Clusters: Urban Islands

A third type of urban pattern which might result from the de-densification of cities is that of “urban islands.” These are described as cities within cities, “areas of dense, urban development concentrated at key nodes within the existing urban footprint, determined to be the most viable remaining areas of depopulating cities”

(Hollander J. B., Pallagst, Schwarz, & Popper, 2009, p. 23). This approach to urban

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transformation remains theoretical, based on Unger’s 1977 Urban Archipelago design idea for a then shrinking West Berlin (Cepl, 2006; Hertweck & Marot, 2013).

While the other de-densification alternatives take place as the result of the natural depopulation of a neighborhood, the creation of urban islands is more intentional. New Suburbanism and blotting require very little action from a city government, beyond the zoning and legal framework for purchasing or caring for nearby lots. In contrast, the creation of urban islands involves political, social, and economic factors that may be beyond the ability of shrinking cities to influence or control. To create urban islands, the area around these urban concentrations would be emptied of buildings and occupants and would, ideally, return to a naturalized condition. Schwarz expects that

it would be very difficult to implement this vision because growth and decline in a city are inevitably intertwined. In practical terms, determining which parts of a city to re-urbanize and which parts to naturalize would be nearly impossible to achieve, given the underlying political, economic, and social factors that would have to be addressed (Schwarz T. , 2008).

3.6 Discussion

Vacant land in the United States has historically been defined in terms of its usefulness for human occupation or development. These definitions have been challenged recently by alternative conceptions which include ecosystem services, environmental assets and constraints, and animal habitat. These definitions are supported by the gathering of more holistic land-use data, which differentiates vacant land into multiple types of land use, rather than gathering it all under the umbrella of

“vacant.” There is, however, still no consensus about what the term "vacant" means for planning purposes. As a term that is largely up to the discretion of municipal administrators to define and modify as desired, establishing general planning principles for vacant land will be challenged by this lack of common ground.

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The discrepancy between definitions of vacancy is not a new development tied to recent ecological movements or economic development needs. Research quantifying vacant land in cities dates to the early 1930s. This research shows a continuing trend of variations in the definitions of vacancy used between cities that has made it difficult to determine national trends with any degree of specificity. This research also indicates that vacant land has often been seen as an after-thought in studies of land uses; these earlier studies made clear their pro-growth assumption that vacant land would eventually be filled with productive uses. These decades of growth assumption are yet another indication of the difficulties facing planners and cities who seek to plan in the environment created by shrinkage.

Planners working in shrinking cities have decades of institutional, if not personal, experience as shrinking cities planners to draw upon. As the amount of vacant land increases in shrinking cities, have the institutional knowledge and scope of the vacancy problem contributed to the creation of clear operational definitions of vacant land? If so, are these definitions comparable across cities in a manner that will facilitate not only multi-city research, but inter-city sharing of planning processes and tools? Has vacant land, as a land-use type, increased in importance for planners in these cities?

Does the assumption that vacant land will be filled with some productive use still hold, or has vacant land become yet another type of land use that must be planned for, much like residential or commercial uses?

Research on another aspect of vacant lots has highlighted the potential for their existence in a neighborhood to drive disorder, lack of community cohesion, and support negative public health effects. The first relationship, between vacancy, disorder, the perception of disorder, and the resulting impact on community cohesion is one that will be investigated in this thesis as it relates to why and how planners approach the problem of vacant and abandoned lots. Is this relationship understood in shrinking cities? Are the trigger mechanisms clear? Similarly, research demonstrating the public health impacts of vacant lots leads to another set of relationships to investigate in this thesis.

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Are planners cognizant of the role that vacant lots can play in these relationships and do they make changes associated with goals specifically related to interrupting these processes? Similarly, are planners evaluating processes or the impacts of proposed changes with disorder, perception of disorder, public health, and community cohesion used as measurements?

Many urban theorists have written on the relationships within the built environment between the street grid, buildings, and interstitial spaces. A question to investigate in this research is how this type of understanding of the integral nature of the urban environment is manifested in planning decisions. Are considerations of building, street, public space interactions taken into account? Is there a way that the sense of how vacant lots interrupt the urban fabric influences planning decisions for these lots? Are planners able to customize planning processes and goals for the various forms of urban structure which exist in a city—are they able to approach one vacant lot in a manner differently from that which they would use for a conglomeration of lots?

Are the varying built environments of suburban sprawl, inner-ring suburbs, and the core city (for example) taken into account when planning for the future of these lots?

How is data about these varying built environments factored into the decision making process, if it is, and how is the process of vacancy viewed differently as it occurs on these variously situated lands?

Finally, given the three distinct types or approaches to interventions on vacant lots reviewed above, how are planners making the decision about whether to initiate government action, leave interventions up to individuals or groups, or work for some combination? What are the key points in the decision-making process that lead to a decision in favor of one of the above approaches. Similarly, what are the factors that lead to the choice of a specific intervention, once an approach has been selected? Initial review suggests that the types of resources available to a city influences the approach chosen by planners in any given city, while familiarity or experience with specific interventions leads to their choice. Are these the deciding factors, or are there unseen

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actors or factors influencing these decisions? This thesis looks to identify these significant points in the decision-making framework used by shrinking cities planners and reveal any previously undetected actors or factors.

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CHAPTER 4: ORGANIZATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR