by hosting an online forum [in conjunction with public meetings and other methods] we empower a greater population of the citizens.

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Top: Existing Wall in Kirby Park Bottom: Paley Park, NYC

Case Studies

Design Standards

The go-to example for the collaborative process is IDEO, a design firm that uses a crowdsourcing approach to developing or improving products. There are many other examples of where community engagement has worked well, such as the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, New York City planning, and the Silverthorne design standards development. Even the EPA has discussed the importance of community involvement through the process of remediating brownfield sites in community environments. All of these examples work to improve the dialogue with people and have a strong conversation. The idea of branding also helps to strengthen a plan. The branding helps to make it identifiable and familiar for the residents helping to prevent any confusion as to what the meetings are pertaining to.

Top: Existing Conditions on Main Street Bottom: Proposed Parklet on Main Street

Ways to engage the community: A.] Improved public meetings B.] Working with neighborhood associations C.] Online Forums D.] Weekly newsletters [in newspaper, email, etc.]

E.] Surveys F.] Social media A collaborative project between the city and the residents to develop design standards gets to the core of what people would like to see develop in their city. This helps to prioritize what is important to them and what they feel comfortable with and what seems appropriate for Wilkes-Barre. Design standards help to provide order to development and is something that is used in many cities big and small, to inform design and create a strong, cohesive city. The process of developing design standards with resident input also helps to provide residents with a sense of ownership and responsibility as well as making it “their city� and helping to maintain the existing resident base, rather than not having them be involved and risk them leaving.

Top: Existing Conditions on Carlisle Street Bottom: Proposed Parklet on Carlisle Street

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Youth Engagement Benefits of child engagement:

A.] Provides sense of ownership B.] Dialogue helps identify problems C.] Crowdsourcing solutions D.] Enhances community bonds E.] Modern technology enhances ways to get involved F.] Encourages engagement as children become adults Children are the largest marginalized population in the city and should have their voices heard in the planning process. One example of this is the “Growing Up Boulder” program in Boulder, CO as a part of the Program of Environmental Design at the University of Colorado.

Children often have ideas that are not in line with that of adults, and thus bring a different perspective to the design process.

Rather than worrying about parking or other secondary issues, they are focused entirely on the experience, the function of the space. Children want a space that is fun, enjoyable, and engaging, not a boring, stodgy place that is surrounded by free parking.

“Young people themselves want to be seen as valued contributors, to be included in urban decisions-making and public places within their communities. Social inclusion is particularly significant in the context of adolescent development” [Derr, 2018].Derr continues by stating that plans for physical improvements, policies, regulations, education, and programming could be more effective when they include the recommendations of young people. I feel that the city does very little to listen to recommendations by the community at large, and even less to heed advice from the young.

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Top: Growing Up Boulder Transportation Workshop Bottom: Growing Up Boulder Design Charette

Youth Engagement So what methods are used to get the youth involved? Teenage mothers, for instance, can offer a great insight to both teen issues and the problems experienced in motherhood, but often cannot nor want to speak at public forums. As such, technology is a tool at our disposal to use to garner input from this demographic. Social media use is strong within this group and should be used to give them a voice. Young children respond in a different way, and have access to different means of voicing their ideas and concerns. Further, ethics come into play when youth are involved. Certain considerations must be made, such as the quality of the human relationships - do people treat each other with respect and fairness, do they cooperate, nd does collaborative work include time to discuss ethical principles?

Other concerns arise regarding the collection and use of information - do participants understand the research goals, is information collected and used in ways that provide benefits while avoiding

Youth Design Charrette

Youth Engagement can A.] Be done in class B.] Transparent C.] Inclusive D.] Relevant E.] Educational for all parties F.] Sustainable G.] Voluntary H.] Playful

harm? These ethical concerns are particularly well framed by both the UN Child Convention of the Rights of the Child [UNCRC] and the Wingspread Declaration of Principles for Youth Participation in Community Research and Evaluation.

James Rojas Conducting Design Charrette

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Comprehensive Plan Comp plans accomplish:

A.] Tells the story of the community’s vision and goals B.] Addressing key concerns of the community C.] Addressing secondary concerns of the community D.] Provide clear guidance and linkages to implementation E.] Informing the public of the importance of the plan F.] Helps align the city, residents, businesses, and organizations

“Comprehensive plans are one vital tool for communities to begin to effectively realize their own best vision for their futures. These plans provide the missing link between what we want and what we get.

The slowing of development in America has provided planners with an opportunity to put effective comprehensive plans in place now that will shape our cities and towns for years to come. This is an opportunity we must not let pass us by.” [Steinmann, 2011] A “Comprehensive Plan” is a document assembled by the planning department with the help of the public to help guide the development and progress of the city in the coming years. Typically a comp plan is updated regularly, every 5-10 years. And so the good news is that Wilkes-Barre does have a comp plan, the bad news is that it has not been updated since 1973. This means that the latest comp plan was updated just after the Agnes flood, and Wilkes-Barre had a population of ~60,000 people. This means that the comp plan does not address sustainability or environmental issues, the current drug epidemic, or concern itself with any modern technology such as the internet.

A comp plan with design guidelines will help to create a vision and a goal for Wilkes-Barre. It helps to ensure that construction/ development happens in a safe, responsible, and effective way that will help to draw people into Wilkes-Barre and make them want to stay. This will help to implement new plans that facilitate sustainability, something that is very important to Wilkes-Barre and the Greater Wyoming Valley as the Susquehanna River flows through the heart of them. A comp plan illustrates to the public that Wilkes-Barre wants to become something better, and this is a tool that can be wielded to help draw in new businesses.

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Top: Pocket Park in Boulder, CO Bottom: Parklet

Neighborhood Liaisons

Social Media

Neighborhood liaisons:

Social media can:

A.] Know the problems of their individual neighborhoods B.] Work directly with the public in that jurisdiction C.] Have an idea of what might be best for the neighborhood D.] Integrated with the development of neighborhood associations E.] Volunteer based position at no cost to the city

A.] Increase communication between city and resident B.] Allows for information to be sent to the public instantly C.] Enables citizens to express concerns 24/7 D.] Enables residents who cannot make meetings E.] Enables youth who would rather not go to meetings

Neighborhood resident associations are beginning to form throughout the city and this is good news! People are beginning to get more involved in the city and are working diligently to improve their neighborhoods and the city as a whole. The city however, is not using these associations to the fullest of their power. The city can work directly with the leader or head of the neighborhood associations to best determine the needs of each individual neighborhood. These organizations can give direct feedback of concerns or problems with a nuanced understanding of what/where the problems are and potential solutions that jive with the character of the individual neighborhood.

Social media allows for the engagement of a wider range of stakeholders who may not be able to attend public meetings or are too shy to speak at those meetings. Social media allows public participation 24/7 and offers ways for everyone [parents who can’t make meetings because of schedule conflicts or transit-restricted residents who cannot get to city hall a way] to have a voice in their local government.

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Crime Prevention [14] Many people fear that crime is an issue in Wilkes-Barre and that relative to 30 years ago, it has gone up significantly. What can be done in order to combat this aside from increasing police presence and increasing operating costs of the city?

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“The most efficient, least expensive way to provide security is during the design process� Dean Brennan 107

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Crime prevention can happen in a variety of ways A.] Natural surveillance B.] Improving public housing C.] Increasing and improving public spaces D.] Optimizing police presence E.] Modern technology enhances ways to get involved F.] Well defined public v private spaces G.] Increased walkability H.] Use of windows in vacant structures

The built environment can play a crucial role in the aiding or preventing of criminal activity. A great deal of research has been done studying the effects of the built environment and the correlation it has on the crime rates. Improvements to the built environment provides opportunities to reduce crime rates throughout the city, particularly in the public housing in the area and other areas with high crime rates.

Many crimes take place because of opportunity, but by reducing these opportunities, we are making it more difficult for crimes to take place in the first place.

Crime prevention through environmental design is

Example of enacting CPTED in Wilkes-Barre

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based on four major pillars which include natural surveillance, territorial reinforcement, natural access control, and maintenance. It is defined as a multi-disciplinary approach to deterring criminal behavior through environmental design. This looks as several factors and establishes a flexible baseline for urban design that looks to prevent crime from happening through creating natural surveillance, territoriality, and access control.

