The Plinth Strategy Booklet - The city at eye level

THE CITY AT EYE LEVEL Explanation Spidergraph & Concepts 1

www.thecityateyelevel.com www.stipo.nl

PLINTH STRATEGY

Building Street Context

CONTENTS 4

The Spidergraph

7

Building

8

Transparency

9

Flexibility

10

Character

11

Hybrid zone

12

Appropriate signing

15

Street

16

Definition

17

Complementarity

18

Balance in traffic

19

Physical comfort

20

Variety of functions

21

User relations

1

25

Context

26

Position in urban fabric

27

User density

28

Special urban programme

29

Partner involvement

30

Management

STREET/CORRIDOR: DATE: THIS BOOK BELONGS TO:

WELCOME TO THE CITY AT EYE LEVEL

This booklet offers a summary of the most important lessons from our book, The City at Eye Level. By using our co-creation method with stakeholders, it will help you develop a plinth strategy for your chosen analysis area. In the end, you will have an extensive analysis of the current situation, knowledge and awareness of what’s needed for good plinths, a shared vision for the desired vision, the bases for new coalitions, inspiration, and the discovery of new concepts.

Working on a new plinth strategy with a group of stakeholders is challenging and requires the combination of many disciplines: real estate, management, public space, economy, retail, design, use patterns, organization – everyone must help each other to reveal their own worlds and experience to one another, to ask questions, be curious, and think outside of the box. Good luck and have fun!

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A QUICK GUIDE Step 1:

Observe and analyse the current situation.

Good plinths require an approach on three levels: building, street and context. The context determines the possibilities; the street must feel good as a whole, and the individual buildings should enable good plinths. Each level has five to six criteria, each explained on the following pages. Read the descriptions and add your own observations, knowledge and conversations with stakeholders. Inspiration can be found unexpected places.

Step 2.

Score the current situation.

Fill in the scores for the current situation for each of the three spider graphs (building, street and context).

The score is simple: 0 = very bad, 10 = very good. The images on each page are only indicative.

The descriptions offer more objective guidelines while observing.

Step 3.

Score the desired situation.

Determine the vision or what the future situation should be. Keep in mind we rarely have the means to bring each criteria to a score of 10. The scores for the future situation should make the priorities clear and where the most progress can be expected.

Step 4.

Compare and prioritise.

Compare the two spider graphs (current and future) for each level and highlight the one or two most important priorities for each level. Think about and note which intervention(s) will have the most important impact.

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Step 5.

Add your own ideas.

Scoring the spider graphs is not the single answer. Use the process of filling in the spider graphs to generate all kinds of ideas. Write down additional ideas for the future, qualities to cherish, new concepts to acquire, and suggestions for a strategy to get from A to B, current to desired.

Step 6.

Conclude: vision and nightmare.

Summarise the conclusions for the analysis area in the quadrant chart. For the vision: what existing qualities must be cherished, what new qualities must be added? For the nightmare: what should immediately or eventually disappear from the area, and what must we absolutely avoid in the future?

Step 7.

Add your photos.

You can enrich your observations with photos, and a short description for each picture: why is this image exemplary for what does it show?

Step 8.

Take action!

What are the actions that must be carried out from tomorrow on? What are the quick-wins with which the partners can start? Who should be involved? And what actions require more time, but start three years from now in order to achieve the desired area improvement?

Know more?

Want to deepen your knowledge of the lessons, be inspired by international best practices, and learn more from experts? Our book The City at Eye Level is open source and you can download it via www.thecityateyelevel.com. The website also shares new insights and chapters since the appearance of the book.

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Mark between 0-10 ‘0 = very bad; 10 = very good’ Transparency 1

Flexibility Character Hybrid zone Appropriate signing

BUILDING 5

Mark the with Mark the with

PRESENT STATE line.

Transparency

FUTURE STATE line.

Approriate signing

10

Flexibility

5 0

Hybrid zone

Character

6

Mark between 0-10 ‘0 = very bad; 10 = very good’ Definition

1

Complementarity Balance in traffic Physical comfort Variety of functions User

relations

STREET 7

Mark the with Mark the with

PRESENT STATE line.

User relations

FUTURE STATE line.

Definition

Variety of functions

10 5 0

Physical comfort

Complementarity

Balance in traffic

8

Mark between 0-10 ‘0 = very bad; 10 = very good’ Position in urban fabric User density Special urban programme Partner involvement Management

CONTEXT 9

Mark the with Mark the with

PRESENT STATE line.

Partner involvement

FUTURE STATE line.

