POSTCARD FROM DENVER
A new urbanism
|
When Denver had to close down one of its airstrips, volunteers saw the opportunity to build from scratch a community based on co-operative principles.
|
Photo: Geeta Padmanabhan
Exploring community living: Stapleton Tomorrow.
If a smart city corporation were gifted with an abandoned international airport — a large piece of real estate — it would call for tenders, hastily approve plans, segment the plots and dispose of property to the highest bidder. Depending
on who gets this urban pie, two things happen. A haphazard explosion of ugly buildings with little space for green and even less for roads and drainage. Or a gated community of mansions meant for CEOs, film stars and Paris Hiltons.
By this benchmark, the Denver city council did a very un-smart thing.
An opportunity
In 1990, the hangar doors rolled down in Denver’s Stapleton Airstrip, leaving terminal buildings, fuel-soaked soil, plenty of asphalt and no trees. Only, 35 Denverites saw an urban haven in this wasteland. They began a community planning exercise, called it Stapleton Tomorrow, and over the next two years, collected redevelopment ideas from the capital’s residents. Stapleton would have “mixed” development — with high standards of urban design, affordable housing, open spaces, job ops and provision for recreational/cultural activities. Breathing life into this mini-city would be a community of working class families sharing space with upscale pros. All civic facilities would be public and common. Families would meet often, children would play together, parents would groom the new schools. Stapleton Tomorrow would usher in the “new urbanism”.
In looks, reborn Stapleton would be a suburb, its homes resembling old Denver buildings. The differences would be deliberate: community living will grow out of a compulsory front porch for sitting out; smaller lots ensuring density; public parks; sidewalks with tree lawns for pedestrian activity; village shops and restaurants within walking distance; workplaces and cultural venues close to housing. In all, walkable neighborhoods where bumping into neighbours is inevitable. No garage doors as the dominant house facade, little private (or not so private) open space in the rear, no strip shopping centres with a sea of parking, no commute to workplaces that are miles (or hours) away.
The Denver City Council adopted the Stapleton Tomorrow concept plan in 1991. In classic PPP format, civic and business leaders created the Stapleton Development Foundation, a non-profit group funded by corporates and wealthy individuals. Working with the City administration, SDF would fund, guide and implement the Stapleton site plan.
After five years since the first residents unloaded stuff at Stapleton, 7,000 people call Stapleton home and enjoy the benefits of stately-looking gabled brick houses, disabled friendly roads, town centres with fountains where children play and adults shop and dine, swimming pools and services like catering and cleaning that a suburb of this size would demand.
Step out on a summer Sunday morning and you’ll see couples walking their kids, their dogs or strollers. Look over your fence, the doctor exercising in the next yard waves. Kids and adults are on skateboards and scooters. Women with infants in arms chat standing on the footpath. Families gather in the porch. Kids’ parties take just a couple of minutes to organise. Turn on the sprinklers on the front lawn (provided by Forest City, the master developer), call the block kids out to have a shower. Provide cookies and dry towels. Adults hold block parties in alleyways, food grilled in the open. Once a year, Stapleton freezes vehicle traffic to allow residents to be on the streets — cooking, meeting, sharing or just “being”.
Kids-friendly
“You have little choice but to use public facilities,” said architect Suman, one of the few Indian residents. She and computer engineer husband Mahesh chose Stapleton for its kids-friendly layout. “Medical pros attached to the nearby Anschutz Medical Campus, lawyers and work-from-home techies moved in attracted by the affordable prices. It is a young, educated population looking for more space. Here NIMBY has a whole new meaning.” At times she finds community living crowding her space, but that’s because knowledgeable American neighbours dropping hints like “We so love Indian food!” and reeling off accented names of popular Indian dishes.
Several residents are from the Silicon Valley. “The Bay area work culture drove us out,” said Asha, wife of Oracle exec Sunil, speaking for Todd and Christa, Matt and Lynn, Mayur and Lavinia. Larger homes, fewer and flexible hours of work, home-based businesses — plenty of time for off-work activities.
By 2020 Stapleton will be declared “Housefull”. Nearly 5,000 housing units, three million sq. ft. of retail and 10 million sq. ft. of office spaces will landscape the area, surrounded by pretty walkways. FBI might set up office here. And 10 per cent of all construction will be for homes for lower income groups.
Sure, there will be more cars, more shops and more businesses. But then there will be more mature trees, more mixing of communities and more block parties. Stapleton will still “feel different”.
GEETA PADMANABHAN
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Magazine