Good design is essential to an attractive, livable, and functional built environment.

It can mitigate the negative impacts of adjacent or incompatible land uses, and provide guidance for the redevelopment of neighborhoods. Creating populated storefronts with high transparency enables people to act as the aforementioned natural surveillance, while creating a nice feeling for pedestrians walking about.

This also helps to illuminate the sidewalk without costing the city additional money. CPTED also works in tandem with law enforcement in that is can create links with planning, development, code enforcement, and other local agencies.

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Standards Schematic

Police Crime prevention through police

A.] Crime hotspot focus B.] Walking the beat [familiarity with residents] C.] Bicycle mount police D.] Optimizing police presence E.] Use of GIS and other tools to improve efficacy F.] Well defined public v private spaces G.] Increased walkability H.] Use of windows in abandoned structures

Police are a very important component in the safety of residents in the city. They provide a sense of security and respond when there is trouble.

There are two major problems with police though; the first is that they are expensive, and the second is that they are very responsive to crime and less preventative in stopping crime from occurring in the first place.

Optimizing the efficiency of the local police department can help to improve the safety of Wilkes-Barre. This may be done by creating a bike force and reinstating cops “walking the beat”. Scranton has recently revitalized a bike patrol and many cities across the country use this technique to improve police relations and in an effort to make police a more preventative measure in crime reduction. This is similar to police “walking the beat” a method that has been endorsed as effective by former Wilkes-Barre police chief Tony George.

Equipping our force with adequate GIS information and capabilities can help bring our police into the modern times, but also help us to understand more nuanced issues of criminal activity. We can merge crime layers with other GIS layers that relate to conditions of the built environment to understand how the built environment encourages or discourages crime in areas.

Police Walking the Beat

Police on Bicycles

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Policy [15] Policy is something that should be reserved as light-touch government regulation to “right the ship�. Wilkes-Barre is a failing city and needs to be responsible in adopting policies that help to encourage residents and investors alike, while being moderate enough to not discourage those same stakeholders.

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“The application of smart growth is through the practice and principles of New Urbanism�

- Rick Bernhardt 111

Design-Based Policy Design-based policy can:

A.] Illustrate a vision for all stakeholders B.] Provides a framework while allowing architects to freely interpret C.] Ensures the creation of safe places D.] Ensures the creation of buildings of long term value E.] Provide visual familiarity without being repetitive F.] Informs developers of what works and what doesn’t

“The thoughtful design of high-quality buildings and public spaces is vital not only to the improvement of the standard of living and work environment of regeneration areas but also to the creation of economic value for the regeneration site. Indeed, the success of regeneration projects depends on the design quality of the built environment that is incorporated into the planning phase.” - [urbanregeneration.com, 2016] Design standards allow us to help inform the future of the built environment in Wilkes-Barre based on what the needs of current day are as well as the future. Design based policy should also follow the pedagogy of the “Hannover Principles” developed by William McDonough, such as to “build safe objects of long term value” {McDonough, 1991]

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Standard Schematic

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And while design standards are a great tool, the ability to allow for variances is equally as important. Variances allow to increased flexibility in the design and makes for a more dynamic built environment, while still having a degree of organization and logic. Variances might be allowing buildings to be built above the standardized height in order to accommodate special uses or to encourage increased open spaces [public plazas] in exchange for additional floors.

The built environment has a direct impact on out mental health and this is something that has been well documented by neuroscientists.

Neuroscientists have identified four critical categories that must be responded to in order for the mental health of the city to thrive including Green Places, Active Places, Pro-social Places, and Safe Places. This is why we have placed a heavy emphasis on parks, amenities, and CPTED design standards in previous chapters.

Improving Aesthetic and Functionality of S. Main St.

Incentives Incentivizing business can

critiquing the deeply flawed Keystone Opportunity Zone [KOZ] program currently in place across the commonwealth. Previously mentioned was the possibility of business improvement districts, a policy that could help to work with stakeholders to improve commercialized activity to function as neighborhood centers, something that could also be seen as an incentive to attract small business to the city.

A.] Provide economic stimulus B.] Improve the built environment C.] Attract jobs D.] Attract tourists E.] Increase amenities F.] Expand the breadth of businesses G.] Concentrate location of jobs

Incentives are not just used for attracting employers though. We can use incentives to further housing in the area and encourage smart growth, to incorporate sustainability measures [such as stormwater BMP’s], strengthen public-private partnerships [improving parks or open space potentially] among other things.

Incentivizing smart growth is a great way of working with developers and encouraging investment in the city, this has been seen at an extreme level with the incentive bidding for Amazon HQ2 in recent months. And while subsidizing major corporations is generally bad, we need to understand that incentives are commonplace now and need to weigh that as an option, while simultaneously

Police Walking the Beat

Police on Bicycles

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Employment [16] Employment is a critical player for any city and it is something we need to get right in Wilkes-Barre. Good paying, steady jobs are relatively hard to come by within city limits. By reinventing the city we can draw businesses back downtown, but we also need to draw non-industrial uses out of the industrial parks and back into the city.

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“If cities want to improve the number and quality of jobs available, they need to focus on creating city centres that function well as locations that attract businesses�

- Louise McGough 115

Attracting Major Employers Employer Attraction through:

A.] Facilitating employer/education institution partnerships B.] Complete vision for the city C.] Enhanced recreation D.] Reduced blight E.] Well educated populous F.] Unique amenities G.] Facilitating partnerships with existing businesses

Many of the topics discussed in this book will help to draw employers to the area - having a vision and a goal for the city is a key component.

Showing that we are working towards something, showing we know what this city can [and should] be.

Recently, we saw cities all over the country making bids for the new Amazon HQ2, so what can we learn from all of these bids to incorporate into Wilkes-Barre, what were some of the key topics discussed by Amazon and the competing cities? Well, some of the elements Amazon looked for in a region were transit, amenities, recreational opportunities - all of which Northeast Pennsylvania has.

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Standard Schematic

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With mountain biking at Moon lake and Frances Slocum, skiing and concerts at Montage, fishing on the river and at many nearby parks, farm teams for some of the best teams in sports [go Pens, go Yankees!], and [at least the infrastructure in place] LCTA to get people around, we have a great deal of untapped potential for indoor and outdoor recreation that lasts all four seasons.

But what about all these employers that are setting up in industrial parks? What can we, as a city, do to bring office jobs back to the downtown core, while keeping industrial parks for just that - industry and manufacturing. Navient, Geisinger, and other office jobs would be better suited for the downtown core as all local transit routes lead to downtown Wilkes-Barre. Increased work flow downtown helps provide life and sustenance to vital downtown businesses like restaurants and services, while a increasing familiarity that can help further facilitate the nightlife of the city. Lets bring office jobs back downtown and leave the industrial parks to manufacturing and distribution!

Improving Aesthetic and Functionality of S. Main St.

Attracting Small Business Small business offers great opportunities for cities: A.] Microbreweries B.] Boutique cafes C.] Restaurants D.] Optimizing police presence E.] Modern technology enhances ways to get involved F.] Well defined public v private spaces G.] Increased walkability H.] Use of windows in abandoned structures

Police Walking the Beat

Wilkes-Barre Township has massive swaths of parking, chain restaurants and retail, and nobody enjoys going there - we have a great opportunity to capitalize and that and be the antithesis of the township by facilitating small business, and we are well on our way to doing such. Thai Thai, Katana, Cafe Toscana, Loyalty Barbershop, Musical Energii, and many others are small businesses that are invested in the downtown core. All of these businesses offer something different and more experiential than can be found in the township, and we need to continue that success to further improve our area. Let’s look at Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, for instance. With a dynamic range of cafes, bars, restaurants, and boutique stores, there are few chain stores, and it is incredibly successful, and even sparks controversy when a new chain store is potentially going to open [see the recent Citi Bank Cafe]. But what is further interesting is that the former church on N. Franklin Street is functioning as a shared workspace, and so we need to understand how we can help to facilitate the growth of occupants of that space. For instance, a recording studio exists in that space and would make for an excellent long-term business of Wilkes-Barre. How can we keep this business within the city if/when it outgrows the current space on Franklin Street?

