Urban Wish List – Architecture Critic Morgan

Urban Wish List – Architecture Critic Morgan

Possibly pompous Post-Pandemic prognostications aside, let me just offer a few wishes for Providence for the forthcoming year.

Things have slowed during the coronavirus months, which is not all bad. And couple that with a "small is beautiful" mantra, maybe we can look forward to a city more content with itself and one in which we take time to assess what next we want to become.

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As for slowing down let us start with seriously enforcing the 25-mile per hour speed limit. As a walker and a bicycle rider, I often encounter unnecessary danger from drivers in a hurry (and notice that the more expensive the urban assault vehicle, the more recklessly its operator roars through town). Wider sidewalks and narrower streets will facilitate traffic calming.

An adhered-to moderate speed limit has much to recommend it. Quieter and safer streets, sure, but also increased income to city coffers from fines. And not to mention a more civilized townscape. It is pretty uncool to pop wheelies and roar down Thayer Street on your crotch rocket at the mandated 25 m.p.h.

And while we are chilling, how about a six-month or yearlong freeze on building in the Fox Point neighborhood? The fast-paced growth there, while good for the put-'em-up-quick developer, threatens to make the desired area far less desirable. The expansion of Brown and the demand for more housing on the East Side has reached a crisis that needs to be solved with more sophistication than just new construction.

Part of that concern is because of the build quality of so many of the new structures, particularly residences, are far below the standards that would create the landmark structures of the future. Million-dollar new houses on the East Side, for example, may have all the bells and whistles, such as three-car garages, chefs kitchens, and state of art sound and security systems. But their construction typically is as inexpensive as possible: snap-in mullions, vinyl siding, and composite roofing that has all the gravitas of plastic, all wrapped around the flimsiest framing code will allow.

We are hampered by a system that taxes land for its value rather than its use. Since money is made in the transfer of an over-inflated urban plot, a developer needs to minimize construction costs if he is to realize a profit. Here, too, is an opportunity for Providence to produce some pioneering tax reform.

Don't we all wish that Providence would fashion some innovative, imaginative, and radical ideas on how to fund our schools, maintain our infrastructure, and support our police and fire services. Certainly, this city has the brainpower to tackle some these seemingly intractable issues.

Another hope is that Providence would see itself as the perfectly sized, ideally located, and intellectually endowed city to become a national model in a post-Pandemic world. At the height of the Italian Renaissance our sister city Florence, a beacon of culture, civilization, trade, and banking, was small. Florence covered 120 acres, the same size as a suburban shopping mall or an interstate cloverleaf.

Like the Florentines, who were the moneylenders to most of the kings and states across Europe, we need to reaffirm that architecture and design issues are as crucial as commerce to make a truly livable place. Just like the Medici and other Florentine ruling families, we can combine architectural and artistic patronage with commercial acumen to create something for more lasting and desirable than a Gordon Gekko "Greed is good" philosophy.

Thus, I would wish for politicians to be more than just lawyers and businessmen. At our great preservation doyen Antoinette Downing's memorial service, the main eulogy was given by the her seemingly unlikely fellow crusader Buddy Cianci. The mayor noted how he became a convert to historic preservation when he took a course with Downing. Perhaps it is time to fashion a course on the history of cities and how to plan effective ones and require all would-be leaders to enroll in it.

 

William Morgan has taught the history of cities and historic preservation. He was the architecture critic of the Louisville Courier-Journal.