Accessibility and its Effect on the Landscape

Accessibility and its Effect on the Landscape

Posted by Sabina

 

Part 1

 

Accessibility comes in many forms such as housing, recreation, education, jobs, etc. and varies depending on both on the use and value of the land. Places that are highly accessible tend to have easy access to transportation and large economic activity. These areas often are more expensive as they include a lot of surrounding amenities which drive up the premium. People have differing opinions when it comes to putting value on what accessibility they would want, jobs vs shopping. According to Castells, the new culture of urban integration is not the culture of assimilation into the values of a single dominant culture, but the culture of communication between an irreversibly diverse local society connected/disconnected to global flows of wealth, power, and information. He believes that as societies are built, spaces are produced. Given that we are adapting to a new social, technological, and spatial context, Castells proposes a new theory of urbanism in the Information Age. Space does not reflect society, it expresses it.

“In 1967, Boulder voters approved one of the nation's first locally funded greenbelt systems. They used a local sales tax increase of 0.4 percent to finance open space land acquisitions. As of 1998, Boulder had raised $116 million and acquired 33,000 acres of greenways and mountain parks. The greenbelt system serves as a natural growth boundary, defining the limits of the city with open space and parkland. This natural boundary helps to block urban sprawl and "leapfrog" development. The greenbelt has also helped protect the quality of life in Boulder as the city has grown. It is said that more people use the greenbelt system each year than visit nearby Rocky Mountain National Park. As an added measure, Boulder established a building height limitation of 55 feet in 1971 to preserve the view of the Rockies. The city and surrounding county have cooperated on planning and growth-management policies and jointly adopted the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan.” - AGO

This strategic planning made by Boulder shows just how much people value access to parks and open space. Castells says that in order for planning,architecture, and urban design to work together they have to coincide with policy. Effective urban policy is always a synthesis between projects and their actors. While these initial steps may not be urban policy, it does provide a clear example of how government worked with residents to protect a resource they put value in and preserve the natural landscape. These actions were not without consequences...

“As part of a city-wide visioning process, city planners evaluated various scenarios for the ultimate "buildout" of the city by the year 2020. They determined that their problems could get much worse before the city reached the end of its commercial land supply. The city council acted in September 1997 to reduce the potential number of new jobs the city could accommodate.  Known as the "Comprehensive Rezoning Proposal," the program will reduce the ultimate number of new jobs at buildout by 15,000 to 20,000 through:

• Purchasing commercially zoned land to prevent commercial development;
• Rezoning industrial or commercial land to residential use; and
• Changing zoning regulations to reduce the allowed size and density of new developments (downzoning).

This program allowed the city to purchase several parcels of vacant industrial, including 165 acres owned by IBM. New zoning regulations were adopted to limit commercial and industrial building sizes.  Approximately one-third of the city was rezoned, including all industrial land (limiting employment growth).

A common criticism of Boulder's growth rate cap is that it has caused high housing prices. While Boulder's housing is expensive, it is not clear that the city's growth controls are the cause. Housing prices were high before any growth management programs were ever enacted. According to former-city planning director Bill Lamont, the rapid growth of the 1960s had already inflated housing prices and forced some lower-income people out of the city before the growth controls were implemented. Also, housing prices remained the same relative to those nearby Denver both before and after the growth controls were implemented. (Boulder remained about 10-15 percent more expensive than Denver.)” -AGO
 

 

By keeping access to outdoor recreation high, it has meant that access to jobs has been limited through the growth cap. One of the main issues affecting the built environment of housing in Boulder county has been the availability of outdoor resources. High access to open space along with a cap in growth to preserve the Rockies has decreased accessibility to affordable housing, especially near parks.

     “As of 2011, 6.66% of Boulder's housing is permanently affordable.” -BHP

Chautauqua

 

Glenwood Grove- North Iris

 

The cost of housing is driven up so much through high accessibility to the mountains that it no longer becomes accessible to the majority of people who live in Boulder. However, given that Boulder is a very progressive town, there are organizations currently working to make housing more affordable. Boulder Housing Partners is a non profit that is working to provide affordable housing for those who qualify. They work with both the federal government and residents to help make the process of acquiring housing more efficient.

“We own and manage 33% of the total inventory of affordable housing in Boulder, making a strong contribution to the City Council's goal that 10% of all housing be permanently affordable. We actively seek opportunities to grow our housing inventory.”- BHP

Red Oak Park, which is expected to be completed later this year, is a $13 million project of Boulder Housing Partners to replace the old mobile home park with 59 permanently affordable homes.