Additionally, microbreweries have shown to be great catalysts for urban revitalization. Cleveland is a great example as it is very relative to the Wilkes-Barre area - Cleveland saw an urban revitalization as microbrews moved into old manufacturing plants “other breweries and businesses — a pasta maker, a bike shop, a tortilla factory, as well as restaurants and bars — followed. Newcomers are flocking to the neighborhood, even though Cleveland’s overall population is still declining.” [USA Today, 2013] This isn’t unique to Cleveland though, the same thing has happened in the mid 1990’s when the Brooklyn Brewery opened its doors in Williamsburg. We have plenty of great microbrews in the Wyoming Valley, why are none of them in the downtown core, an area that specifically has brewing in its DNA?!?!

Police on Bicycles

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Drug Problems [17]

Many people fear that crime is an issue in Wilkes-Barre, relative to 30 years ago, it has gone up significantly. What can we do in order to combat this aside from increasing police presence and increasing operating costs of the city?

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“There are multiple features of urban neighborhoods that may be associated with health and drug use�

- Sandro Galea 119

Understanding the Drug Problem Drug problems in Wilkes-Barre and why Wyoming Valley A.] Heavy heroin use B.] Theft becomes common C.] Violent crime is produced D.] Property crimes increase E.] Homelessness increases F.] Residents and visitors feel less safe G.] Drug users lack productive

It is possible that by introducing increased recreational opportunities to the area, along with improved public spaces, that we can begin to curb drug abuse. Incorporating CPTED standards as mentioned earlier, is a way of reducing the problems of drug abuse in the city.

Focusing on helping at-risk groups could also help to reduce drug abuse in adults. When children are exposed to this type of behaviour and are uneducated on the problems it brings, it facilitates this in the youths. Providing educational opportunities in the built environment, providing increased activities, and encouraging and teaching skills [such as gardening, cooking, music, etc.] can provide activities for children and help to keep them away from drug usage.

Ideas on Improving the Built Environment

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The causes of drug abuse are still not entirely known, but we know that there are factors that play into this problem. A place that offers more recreational opportunities sees less drug abuse, areas that are not economically depressed see less drug abuse, but what about the built environment itself? Does hardscape vs naturalized play a role in drug use? Is drug dealing occurring because our built environment does little to prevent it?

Heroine

Solution There is no easy answer to a wicked problem like drug abuse.

Many factors need to come together in order to even begin to curb the drug epidemic we are seeing in Wilkes-Barre and the greater Wyoming Valley. Many of the ideas discussed throughout this book help to facilitate healthier more active communities that discourages drug use.

Addressing the problems of social housing is one way of reducing drug use. Creating mixed income neighborhood with better design principles, such as eyes on the street and highly walkable/bikable neighborhoods help to stabilize these neighborhoods and helps to discourage drug use. Helping to strengthen and build the community in these social housing settings and in the neighborhoods surrounding them also helps to reduce drug use. Getting residents more involved and proactive against stopping dealers is a realistic and attainable goal.

Improved recreation, such as with the proposed Susquehanna kayak park allows for increased activity and opportunities. Drug experimentation often happens when people “get bored�, so with this, one way of keeping people away from drugs is to help keep them from being bored. Further, an improved arts community provides recreational opportunities for at-risk residents. The arts provide opportunities for residents to be less bored, but also gives outlets for creativity and improved life goals and ambition. Arts allow alternative means of getting out of difficult socioeconomic situations.

These solutions need to be implemented alongside education and overall improved design and function of the city, particularly at the neighborhood level. But through a series of improvements and programs, we may be able to turn around the drug problem that is killing Wilkes-Barre and the Greater Wyoming Valley.

Top: Centennial Skate Park: Centennial, CO Middle: The Other Side Music Venue: Wilkes-Barre, PA Bottom: Valmont Road Public Housing: Boulder, CO

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Homelessness [18] Homelessness is a problem in Wilkes-Barre with people recently setting up campsites under the South Street Bridge, in Kirby Park, and in other public and private areas.

Homelessness costs taxpayers a great deal of money and Wilkes-Barre has a surplus of housing. Can the city incorporate a program that utilizes this surplus to house the homeless and improve the quality of life for those less fortunate and clean up the image of WilkesBarre?

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“Housing is fundamental to survival and to meeting the basic human needs of refuge and safety� Sam Tsemberis 123

Homeless Population Take a walk around Public Square and the rest of downtown WilkesBarre and you are sure to see some homeless people around. This homelessness is a humanitarian problem as well as a perception problem that the city must address. “Homelessness remains a persistent problem in urban environments all around the world and it is a problem that impacts the quality of life of both the public and the homeless” [Saville, 2016]. But before we can develop solutions for this problem, we need to address some basic questions such as who are the homeless and what is the problem?

“According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2014 of the more than half million homeless people surveyed, 20% were severely mentally ill, 20% were chronic substance abusers, 17% were chronically homeless, 9% were military veterans, 10% were victims of domestic violence, and 2% were HIV/ AIDS victims” [Saville, 2016]. But these are people just like you and I, and these people deserve a certain quality of life. It was Shawhin Roudbari who once said that homeless people are often average people who just had too many bad things happen all at the same time, that bad timing is what made them homeless, not being bad people.

Homeless on Public Square

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So what are the typical illicit behaviors that are most commonly associated with homelessness? They include: Panhandling, loitering, trespassing, petty theft, littering, and bathroom incivility. But given their circumstances, this is almost to be expected [though still not excusable]. And let’s not forget, this type of behavior is not exclusive to the homeless, nor is it exhibited by the entire homeless population.

There are serious consequences for failing to address the problem of homelessness. It provides little, or no, quality of life for those on the street, and increases risks of victimization for all concerned (although risks of serious crime are often exaggerated). It increases the risk of unsanitary conditions and disease among homelessness populations. It discourages legitimate activity by those who wish to use public streets, such as families, shoppers, and tourists. It makes many citizens, particularly women walking at night, feel unsafe, especially if they are hassled, panhandled, or threatened. Families may be less likely to allow children play in parks or walk to school if is there is a homeless encampment along the way. Homelessness has many consequences for communities.

Homeless on Public Square

Solution While there is no definitive solution for the problem of homelessness, there are many tactics available at our fingertips to combat this. One way of dealing with this problem is a cooperation between the city and contractors. Each year the city demolishes houses that have been neglected. The city could put that money to use towards materials and encourage contractors to work with the homeless population to renovate these homes. These homes are then given to the homeless who have worked to renovate them. This provides the homeless with a home as well as a new skill-set equiping them with the knowledge and ability to physically maintain their building, as well as financially maintain ownership.

Another idea is that which has been in existence for several years now in Portland, Oregon called Dignity Village. Dignity Village is a place where local volunteers and the homeless voluntarily build a small village, constructed of recycled materials, tiny homes for each person, a garden for growing food, and some basic amenities such as toilets.

Providing affordable housing with wraparound social and counseling services, such as the Homes First program that is designed specifically to provide temporary housing for people afflicted with drug abuse and mental illness.

Other social services, such as creating accessible and free services for drug and substance abuse rehabilitation services programs can help combat the problems of homelessness. These social services can help get to the root of why a person is homeless. By addressing these core problems we may be able to determine what the best housing solution may be for a person. Some people are better off living by themselves while others need permanent care, but we can’t tell the difference until we identify the problems that led to their homelessness.

Top: Existing Conditions on Carlisle Street Bottom: Proposed Parklet on Carlisle Street

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Blight [19] Urban blight is a complicated matter, but it can also serve as opportunities for the community to come together.

126

“Blight” does not shed light, as it should, on the actions and processes that contribute to the blighting of particular places or the underlying socioeconomic drivers of conditions that cause or generate different types of blight” - Brentin Mock 127

Urban Agriculture Urban agriculture is a great use of blighted properties in the city. Wilkes University has started to make strides in this as they have constructed a community garden at the site of a residential property they have torn down. The university is now renting out small plots to anyone in the area that is interested, but why not go further with this program? Urban agriculture can be used as an after-school program for children and teach them a valuable life skill. Michael Szuberla of Toledo Ohio started a program that works with at-risk youth and teaches them urban agriculture [and by extension, responsibility among other lessons]. Szuberla has developed a system that utilizes the existing foundations of blighted properties that were torn down as an additional resource. A permeable floor is installed above the foundation and water that is used for

Homeless on Public Square

128

the plants is captured in the foundation, that foundation then forms a pond that is stocked with tilapia that is farmed as an additional product. Often the tilapia is sold to help cover any costs incurred through the program. This yields multiple benefits including fresh produce and fish to families in need, it gets youth off the streets and teaches them valuable skills, and it makes great use of blighted properties - most of which would not be redeveloped after a structure has been torn down as there is little demand for land in the Wilkes-Barre area. “We have to use the city itself as our school. Instead of bringing imitation bits of life into a school building, lets go at our own pace and get out among real things� [Paul Goodman]. This ties in directly with the earlier chapter of education - we must offer any and all opportunity to foster cognitive development in our youth in Wilkes-Barre, to do otherwise is a disservice to our city and our youth.

