The difficult (and necessary) process of urban infill

by David Safier

You can read a healthy battle of opinions in the Star on the proposed urban infill in the area around the new streetcar line. One one side is Janice Cervelli, dean of the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Arizona who is deeply involved in the development plans called the Main Gate District Urban Overlay. On the other side is a coalition of neighbors in the area, represented in Josh Brodesky's column, who oppose the plans and have created a development plan of their own.

People in the neighborhood have the right, even the obligation, to fight against a plan they believe will degrade their area. But for the Tucson core to thrive, we need an agressive plan to increase density at the same time we make the core area more attractive to business and consumers. I haven't studied the city's plans so I don't know if they're well designed, but a seal of approval from an academic like Cervelli leads me to believe they are moving in the right direction.

The neighbors who are arguing passionately against the city plan are arguing in favor of their own interests. Who knows, they may have a terrific, far reaching vision. But it's just as likely they're expressing a more limited self interest. They certainly deserve a place at the table, but their concerns shouldn't override the larger civic good.

A PERSONAL CREDENTIALS NOTE: As an undergrad, I was an English Lit major, but I decided to get my Masters in Urban Studies at Portland State University. I'm far from an expert in urban development and design, but I have studied the issue. And as a 30 year Portland resident, I watched the city's growing pains as it redesigned itself, with a great deal of assistance from PSU's Urban Planning department, into one of the most studied and envied cities in the country. It was a long, messy, divisive process, but it was also a thoughtful, deliberate process, and the city came out far better for it. Tucson has ignored urban planning in favor of developer-driven sprawl for most of its recent history. It's time for us to take a serious look at what we can do to build upward and inward, not just outward.