Great piece by David Beach. Timely as Planning Commission staff members bring forward the Form-Based Code and Transportation Demand Management program this Friday at Planning Commission:
“For 100 years, well-intentioned studies have warned about urban sprawl in Northeast Ohio.
They’ve documented how new suburbs draw population and wealth from the region’s urban core and then use exclusionary zoning to enforce social and economic segregation. Other studies have shown that sprawling, automobile-dependent land uses are the region’s biggest environmental problem, causing increased air and water pollution, energy use, and habitat loss harming wildlife.
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To make matters worse, for decades Cleveland allowed the destruction of the walkable urbanism that is the antidote to sprawl. Cleveland’s urban renewal projects cleared out more neighborhoods — an estimated 6,000 acres, or more than 10% of the city’s land area — than any other city in the country. Interstate highways bulldozed through additional neighborhoods. Densely developed places were replaced with suburban-style homes and strip shopping centers. More and more of the city became a car-dominated landscape cluttered with parking lots.
There are signs, however, that the city has learned it can’t compete with the suburbs on suburban terms. The only way for the city to save itself is to become a better city — more urban, dense and walkable.
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So Cleveland is experimenting with form-based zoning, which should make it easier to develop dense, mixed-use buildings that promote vibrant streets and allow more people to live close to public transit service. It’s reducing parking requirements for new development. It’s promoting bike lanes, traffic calming and pedestrian safety.
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Cleveland, along with the region’s other core cities and some inner-ring suburbs, can offer real urbanism. By doing so, these places can provide more housing choices, since building lots of housing at high density is the best way to make housing more affordable overall. And they can give more people the option of living where it’s convenient to drive less and use less energy, which is critical as we face the challenges of climate change.
In the long run, the redevelopment of great cities is our best hope for curbing the ruinous impacts of sprawl and making our entire region more sustainable.”