Homeless on Public Square

Blight Restoration The Wilkes-Barre Area School District has a number of trade programs in the Vo-Tech program. These skills can and should be put to use on real world projects that benefit the city while giving students valuable experiences and giving them a sense of ownership and agency in the community they belong to. Electrical, plumbing, and carpentry are all skills taught at Vo-Tech while architectural drawings can be completed through the growing STEM program.

Blighted properties that are not too badly damaged can also be used as a skill teaching experience for the homeless. Teaching the homeless how to fix a home provides them with a valuable trade that can lead to full time employment. These homes can be lived in for a certain length of time with a possibility to purchase given the person has shown they are willing and able to take care of the property.

Given the annual cost to the taxpayer of approximately $38,000 per year per homeless person, it would make financial sense to work to remediate the problem of homelessness, plus it is the morally correct thing to do.

Why should we concern ourselves with blight remediation though? “Abandoned buildings and vacant lots are blighted structures seen daily by urban residents that may create physical opportunities for violence by sheltering illegal activity and illegal firearms. Urban blight remediation programs can be cost-beneficial strategies that significantly and sustainably reduce firearm violence� [Branas, et al, 2016]. Branas also provided a set of recommendations for both abandoned buildings [including the addition of working windows and doors instead of plywood, and monthly visual building inspections]

and vacant lots [including trash removal, land grading, planting of grass and trees, low wooden fences with walk-in openings, recreational use, and basic maintenance].

Before and after of Branas’ recommendations being applied

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Events [20] An increase in events in Wilkes-Barre can help to create a connection between citizens as well as help to showcase local talents. A summer concert series can take place at a variety of venues throughout the city, such as different parks to display the great amenities of the city.

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“Events and infrastructures are an important part of cities’ strategies to attract visitors” - Ignasi de Delàs 131

Events [Benefits] Benefits of community events: A.] Strengthens community bonds B.] Boosts local economy C.] Draws people to the city from other areas D.] Frequent events can lead to lower drug abuse E.] Opportunities for artists, crafts people, and others F.] Civic pride Public events provide great opportunities to strengthen a city or community. Having different events of different sizes at different venues throughout the city helps to facilitate interactions between people that may not naturally happen and shows residents how great the city is as a whole.

Public events can help to boost the local economy. “By definition, festivals attract visitors. And visitors spend money, which boosts the local economy both on and off the festival site” (UNM).

Fine Arts Fiest: Wilkes-Barre, PA

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Civic pride is enhanced through community events. ““The best thing about being involved with festivals and events is the opportunity to help build a community, foster a sense of pride within a community, and engage a community, in my professional career, I’ve never found something outside a community festival that can do that to the same degree” (Chris Romano).

Learning new things is another byproduct of civic events. This is different from learning in a book or classroom though, this is hands on learning. Whatever the theme of a festival is, it’s bound to be instructional and visitors are bound to learn from it.

Festivals and other events can strengthen relationships, as well. “Most of the relationship-building occurs in the festival planning phase.

This is where the bonds among public and private organizations, government, and neighborhood groups are forged and where connections among elected officials, staff, volunteers and interested residents are made” (UNM).

Wilkes-Barre Duathlon

Music Festival

Farmers Market [Sunday]

Given the design of the river common area, the Market Street Bridge, and the downtown core as a whole, it is very well designed to host a music festival. The amphitheaters on the river common can host larger acts while the nodes near the stairs on the Market Street Bridge would make excellent spaces for smaller supplemental acts. This would also lend itself to the advancement of Wilkes-Barre as an arts and culture hub. A music fest can draw in tourists and bring in money from outside of the area to support local hotels, restaurants, and other local businesses. The music fest in Bethlehem is a major attraction and can be seen/used as a precedent for what can be done in Wilkes-Barre while utilizing the river common to its fullest, something that has yet to be done since the completion of the redesign.

Race in Kirby Park

A successful farmers market could be held in Kirby Park on Sundays. This provides great potential because of ample parking at the park as well as recreational activities such as the softball league and other activities. This would also have the ability of encouraging additional recreational activity. A second farmers market also encourages healthier eating habits and can help to provide an economic boost to our local food producers.

Further, this could help to bolster other activities at the park and be bolstered by activities here. For instance, people are drawn to the park for events such as The MS Walk, 5K races, etc.

Farmers Market on Public Square

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Festival of Lights The Hoi An Lantern Festival is a great example of an event that utilizes a river in a simple and elegant fashion. This could be replicated in Wilkes-Barre and encourage activity at night. Many of the events in the city take place during the day and early evening, but by introducing events at night, we can encourage a stronger nightlife in the city and perhaps make people feel more comfortable in the city at night.

Hoi An Festival of Lights

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Top:Lanterns Floating on River Bottom: View of river + downtown from Nesbitt Park

Races Races offer the chance to bring people downtown to compete and spectate. A criterium bike race is a short loop race, with this kind of race we are able to make public square a start and end point for the race and have a great deal of events going on with the race. Food vendors, bike gear vendors, etc. can be set up on Public Square and along Main Street.

Additionally, this may help to encourage cycling as a hobby and a means of transportation

A half marathon/marathon event can help to facilitate an active, healthy lifestyle and help to create events downtown.

The Steamtown Marathon has a huge attendance and draws great crowds. Again, food and equipment vendors can help to drum up business and promote downtown activity [thus bolstering downtown business]

The Duathlon is an annual race that ends at Public Square, but there is very little going on to support the event. This has the potential to be a major event with vendors, spectators, and other events for non-participants. Bike test rides, safety information, and food vendors make for a family friendly event that can help to increase interest in the event.

Bike Race

Top: Transition 1 at Willkes-Barre Triathlon Bottom: Racers Running on Market Street

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Collaboration [21] Collaboration is an integral component of the success of Wilkes-Barre. We have the ability to work in tandem with adjacent municipalities to improve more spaces with less capital, as well as working with cities across the globe.

To find out what other cities are doing and how, can help to bring new ideas and new perspectives to Wilkes-Barre.

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“The scarcest resource is not money, the scarcest resource is cooperation” - Alejandro Araveña 137

Benefits Local collaboration includes working with nearby municipalities, like Kingston, offers the ability to pool resources, work together on mutually beneficial projects, and explore solutions to localized problems. Working with Wilkes-Barre Township can allow us to create a commercial environment that compliments the existing retail existing in Wilkes-Barre Township while allowing industry to thrive in both. Wilkes-Barre already works in collaboration with Plains and Bear Creek, so it only makes sense that we work together with local municipalities in other facets, as well as with education.

Benefits of historic preservation:

A.] Pools capital B.] Enables municipalities to work together C.] Can better the overall area D.] Creates a rich, dynamic urban environment E.] Better solutions to problems [hive mind]

There are many options available for collaboration to take place in our government. Different scales and locations offer different design solutions for the problems we face here in Wilkes-Barre. “The scarcest resource is not money, the scarcest resource is cooperation�

- Alejandro Aravena.

100 Resilient Cities

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Global collaboration on the other hand, such as the 100 Resilient Cities group, allows us to talk with members from around the world who may be dealing with similar issues. This allows us to network with people who may shine a new light on our problems, or offer solutions that have worked for them in similar scenarios. Understanding how other cities function and sharing that knowledge, as well as sharing what we know with other cities is mutually beneficial and can make cities around the state, country, or even world better places to be.

Urban Sustainability Design Network

Examples Working with multiple municipalities, has proven to be successful in several occurrences. Alejandro Aravena is an architect and urban planner who has discussed the power of collaboration between cities. Often, municipalities have common goals that can be achieved through projects nearby or even have similar projects lined up that are waiting for funding. Collaboration can help to increase the likelihood of projects happening as these entities bring money together.