Boulder According to Glaeser

Glaeser postulates that cities like New York, San Diego, and Miami are all nice places to live due to the nice amenities they have to offer.  Fine dining and boutique shops litter these cities.  But what makes these amenities possible is the fact that there is a large congregations of people that makes the demand for such things possible.  In suburban America, you will be lucky to find a world-class restaurant but finding a Chili's is no problem.

Glaeser describes that with highly dense and highly populated places business becomes much more specialized.  Due to the large number of persons, it is possible to create a demand for even the most far out good or service.

Due to the simple laws of supply and demand, areas that have nice amenities are more costly.  Many of us would not mind living in Honolulu for a while but it may be a little harder to get someone to move to Detroit.  Nice places create a higher demand for housing, this higher demand usually translates into higher costs for the potential resident.

In Boulder we can see this effect on the landscape quite clearly.  As mentioned earlier, houses near the Flatirons usually attract prices upwards of 1 million dollars.  When we go out farther such as homes on Table Mesa and 40th Street they are your typical 1960's style suburban household.  Still, we find that housing in Boulder is more expensive overall.  It is quite intuitive to conclude that among other things, Boulder's geography attracts a higher rent check than a similar home would in Aurora.

According to the 2010 census data, the median income per capita in Boulder is more than $10,000 more than state median income.  Interestingly, the median consumption per capita is only different on the order of $15 dollars of so.  Quite clearly, Boulder is not a consumption city but rather a geographic amenity city.

Many persons would like to live in Boulder, but only those who can afford to pay for the higher housing prices are able too.  This is perhaps why only 6.66% of Boulder properties are affordable to those below the median income.

Metageography is defined as the spatial structures through which people order their knowledge of the world. World cities are not eliminating the power of states, they are part of a global restructuring which is “rescaling’ power relations, in which states will change and adapt as they have done many times in previous restructurings. The new metageography is the world-city network according to Beaverstock.      


Part 2

Map of planned construction.

Yellow: Entire site

Green: City of Boulder land

Red: Current housing

The City of Boulder has begun construction on what they call the Boulder Junction, which will incorporate a combination of retail, housing and new transit.  The project itself will take multiple years, with the latest proposal starting in the year 2018.  The entire reconstruction of Boulder Junction will cost over 10 million dollars with at least 4 million coming from federal funding. 

            The construction to Boulder Junction will incorporate the addition of a park, at least 319 new apartments, some small commercial retail stores, multi-use paths, two new stoplights, a bus station, a bridge, a retaining wall, and a lot of new landscaping.  On paper, this new development should be great.  It puts you within walking distance to the Twenty Ninth Street Mall, and just a short bus or bike ride to downtown.

            Like I said, on paper, yes it does sound great, however it may not be as wonderful for everyone.  The City of Boulder has said in their third goal for this plan that they expect that it will increase revenues for the city as well as small business.  They also believe that this area will encourage diversity bringing people from all walks of life, however what they haven’t made note of is they are building an area that could become very popular, very fast.  Rent will not be cheap for long in this area due to the close proximity to the downtown area and the Mall, as well of the added cost of mostly new buildings.  Boulder Junction in itself will have many shops and a new park making it aesthetically pleasing.  It will be far enough from campus that non-students in boulder will be able to space themselves from the college town feel which may also add appeal for many.

            Therefore, if I were a member on the Boulder City Counsel, I would be in favor of this area because it will clearly bring in revenue to the city.  It will add a new depot for RTD making it easier for local commuting and also bussing to and from the city of Boulder.  It is building another hot spot with good location, which will help bring people to the already booming city.  It promotes Boulder culture with the addition of multiple bike lanes and multi-use paths for walking and biking, including down the Goose Creek path and a bridge that connects the newly developed Steel Yards to the Junction area.  So as a City Counsel member I would be 100% for the new development.

            In contrast to that, as a citizen of the city, I would not be in favor of the change.  While the city claims it will add diversity and be beneficial for all, it will not be a cheaper area for long.  I believe many of the small business will be pushed out by higher rent prices only to be replaced by a chain store or restaurant that is already well established within the territory.  Construction does nothing but complicate traffic and with the project going to take at least 7 years that complicates local travel for a long time.

            In my opinion, the addition of Boulder Junction will be great for the city of Boulder for many reasons.  However, as a citizen and tax payer, it does nothing but complicate life.

Picture of the entire area that will be developed including Goose Creek.

Old Train Station which will be site of new Bus Station.

Steel Yards Development, which the bridge will connect to Boulder Junction.