Special urban programme

Management

0

User density

5

10

Position in urban fabric

10

VISI

EXISTING QUALITIES

what we must absolutely cherish from the current situation what must absolutely dissapear from / change in the current area

NIGHT 11

ION

what must absolutely be added to the area in the future what should be avoided in the area in the future at all costs

NEW QUALITIES

TMARE 12

ADITIONAL IDEAS Write down your additional ideas for the future, partners that should be involved, the strategy to get from current to desired, new instruments and other ideas:

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ACTIONS Actions for tomorrow, quick wins:

Partners involved:

Actions for three years from now, to start preparing now:

Partners involved:

14

Transparency

0

10

0

10

- The inside communicates with the outside - No blind, closed or passive facades

Building

Flexibility - Height of ground floor 4 m or more (suitable for residential, work and retail) - Variation of smaller and larger scale units - In case of vacancy: possibilities for meanwhile use - Zoning plan allows different functions

15

Character

0

10

- Quality that binds the eye - Facade material: rich experience, details, relief, quality, rhythm of inward and outward parts, colour - Soul, history, monumentality

- Good transition from private to public - Dialogue building-city - Care for semi-public space: displays, flowers/plants, tables/chairs/bench, quality of terraces

0

10

Building

Hybrid zone

16

Approriate signing

Building

- Modest: no ‘loud’ neon signs, no ‘shouting down’ each other - Unity: for example by loose letters on the facades in similar style

17

0

10

18

Definition

0

10

0

10

- The height of buildings should be at least half the width of the street - Pleasant street profiles - Connected street elevations - Clear beginning and ending of street - In case of trees: good tree canopy

Streeet

Complementarity - Coherence in physical diversity of the street picture - Buildings differ vertically - Articulation (the direction of the building design): more vertical than horizontal - Clear legibility of the construction

19

Balance in traffic

0

10

0

10

Physical comfort - Shelter from wind, sufficient shadow in warmth, sunlight in cold - High-level public space maintenance - Sufficient places to sit and rest - Moderate sound, human voices audible, (traffic) noise filtered and not dominant

Streeet

- Pleasure to walk in - Balance between cars and pedestrians, cars are not dominant - Pleasure to visit the place, feeling at home - Possibility to park (shortly) - Sufficient parking for bicycles

20

Variety of functions

0

10

- In high streets: great variety, multiple reasons to visit, day and evening - In high streets: a public function (shop, cafĂŠ, restaurant, culture) at least every 20 m - In secondary streets: not only residential, but also work functions with a street relation in the plinth, schools, social functions, etc.

- In residential streets: well designed living on the street level

Streeet

User relations - Inspiring formulas, smaller shops, cafĂŠs and restaurants that make the image of the street - Good (digital) service and marketing, costumer relations

21

0

10

22

Position in urban fabric -

Position in urban fabric, continuity of on-going lines Fine-grained, many choices to wander No barriers in pedestrian flows Good position in the city’s pedestrian and walking routes Connected with good plazas and parks

Context

User density - Pedestrian flows day and evening, 5-20 passers-by per width meter per minute - Presence of sources of pedestrians (public transport stops, parking garages) - Density of urban users in the vicinity - ‘Plinth-oriented consumer audience: economic/cultural capital - Urban mix, no mono-functional residential or business areas

23

0

10

Special urban programme

0

10

- Special urban functions, such as important market, museum, area on the ‘mental map’ of city - Concentration of specific plinth functions, specialisations, special cluster of economic or cultural functions

- Owners who take initiative - Reward self-organisation, initiative, good behaviour - Non-negotiable instruments local government - Maintenance of the rules by local government

0

10

Context

Partner involvement

24

Management

Context

- From ‘every building for itself’ to street logic - Portfolio management based on income, quality AND image - Combination of short term action and long term strategy - Perseverance over several years - Tapping in networks for buildings coming available - In case of vacancy: networks of property owners, new (temporary) users, in accordance with the long term strategy

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SOURCES Glaser, Meredith and Mattijs van ’t Hoff, Hans Karssenberg, Jeroen Laven en Jan van Teeffelen.

Eds. The City at Eye Level: Lessons for Street Plinths. Delft: Eburon, 2012. dS+V en OBR Gemeente Rotterdam ism Stipo. “Rotterdam, Binnenstad op Ooghoogte.” Printed report.

2011.

Gehl, Jan en Lotte Johansen Kaefer, Solvejg Reigstad. Close Encounters with Buildings. Copenhagen: The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, 2004.

Gehl, Jan en Gehl Architects. Towards a Fine City for People: Public Spaces and Public Life.

London, UK: Central London Partnership, Transport for London, 2004.

Jacobs, Allan B. Great Streets. MIT Press:1995.

Whyte, William H. The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. NY, NY: Project for Public Spaces,1980.

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Stipo Amsterdam Wintonstraat 7 1013BR Amsterdam The Netherlands +3120-4233690

Stipo Rotterdam Zomerhofstraat 84 3032CM Rotterdam The Netherlands +3110-2041590

team for urban strategy and development

sept 2013

Hans Karssenberg /hans.karssenberg@stipo.nl Jeroen Laven /jeroen.laven@stipo.nl Meredith Glaser /meredith.glaser@stipo.nl Sander van der Ham /sander.vanderham@stipo.nl Gergő Hevesi /gergo.hevesi@stipo.nl