Collaboration can also take place in the form of networks, such as the 100 Resilient Cities, or Urban Sustainability Design Network.

These networks exist now in which cities can work with similar cities from all over the globe to work on solutions to problems they are having or find out how other cities are dealing with certain issues.

The 100 Resilient Cities network is a group of cities dedicated to sustainability and disaster resilience. “100RC supports the adoption and incorporation of a view of resilience that includes not just the shocks—earthquakes, fires, floods, etc.—but also the stresses that

Man-made Forest in Chile. The Result of Collaborative work between municipalities

weaken the fabric of a city on a day to day or cyclical basis. Examples of these stresses include high unemployment; an overtaxed or inefficient public transportation system; endemic violence; or chronic food and water shortages. By addressing both the shocks and the stresses, a city becomes more able to respond to adverse events, and is overall better able to deliver basic functions in both good times and bad, to all populations”. This support network can strengthen Wilkes-Barre immensely and slowly bring it back to what it used to be. Similarly, the Urban Sustainability Design Network is another network that connects cities allowing for the sharing of knowledge and information, a necessary.

The Big U: New York City

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Applicability Local collaboration may play a key role in improving the greater Wyoming Valley area. With low population numbers, many municipalities must prioritize money to go towards public necessities such as roads, schools, and other essential elements of the area leaving very little money to put towards recreation and amenities.

Aggregating capital may be the only way to better both Wilkes-Barre and the valley as a whole.

Kingston has been discussing the idea of constructing a skate park in recent years, following the tragic death of Billy Moore, a local skater. Neither the Wilkes-Barre or Kingston has the capital available to build a skatepark independently, but it is more likely to happen if the two municipalities join together and collaborate to make it work.

Kirby Park provides an excellent opportunity for this collaboration to take place given it’s location on the border between Wilkes-Barre and Kingston, while being centrally located as it is just across the river from the downtown core.

Scott Carpenter Skate Park: Boulder, CO

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Hanover Township could also become a powerful ally of WilkesBarre in the area of the Crossroads, where the two municipalities meet. This area has the potential to be a strong commercial area as it is right on the Sans Souci Highway with major connections to Hanover Township, and Nanticoke, along with Plymouth and Larksville right across the Carey Ave Bridge. With proper planning and design guidelines, we can work together to create a vibrant, lively area that people want to visit and live at.

Meanwhile, on the global scale, we are able to use networking and collaboration to work with similar cities around the world to find design solutions to problems we are experiencing here in WilkesBarre. Boulder, CO is a great example of a sister city to Wilkes-Barre as it is located near ski areas, it deals with flooding problems, and it is a college town. We should be collaborating with cities such as this to find out what they are doing to draw in nearly 10,000 over the past few years and creating well paying jobs.

Proposed Design of The Crossroads Area

Results By incorporating these strategies of collaborating near and far, we can begin to make Wilkes-Barre the city it can and should be.

Working with Kingston, and Edwardsville can create a great amount of recreational opportunities for all three municipalities and benefit them along with the Greater Wyoming Valley area. Creating a complete trail network in the Kirby Park “nature area� encourages residents from all around to get out and get more exercise, it even affords us opportunities to introduce education into the program of the space furthering the benefits it provides. A skate park increases the diversity and users and encourages additional people to get out and recreate while providing a safe place for these users to practice their craft.

The Hanover collaboration increases commercial activity and can help to strengthen the community of South Wilkes-Barre and Hanover Township. The redevelopment of this area could be a great

Bridge Over Pond in Kirby Park Nature Area

boost to the economy of both municipalities and provide new living unit and a new lifestyle to residents in the area. This can diversify the area economically, ethnically, and in age.

Collaboration also makes the area stronger through working with other cities of similar size and opportunity. The 100 Resilient Cities movement and the Urban Sustainability Directors Network provides us the opportunity to become a resilient city and survive the next time the Susquehanna River threatens. This type of resiliency is very important, we can’t predict the next time Wilkes-Barre will flood, but eventually it will happen and we need to be prepared. We need to have a city that is malleable enough and designed with this in mind to survive such an event. After the 1972 flood, Wilkes-Barre lost nearly 7500 residents, this is the type of blow Wilkes-Barre cannot handle again. We have a great city here though with wonderful surroundings, we cannot just leave, but we need to make sure that our city is designed to handle such a flood incident again.

Top: Proposed Skatepark in Kirby Park

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Historic Preservation [22] Historic structures add to the culture, heritage, and dynamic of a city. These buildings remind us where we have come from and of how we got to where we are today. These buildings include manufacturing buildings, churches, houses, schools, etc. Many of these buildings have plenty of life left in them and deserve to stay standing and remain occupied for years to come.

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“Preservation is simply having the good sense to hold on to things that are well designed, that link us with our past in a meaningful way and have plenty of good use left in them�

- Richard Moe 143

Importance Benefits of historic preservation:

A.] Provides character B.] Reminds us of the history of the city C.] Can be sustainable development D.] Provides guidance for future development E.] Creates a rich, dynamic urban environment “Historic buildings play a central role in many towns and cities. They lend character to an area and have deep-seated associations for local residents and communities. They offer a foundation for regeneration initiatives.” They help to ground the community, preserve heritage, add dynamic to the city, and offer more sustainable ways of building and redeveloping the city.

Wilkes-Barre is a former industrial and economic hub for the northeast, unfortunately over many decades of poor leadership, corruption, and natural disasters, the majority of the economy has left. Now, many artifacts of this industry

Former Penn Station

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remains in the shape of buildings that have fallen into disrepair and are at risk of being torn down, buildings like Coughlin, the Murray Complex, the old steam plant, and many others are at risk when they could be preserved to create a rich, dynamic Wilkes-Barre that is overflowing with character. The area around Union and Washington Streets offers opportunities to be developed similarly to LoDo, Denver, one of the most beautiful and desirable places in the entire Front Range area.

This preservation and reuse also adds dynamic to the city. New buildings are great, but lack character and back stories that we see in historic structures. People are often fascinated to find out the processes that took place in a structure before it became a dwelling unit.

Historic preservation and reuse also offers a more sustainable means of development.

Nearly 60% of all landfill waste comes from the construction industry. Buildings have a certain “embodied energy”, the amount of energy consumed to construct the building, but by reusing wee are able to maximize the embodied energy of structures.

Former Wyoming Valley Hotel on River Street

Buildings At Risk To effectively preserve buildings at risk, we must first identify them and prioritize them. In Boulder, CO for instance, any building over 50 years old must gain planning permission to be demolished. In the UK, historic preservation is a huge field and is taken very seriously by the government. With a grade listing system, there are different rules and regulations for the modification of historic structures, and it is nearly impossible to raze a listed building. These planning restrictions are in place to preserve the historic quality and identity of the buildings and neighborhoods of the UK. Wilkes-Barre needs to establish a way of determining what buildings are important and what is not, and what can be preserved and what cannot. Much of what is found can be preserved and reused, but we must establish a way of identifying and categorizing the buildings.

The idea of historic preservation can be helped with the use of GIS. By mapping out the current stock of historic buildings we can begin to identify trends in locations and analyze what our best opportunities may be for preservation and great placemaking.

Coughlin High School

Top: Wilkes-Barre Steam Middle: Irem Temple Bottom: Murray Complex

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Planning Restrictions Planning restrictions can be an effective way to reusing or preserving existing structures in Wilkes-Barre. There are many ways that the city can maximize the amount of buildings reused and saved withing the city such as building moratoriums, incentives for adaptive reuse, grading systems, or universal demolition restrictions given buildings of a certain age.

Looking at the UK, we can learn from their grading system. With grades I, II, and II*, they are able to restrict changes made to buildings, perhaps this is something that could be done with regards to incentivizing projects. This grading system can may also limit the buildings that can be razed for in favor of new construction.

The first tactic for preservation is a new construction moratorium, a ban on new construction [with variances allowed]. This discourages new construction [tear down and build new] while variances for new construction can largely be awarded for vacant lots or parking lots, thus helping to reduce parking and increase density in the city.

Providing incentives for adaptive reuse is another strategy available.

