Urban Form & Mobility - A Proposal for the Portland Climate Action Plan 20 Minute Neighborhood.

Authors: Annie Bergelin, Will Blanton, Erin Brassell, Hagen Hammons, Tammi Hawkins and Erin Reome

The City of Portland Climate Action Plan seeks to address carbon emissions through urban form and mobility, which is a significant and substantial goal that can achieve a great reduction in the carbon that is emitted within Multnomah County. The City of Portland saw a large increase in population before the turn of the century and the population is predicted to grow steadily. Concurrent with population growth, the Climate Action Plan has set a goal to reduce carbon emissions 80% by 2050. In the next three years the City can prepare existing communities for the growth in population in conjunction with a future that is less reliant on fossil fuels by understanding the basic, daily needs of communities and supporting the infrastructure that is required support those communities.

This proposal is to improve upon the existing urban form by creating vibrant neighborhoods where the majority of residents can walk or bicycle to meet their basic daily, non-work needs and have access to public transportation for longer distance trips within the city, which can be understood as the 20-minute neighborhood.

The 20-minute neighborhood is defined by the Climate Action Plan as:

"a place with convenient, safe, and pedestrian-oriented access to the places people need to go to and the services people use nearly every day: transit, shopping, quality food, school, parks, and social activities, that is near and adjacent to housing."

Developing 20-minute neighborhoods is a priority because it has a high potential for reducing the carbon emissions. Such places are intended to maintain a sense of place where people are proud to live and can be fulfilled on a daily basis. Neighborhoods that are locally-oriented will have less reliance on outside sources for sustenance, therefore less reliance on carbon producing activities.

In order to effectively promote vibrant, 20-minute neighborhoods the City must understand the elements that make that kind of neighborhood and understand how those elements can be promoted. Each community within Portland has unique needs for their particular neighborhood and community members.

20 Minute Neighborhood Strategy

The Portland Plan Status Report: 20-Minute Neighborhoods (2009) identifies three key areas in Portland that contribute to the concept: distance, destination, and density. In addition to the physical requirements necessary for a thriving 20-minute neighborhood, we recognize sense of place and unique neighborhood characteristics are key contributing factors. With over 90 established neighborhood associations in Portland alone, it is clear that there is not one solution that can be applied citywide. In order for the 20-minute neighborhood to become a successful core component of the Portland Plan, the city needs to ensure that implementation is a multifaceted approach that includes community goal sharing and flexibility.

In order to implement the city of Portland's immediate goal of making the 20-minute neighborhood a core element of the Portland Plan by 2012, we propose a framework, or citywide toolkit, for evaluating existing neighborhoods in Portland and Multnomah County. The toolkit will help the Bureau of Planning and Sustain¬ability go beyond preliminary 20-minute neighborhood concept planning included in the Portland Plan Status Report: Twenty-Minute Neighborhoods (2009) that ranked areas of the city's performance related to distance, destination, and density goals. Taking the preliminary survey one step further would help the city to focus on areas that lack significant 20-minute neighborhood characteristics and set more definitive short-term and long-term goals. In addition to the city-level toolkit, we propose a neighborhood toolkit that will help city planning efforts on a more local level. Because numerous plans and resources already exist, our toolkits would be the first steps to comprehensively coordinate existing and future planning efforts through the concept of the 20-minute neighborhood.

City-level Toolkit

At an administrative and planning level, the Portland and Multnomah County must provide support services and a framework within which 20-minute neighborhood development can thrive. We propose the development of a city-level toolkit that not only identifies targeted areas, but also incentives 20-minute complete neighborhood features. A few of these features might include:

• Mixed-use zoning for transit oriented development (TOD) and transit centers.
  
• Pedestrian-oriented design guidelines on major arterials.
  
• Increased amenities for bicyclists such as substantially more covered bicycle parking, bike lanes through neighborhoods, and bicycle sharing programs.
  
• Improved connections for destinations that are outside of the 20-minute walking/biking radius, since many neighborhoods do not have sufficient destinations necessary for everyday life.
  
• Amended zoning to encourage infill development in existing neighborhoods and enforce higher density development within the Urban Growth Boundary.
  
• Incentives and assistance for community-owned and operated businesses and retail.

Community-level Toolkit

Ultimately, a 20-minute neighborhood will only be successful if it becomes a place where people want to be, and want to stay. With over 90 established neighbor¬hood associations in Portland alone, it is clear that there is not one solution that can be applied citywide. Each community will have unique needs and preferences, as well as diverse populations. Our strategy for the community toolkit attempts to draw out the existing sense of place in various neighborhoods and directly involves residents in the implementation process. The toolkit would have two specific goals: to serve as a resource for 20-minute neighborhood goals, planning tools, and existing initiatives; and to provide assistance to communities interested in actively participating in the assessment and improvement of their neighbor¬hood through 20-minute neighborhood goals.

The first step in creating a successful program is helping communities better understand the concepts behind the 20-minute neighborhood. Initially, the toolkit would provide a way for the city to distribute information and goals to demonstrate how those goals might benefit residents. The toolkit will also serve as a resource to assist residents in determining the potential viability of a 20-minute neighborhood in their area. It would serve a way to coordinate city-level initiatives with community-level initiatives by ensuring that residents are easily able to find information on:

• Local zoning and development codes that might affect commercial and residential development.
  
• Existing neighborhood plans, master plans, and urban renewal areas that could aid in promoting 20-minute neighborhood characteristics.
  
• Transportation plans that might affect there area and create new connections.
  
• Potential resources for program initiatives such as local improvement districts to improve street scapes, storefronts for local businesses, and green streets.

However, the main focus of this toolkit is to help individual communities participate and prepare for 20-minute neighborhood initiatives through shared goal set¬ting and defining and articulating local identity and sense of place. Communities would be encouraged to extend their conversations by participating in the evaluation of their own neighborhoods by:

• Examining connections to public transit, such as MAX, streetcar, and bus lines.
  
• Identifying local destinations, such as grocery stores, entertainment, and services that are important to everyday life.
  
• Exploring walkability and bikeability of their streets and sidewalks.
  
• Evaluating available open space and landscaping needs.

The community toolkit would also include suggestions for engaging neighbors in meaningful conversations about topics such as key community assets, individual choices and behavior changes, and mobility. It will provide guidelines for aligning community goals with 20-minute neighborhood efforts, as well as help to form connections with other groups and associations that are interested in similar out¬comes.

For the complete proposal, contact:
Tammi Hawkins
rredbirdzy at comcast dotnet