By incentivizing reuse or preservation projects, we are able to ensure that our heritage is saved. Incentivizing also offers

Settle Station Revitalization

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Rehabilitated Historic Structure

Precedents To effectively preserve buildings at risk, we must identify them and prioritize them. Incentivizing the reuse of historic structures and implementing measures that make it difficult to demolish them is one way of preserving our heritage. In Boulder, CO for instance, any building over 50 years old must gain planning permission to be demolished. The reuse of buildings also reduces the carbon footprint of buildings through embodied energy. Therefore, building reuse can fall under the sustainability measures of Wilkes-Barre.

Several preservation projects offer to serve the same function, such as the Irem Temple. Or offer opportunities for housing or mixed use development such as the Icehouse building in Denver has accomplished.

The Kirby Center is a great precedent for the importance of historic preservation in Wilkes-Barre. This great institution has made WilkesBarre a major point for traveling acts and provides culture and interest to the area. The preservation of the Kirby has had a significant impact on the local economy and the livability of Wilkes-Barre.

The Icehouse: Denver, CO

The F.M. Kirby Center

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Transportation [23] Transportation around the country is changing dramatically, particularly in urban areas. The topic of transportation relates to sustainability, social equity, and many other topics addressed in this document and areas of concern for the city.

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“If you don’t want to lose your children, invest in transportation that doesn’t depend on the automobile. Build walkable town centers” Robert Steuteville 149

The Problems The gap between people for take cars [single occupant and carpool] accounts for nearly 85% of commutes to/from work in the city. We need to think rationally about ways in which we are able to work with LCTA to improve and maximize the use of transit in the city as well as improve conditions for cyclists. Cyclists are often seen as a nuisance, but many drivers fail to understand cyclists belong on the road. Improving education of cycling on the street and making it known to drivers that they are to share the road is one way of addressing this problem. Restricting parking [enforcing parking maximums, rather than minimums], slowing traffic, and other tactics could be used to get people out of automobiles and onto bikes and buses. The existing checkerboard pattern we have in our city is a serious problem and is a large contributor to the problems. This excessive parking

LCTA Logo

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Transit infrastructure in thy Wyoming valley is sub-par all around.

Many of the existing bus stops are under designed. The downtown core currently has a high population of seniors, many of whom rely on public transit to get around. By improving the bus infrastructure in the city, we make it better and more appealing to the general population while improving quality of life for our seniors.

Carshare Car

The Solutions One of the largest subsidies in America is free parking.

Free parking also allows and encourages people to drive everywhere. By increasing density, increasing street parking, implementing parking maximums [as opposed to the current status-quo parking minimums] and downsizing our offstreet parking stock [particularly in the downtown area] we will help to encourage people to walk while simultaneously encouraging economic growth.

Building improved [safe] bus shelters throughout the city [starting with the most used stops] and better marking the bus stops is one way of enhancing public transit. This, coupled with updated parking regulations and design standards [building a more dense downtown] can begin to drive up ridership of the LCTA service in Wilkes-Barre as well as the surrounding communities.

Sharrow Precedent

Sharrows are sometimes seen as a cop-out in the bike lane world, but in a city like Wilkes-Barre, they may be exactly what we need. Many of the existing streets are too narrow to feasibly add proper bike lanes in each direction, coupled with a lack of capital in the city, indicates that these may be just what the city needs. These bring to light that cyclists may be present and informs drivers that bicycles belong on the road [remember that to pass a cyclist in PA you need to provide a 4’ buffer]. Certain parts of the city are equipped to have dedicated bike lanes provided we redesign the roads [repaint in an appropriate fashion] but these changes will take longer and cost more, perhaps being done at a later point in time. Further, By completing the esplanade [see page 27] we are creating a stronger bike network that keeps bikes separated from automobiles. “

Proposed Sharrow on Main Street

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The Benefits With the existing conditions of Wilkes-Barre, alternative transportation is a viable option. The city is a mere 7 square miles and has a strong grid for connectivity, coupled with a dense population and opportunities to further intensity density of dwelling units and businesses. The demographics are conducive to non-automobile transportation as well with large populations of students, elderly, and poor [groups that often use alternative transportation]. So why should Wilkes-Barre concern itself with alternative transportation? Well, it can improve the quality of life for residents, improve public health, and make the city more attractive to outsiders. “A study of transportation projects in Baltimore found that, compared to highway investments, each dollar spent on pedestrian facilities created 57% more jobs, and each dollar spent on bicycle facilities created 100% more jobs. Once built, walkable places have stronger economies” [Speck, 2018]

Road Diet Sample

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Modernizing the ways in which people move about is critical for the city and can in many ways be viewed as a way to improve the quality of life of residents in Wilkes-Barre. Cycling is a means of transportation in the city that is hardly used, a shame since this is a dense city that could be easily bikable. Many cyclists are often honked at, screamed at, threatened and nearly hit, but cycling offers a great way to travel to work, houses of friends and family, shopping, etc. “Biking to work makes you smarter. While it may not turn you into an astrophysicist overnight, research has proven that moderate, daily exercise can prevent cognitive decline, sharpen memory and learning, and improve overall brain performance” [Intlekofer, 2012]. It is also said that biking makes people happier and can even because of less time spent in traffic and is often seen as a form of therapy.

Similarly, public transit allows time for reading and other activities that cannot be done while driving.

Humorous Gas Station Sign

Not only does it lead to a better quality of life, but it also improves public health, something that is very important in Wilkes-Barre and the greater Wyoming Valley. Air and water quality in the area are poor and can be greatly improved with the advancement of alternative transportation.

Aside from air quality and its adverse effects, alternative transportation helps to improve safety in terms of accidents and other related injuries. “Enhancing safety depends on lowering vehicle speeds and reducing conflicts. Lower automobile speeds, especially those below 30 kilometers per hour (kmh), have been found to drastically lessen the risk of fatalities.

The fatality risk for pedestrians with vehicles traveling at 50 kmh is more than twice as high as the risk at 40 kmh and more than five times higher than the risk at 30 kmh [Rosen and Sander 2009]. Lower automobile

Bike Shelter, Boulder, CO

speeds are often attributed to things such as bikes on the road and good transit systems. Further, more people taking cars and buses means less automobiles on the road which inherently makes these roadways safer to travel for everyone. Many younger individuals as well as businesses are attracted to places where a car in unnecessary, this is even something that has been pointed out by D&D Realty Group, and can be seen as one of the reasons they are investing significant time and money into downtown. By incorporating things such as improved bus stops and sharrows we illustrate to outsiders that we care about things other than automobiles and place each system of transportation of an equal platform.

Sample Bus Shelter

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Roadways But in addressing the transportation needs of Wilkes-Barre, we need to acknowledge a common complaint in Wilkes-Barre and Pennsylvania as a whole, and that is road surface. Now, one way of avoiding potholes in your car is to walk or take public transit, but that isn’t always an option and so we need to look at ways of improving our roadway surfaces. Materials are being developed and improved every single day - architects are finding ways to improve wood to be used in skyscrapers, carbon sequestering concrete is emerging as a building material - why are we still using the same asphalt from nearly 100 years ago?

Rubberized Asphalt Concrete [RAC] is a modernized take on traditional asphalt but is infused with small rubberized pellets that reduces noise, has an increased

coefficient of friction, and most importantly has a higher rate of elasticity, thus making it more durable. This is a material that is being used in other states, but has not seen use in Pennsylvania as of yet. Wilkes-Barre can take the lead and be a proving ground for this material and possibly lead to the improvement of roadways statewide.

RAC has a higher initial expense, but is shown to be significantly cheaper in the long term as the maintenance costs are lower. It would make sense for Wilkes-Barre to specify this material on all roadway paving jobs for a year or two at least to observe how it performs in our specific climate. Additionally, the rubber used in this process is largely derived from recycled car tires while increasing the lifespan of the road surface to 14-18 years [versus 7-10]. These factors combined help to improve our vision of sustainability as a city moving forward.

Humorous Gas Station Sign

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Multimodal Multimodal transportation is the use of multiple [also known as combined transport] is the transportation by numerous methods in a single trip - for instance, riding a bike to a bus stop and catching the bus the rest of the way to work. Multimodal transportation is an effective way of getting from one of the neighborhoods of Wilkes-Barre to the downtown core where most of the jobs are. By gradually phasing out parking in the downtown core we are able to get more people out of cars and onto bikes and buses - more sustainable transportation as well as aiding the progress of downtown. “Multi-modal streets accommodate more trips by more people

Example of a 5 Minute Walkshed

in the same amount of space by improving transit and providing better pedestrian and bicycle facilities. Multi-modal streets consider all types of transportation to be equally important, helping mixed-use development become successful as well as reducing traffic congestion.� [Greenprint Denver, 2018] A majority of dwelling units in the city are within a 1/4 mile of a bus stop, which means that most residents are within 5 minutes of a stop. By encouraging our residents to bus, we are also encouraging them to walk, and walking makes the streets, while simultaneously improving the health of our citizens and the quality of our air. Multimodal transportation is a great thing for WilkesBarre and the residents of Wilkes-Barre. But this is also aided by the improvement of our roadways - less potholes means less bumps for our bus system and reduces overall maintenance costs for LCTA.

Sample Multimodal Street

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Healthy Communities [24] The health of Wilkes-Barre is imperative to the future of the city. Investing in the physical and mental health of the residents assures a stable, efficient, and happy workforce. This can help attract younger professionals and major employers to the area.

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“The built environment is a key determinant of community health�

- Anna Ricklin 157

Physical Health One way that we can build a healthy community is through active transportation.

Previously I mentioned linear parks and bike lanes/multiuse paths as a way of encouraging active transportation [this also has the added benefit of reduced wear and tear on our roadways]. Parks, recreational amenities, and well designed streets [woonerfs], along with conventional exercise such as going to the gym, facilitates a healthier lifestyle for our community. Physical health activity can have a broad spectrum of benefits such as active transportation reducing wear and tear on roadways, a bike friendly town is ofter more tourism friendly, and money saved on gasoline is often spent on entertainment that is more beneficial to the local economy.

All Infrographics From ActiveLivingResearch.org

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Mental Health Mental health is imperative to the city and the entire country moving forward. Mental health problems can lead to an unhappy labor pool, but also in extreme cases it can lead to drug abuse, homelessness, and violent behaviour - many of which are topics identified as problems in WilkesBarre. “Green areas and other publicly accessible natural open spaces could also encourage social interaction, which could further help in improving mental health” [Ricklin, 2017] In an age where cell

Urban Design/Mental Health Journal

phones and computers are causing social interactions to shrink, the built environment needs to be designed in a way that helps to facilitate social interactions. “Green areas and other publicly accessible natural open spaces could also encourage social interaction, which could further help in improving mental health” [Rios, 2012]. According to researchers, people who live more than one kilometer away from a green space have a 42% chance of experiencing stress over those that live 300 meters or less from green space, those who reported visiting a green space several times per week reported even less stress. Researchers also noticed that a 20 minute walk in an urban park was beneficial to children diagnosed with ADHD by increasing concentration and peak performance [this performance boost is comparable to those attained by the typical ADHD medication]. “Individuals reported less mental distress and higher life satisfaction when they were living in greener areas” (White, 2013). Traffic calming is another tactic used to improve mental health. Traffic calming has been found to increase community interaction while making the public streets lively and friendly. The important thing to remember is “Engage in any type of physical activity for at least 20 minutes a day. It doesn’t matter the type of activity— what matters is to do it. Studies have shown that exercise can reduce anxiety and depression and improve mood, selfesteem and cognitive function” [National Alliance on Mental Health, 2018]]

Stapleton Greenway

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Why Does It Matter?

“While it is especially important for people with mental health problems, dementia and learning disabilities that the built environment is tailored to particular needs, it is important to stress that we all have mental health that we need to look after, and our built environment is the stage upon which this care takes place” [Menatal.org.uk, 2016]. The physical, mental, and social health of a city are imperative to the success of a city. Physical health and a more physically active city makes for a better workforce, safer streets, and reduced healthcare costs - leaving more money for recreation! Mental health can make for a happier city that reduces dependence of drugs [prescription and illegal] and alcohol, can reduce violent behaviour, and makes children and adults calmer and more focused.

“Regular physical activity is associated with healthy weight, improved mental health, and decreased risk of diseases such as stroke, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, depression, and some cancers. It also promotes social well-being by enhancing social cohesion, and economic well-being by reducing health care costs and transportation costs” [Carlson, 2015] Cities that plan for active living are also more likely to attract employers and residents, helping to rebuild the severely diminished tax base in Wilkes-Barre.

UrbanDesignAndMentalHealth.com poster

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it is necessary to consider determinants beyond the traditional health factors, and include social determinants of health (SDOH). Determinants are the factors that affect an individual’s state of health. Social determinants of health as defined by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are, “the complex, integrated, and overlapping social structures and economic systems that are responsible for most health inequities. These social structures and economic systems include the social environment, physical environment, health services, and structural and societal factors.” [Marmot, 2008] We need to ensure that the people of Wilkes-Barre are happy an healthy otherwise the area will continue to lose residents to other cities that prioritize these ideas.

UrbanDesignAndMentalHealth.com Infographic

How Can We Apply This?

There are many ways to help facilitate healthy communities in Wilkes-Barre. In the communities we can introduce woonerfs or living streets, we can focus on complete streets and active transportation best practices. We can make sure all residents have close and convenient access to safe, well designed parks and a strong network of bike lanes, multiuse paths, and sidewalks that enable people to choose active transportation rather that personal automobiles. We can utilize the parks system to encourage and facilitate the interaction of residents and begin to build a stronger social network - increased public events can accomplish this as well. Providing more and more opportunities to allow people to “recreate the mind�, as Olmstead says, increases the likelihood that residents will take advantage of these opportunities.

S. Main Street Sharrow Rendering

Top: Washington Square Park Rendering Bottom: Susquehanna Greenway Rendering

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Parking [25] Parking is something that we need to get right in the city after decades of getting it wrong.

Excessive parking creates dead zones and traffic, while an under-parked area may limit access to people from outside the area. Free parking is a public subsidy however and public funds should go towards services rather than wasted on parking.

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“The more downtown is broken up and interspersed with parking lots and garages, the duller and deader it becomes and there is nothing more repellent than a dead downtown�.

- Jane Jacobs 163

Current Conditions Parking has become a complex problem for cities across the country over the years. Too much parking and it strangles a city and makes it unsafe, while too little parking can hinder the success of businesses.

In Wilkes-Barre we are faced with too much parking and it is creating dead zones in the downtown core and throughout the rest of the city. Lets look at Pennsylvania Ave, this area is struggling and is an area that nobody walks because there is no interest, nothing is happening and nothing goes on here because of the lack of buildings, trees, and other visual interest. Look at the south side of Penn Ave between Market and Northampton Streets , it’s entirely parking; an entire 1000’ block dedicated to surface parking. Quite frankly, this is terrible for the city as well as Genetti’s, who owns the lot. The problems persist further down the road as well. Again, the south side is home to massive parking lots all the way down to Scott Street, nearly 2000 additional feet. The problem is the same on

Existing Conditions of Franklin and River Streets between Union and Market Streets

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Franklin and River Streets as well. Considering a typical city block is 300’-500’, this means that 6-10 average city blocks on Penn Ave are wasted due to excessive parking. Design standards, zoning, and other modern planning initiatives could go a long way to breathing new life into this area improving the conditions for new and existing businesses and increasing the density of the city immensely.

Parking also yields very low amounts of revenue for the local government through property tax. This is a severe problem since property taxes are such a large contributor to local government agency budgets. By enabling and encouraging the development of these wasteful surface lots, we can build mixed use buildings that will support new business and grow the local economy, encourage new people to live in the city, and increase revenue of the city, possibly even allowing us to eventually lower taxes.

Tax Revenue From Different Land Uses

Fixing It “There is perhaps no greater deterrent to pedestrian life than an exposed parking lot or structure. Surface parking lots should be hidden from walkable streets by occupied buildings, even if these buildings are extremely thin. When no other solution is available for a surface parking lot, an attractive landscaped wall or hedge, approximately 4’ to 5’ tall, should be built at the lot edge [Speck, 2017].One of the largest subsidies in America is free parking. Free parking also allows and encourages people to drive everywhere.

By increasing density, increasing street parking, implementing parking maximums [as opposed to the current status-quo parking minimums] and downsizing our off-street parking stock [particularly in the downtown area] we will help to encourage people to walk while simultaneously encouraging economic growth. “Since 2003, Paris has reduced its supply of street parking by about 14,300 spots, or 9 percent (like other French cities, it shifted parking to underground

Full Bike Rack

facilities), and started charging for 95 percent of spots that were previously free” [Garthwaite, 2011].

Copenhagen is implementing similar programs as well, working to reduce parking by a small percentage each year.

“There’s no demand for parking, per se,” said parking policy expert Rachel Weinberger, assistant professor of city and regional planning at the University of Pennsylvania. “There’s demand for access to a location.” If a private car is the only way to access a given restaurant, shopping center, workplace, or neighborhood, she argued, then “that translates to demand for parking.”

The fact is, in North America at least, “we live in a car culture,” said Moore. That can change, and indeed, is already changing due to higher gas prices, he said. But the “infrastructure, or lack of infrastructure,” for getting around without a car “has to be addressed.”

Sharrow Precedent

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Parking District A centrally located “parking district” is the first step in the right direction, and Wilkes-Barre is well on the way of doing this. The inter-modal hub on Washington Street has a capacity for 1,000 cars and is the bus hub for LCTA and Martz Trailways. In addition to this, Wilkes and Kings should both have a parking center for their faculty and students so as to minimize surface parking on campus and in the downtown area. Well designed parking structures, like the one seen below in Boulder, CO is fronted with shops and offices so as to still provide eyes on the street and preventing block-long dead zones which makes for an “interesting walk” - something that Jeff Speck says is critical for walkability. “Lively streetscapes have three main enemies: parking lots, drug stores, and star architects. All three seem to favor blank walls, repetition, and a disregard for the pedestrian’s need to be entertained [Speck, 2012].But not just that, it also increases

Wilkes-Barre Intermodal Transit Hub

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the value of the parking structure and generates tax revenue.

The reduction of surface parking is vital to the revitalization of Wilkes-Barre and can be seen as a precedent for other local municipalities to follow.

Garages Parking garages create large expanses with little to nothing happening at the pedestrian level in most cases in Wilkes-Barre, such as the parking garage directly across from city hall. These are a hindrance to the pedestrian, and by extension, the city as a whole. These spaces can be retrofitted to address the sidewalk and bring new life into these areas, brining more eyes onto the street and making them safer places. We can see how this is able to be done by looking at the parking garage on S. Main Street, the building formerly hosted Tony Thomas’s and helped to activate the street further. Additionally, many of these parking garages are in prime locations downtown and can help to create a more interesting, more active downtown core by creating a sense of continuity. Cafes, bodegas, artist studios, or any other use helps to enhance the city and bring new opportunities , particularly as more residents move into the downtown core.

Full Bike Rack

Top: Wilkes-Barre Parking Garage Middle: Boulder Parking Garage Bottom: Belmar Parking Garage

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Resources [26] In order for the city to be successful, we must capitalize on and use every resource at our disposal. With two colleges in the city, we have access to two great colleges right in the downtown core, we need to use these resources to the best of our abilities.

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“Cities are primed to aggregate public, private and civic capital for aligned investments in economic development, schools and skills, infrastructure and affordable housing, the critical ingredients for long-term inclusive growth�

- Bruce Katz 169

Resources [Internships] Internship opportunities for: A.] Geography B.] Criminal justice C.] Business D.] Landscape architecture E.] Ecology F.] Biology G.] Psychology H.] Economics I.] And many more possibilities!

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One way for the city to increase productivity and improve in ways is to implement an internship program. This allows the city to maximize productivity, get fresh faces and ideas into city hall, and provide professional experience for our local college students. Earlier mentioned was a need for GIS information, and acquiring this information and establishing a data catalog is a great use of internships. Most geography students will be familiar with the ArcGIS program interface and will be able to get right to work on building our database.

This gets our students real experience, generates a great product for the administration, and does not increase operating costs to the city.

This is far from the only applicable field in which interns can be used, too! Our Parks department can employ interns in the field of ecology, biology, and landscape architecture to make our parks the best that they can be. Psychology students can be used to help improve our human resources and criminal justice students can work with our police department.

Resources [Partnerships] Local organizations

A.] EPCAMR B.] USPS C.] Big brothers/Brig sisters D.] Neighborhood associations E.] Chamber of Commerce F.] Downtown Business Association G.] Pennsylvania AIA H.] And many more!

Local organizations are another great partner that is often overlooked by the city. Many organizations around the area are familiar with the stresses that our citizens face every day and can provide a level of insight to further the knowledge [and by extension, efficiency] of the city. In some places, resources like the USPS mail carriers are tapped as a resource to find out what citizens are most in need.

Local groups like EPCAMR [Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation] can help to inform us on ecological problems in the city, such as mine leeching, possible mine subsidence areas, and inform us on how to remediate some of these problems. The knowledge they have may be able to be used for cleaning the Susquehanna, or even used for remediating contaminated industrial sites throughout the city.

Further, a public-private partnership is something the city needs to look into in many regards. One way in which a partnership may be beneficial is in our parks system. Several parks in the city have food stands available, but are often closed or not effective, but with a partnership there is more opportunity for these to become stronger businesses than the city can manage. A partnership allows for a wider range of food options and help spur independent businesses, while saving the city money. Kirby Park, Coal Street Park, and the Kistler Pool are just three examples of areas where stands exist. These have the potential to be opened up as independent businesses that may need to meet a certain benchmark or minimum standard set by the city, but with a great deal of independence for the businesses.

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Conclusion [27] There are plenty of things that make WilkesBarre great and unique, and those things need to be preserved. Other things, however, are not working and need to be fixed or modified. Through all of these proposals, it’s important to stay true to the ethos of WilkesBarre, but make it a great play to live, work, and play again.

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“A city is not gauged by its length and width, but by the broadness of its vision and the height of its dreams�

- Herb Caen 173

It’s Not All About Downtown The downtown core is vital to the future success of Wilkes-Bare, but we need to emphasize the development of other neighborhoods. We need to focus on what can be done to improve the overall education, health, and happiness of the residents of the city. Providing a wide range of amenities allows people to find hobbies they enjoy, helping to keep them away from drugs. Getting people out and about increases the eyes on the street and helps to prevent crime, this is why we need to encourage commerce throughout the city rather than sending it all down downtown or to WilkesBarre Township. Strengthening the parks network throughout the city to encourage people getting outside and getting to know their neighbors.

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Many of the ideas within this are designed to improve the quality of life for the residents in and around Wilkes-Barre, but can also create an economy of tourism. We need to worry about making this a great place to live, work, and play, understanding that if we do that, tourism will follow in a more organic nature. By creating great amenities such as a kayak park and a strong trail network and bike lane circuit as well as bolstering the arts of the Wyoming Valley, we are improving life for locals and drawing people to the area. Improving the city as a whole, making it more connected and cohesive is vital. Well thought out improvements to the entire city make this a more livable place, and if we improve the neighborhoods, the downtown core will thrive naturally.

Improvement vs Gentrification The character of Wilkes-Barre is in the hard working blue collar citizens, that’s who this is for. This is why historic preservation is important, so we don’t forget our roots. This is why we need to focus on bringing jobs back to the area, Wilkes-Barre is a city for the working person, a middle class city that likes to have fun after work and on the weekends.

We have great amenities in the area like Moon Lake for mountain biking, Montage for skiing, the Kirby for the arts, the bones are in place for this to be a great working class city, we just need to guide it along. We need to bring more people to the city and keep college graduates here, but we also need to keep in mind that this has always been a workers city, we need to be cautious and avoid gentrification, while improving the quality of life for residents and visitors alike.

The character of Wilkes-Barre is in the hard working blue collar citizens, that’s who this is for. This is why historic preservation is important, so we don’t forget our roots.

This is why we need to focus on bringing jobs back to the area, Wilkes-Barre is a city for the working person, a middle class city that likes to have fun after work and on the weekends. We have great amenities in the area like Moon Lake for mountain biking, Montage for skiing, the Kirby for the arts, the bones are in place for this to be a great working class city, we just need to guide it along. We need to bring more people to the city and keep college graduates here, but we also need to keep in mind that this has always been a workers city, we need to be cautious and avoid gentrification, while improving the quality of life for residents and visitors alike.

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This is the original work of Brian G. Ferry.

2017

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