Insights into a Lively Downtown (Urban Planning, Ann Arbor, Michigan)

[supersaleh1000]

good job on your video and thanks for the feed back! :)

[supersaleh1000]

is it safe and do they have a good collage

[KirkWestphal]

@supersaleh1000 Yes to both. Our crime rates are low compared to similar cities around the Midwest, and I had a great experience in the graduate urban planning program.

[supersaleh1000]

@KirkWestphal good job on your video and thanks for the feed back! :)

[choicepriderainbow]

This town has class. like Harvard and Yale.

[parker892]

Thought-provoking video. While the general concepts may be applicable to most downtown environments, I would like to see a similar analysis done in a much smaller Midwestern town that does not have the benefit of a nearby college or university.

[eshhy100]

a well put together video, comprehensive and touched on all the points I've been learning about in my degree. This is a great contribution you have made. Thanks!

[KirkWestphal]

@eshhy100 Thank you! I'm glad it's useful for you.

If you or your professors are interested, we're distributing full-resolution copies of the film on DVD (and it ships with our new film available only on DVD, The Great Street Toolkit). See the description for the link to our store and help support new films!

[otis31755]

Hi, this is great and as a land use planner I see the benefit and I was raised in the old row homes in Louisville. I also design walkable communities as well and have a new 5 minute video at otis31755 or geo-life.org

[LilianTD]

Im an urban planning student at Florida Atlantic University and just wanted to say good work on the video. I was also wondering if I could see how you formulated your survey questioners.

[runan97]

Good Stuff Man

[runan97]

Dude soo cool!!

[345matrim]

I liked it, it was very inetresting. =)

[tomjimp]

Hey, that was really awesome. Great research and a brilliant video. I'm a planning student in Australia and I think most of our cities seriously lack vibrancy. A few trees and lamposts can go a long way! Thanks again.

[MischievousKittie]

Awesome job! I loved it!

Showcased off our town very well and what makes it special.

[davidh32006]

cool video. I'm going to college next year, and I'm thinking of being an urban planner too. I just got the book City Building, by John Lunk Kriken, and it talks about those famous urban planners at the beginning: Kevin Lynch, Jane Jacobs, and Daniel Burnham

[Fleshfromashes]

found your video very interesting thanks!

[neilandrew17]

cool! i enjoyed watching the video. very interesting! reminds me of the things that need to be done in OUR downtown... thanks for posting this!

[annikayc]

Any way I could use this video for a research project? It would work so perfectly. Nice film! Please let me know.

[CHUCKIERAPEU]

nice vid, so interesting!

[Cobralalala]

nice vid!

[rochelimit55555]

interesting . . . . .

[gaysandracists]

The implication is that pointy-headed central planners determine if a community looks and functions well. But the implication is wrong. The culture and values of individuals within the community is what makes a community work well.

[ilovestyx22]

sweet home ace deuce :)

[khendri3]

I love Ann Arbor :)

[coolpinoy93]

this is neat. im 16 and i think i might wanna be an urban planner

[sfudman]

research james howard kunstler

[KirkWestphal]

Thanks! I would recommend borrowing "Suburban Nation" from the library. If you like it, then get "Death and Life of Great American Cities." (If you like that, tell your guidance counselor you want to go to a school with decent urban planning classes.)

[RTKilpat14]

take out the University of Michigan and then what do you have......???? It is a great way to summarize a positive downtown, but apply these principals to a place that does not have a high potential pedestrians medium.

University towns, especially Big Ten schools cannot be considered in the same context as other mid-west cities.

[moffmanprophecy]

Cool Vid. Its full of things that make ya go hmmmmmm...

[jayMaze5]

GREAT SHOW!  I grew up outside of this city

[Irvindstarr]

The parking sucks, still love Ann Arbor, good overview, coffee and the bookstore for me.

[totoroben]

Needs more bicycles! Ann Arbor would be an amazing place to visit if they closed its streets to through traffic.

[dickfetchick]

Great Film - the cooperative work of wide sidewalks, outdoor congregational areas, and peoplewindows are things Austinites all wish Guadalupe Street could accomplish. I was wondering what you thought of other architectural motifs like Lapidus' 'curved facade' or Gehrian forms permeating the grid structure...

[brahmlevine]

Great Video!

As a fellow urban planning student, I recognized a lot of stuff that I have read about and also key names such as Lynch and Jacobs. Great choice of music and the audio of peoples responses also added to the videos overall good mood.

hope the project was well received by your peers and professors. keep up the good work bud!

[j4lyfz]

If they narrowed the road for more pedestrians how did they solve problems like congestion and parking? Were the pedestrians local people based in that area?

[KirkWestphal]

Thanks for the question. Re: parking, the expression goes: "Nobody comes downtown to park," i.e., they come for other things like shops, employment, etc. Ann Arbor was the first city in the US to "stack" parking. Changing four-lane roads to two-lanes slows the traffic down--you might say this technically "congests" it, but people and pedestrian-oriented businesses much prefer facing a slow-traffic street). Feel free to e-mail me if you'd like to discuss (address is in the video description)!

[milovachan]

lol, j4lyfz if you've ever been to a2- they didn't solve problems like congestion and parking. there's costly public parking by 'rebuplic parking' and extremely rare free parking which requires a minimum of 3 blocks of walking. if you are trying to get in or out of the city especially on main street during any sort of slight congestion it's hellish.

[totoroben]

Congestion and parking.... Seems interesting how we like to give most of our street space up to the least spatially efficient mode of transportation. Active transportation such as walking and cycling is the best way to enjoy a street-scape. Think about it, every minute you sit in a car is a minute you could have been moving.

[ToniJLO]

Visiting Main street a few yrs in a row on my birthday .. actually prompted me to move to Ann Arbor from Toledo Oh :-)

[skoochemcee]

excellent.

[DancingFan28]

I love living in Ann Arbor, not too big, not too small.

[Chadoh21]

I'm a graduate of Cleveland State's College of Urban Affairs and I loved your viedo! Good work!

[its1986davidbowie]

great stuff, but they need to get that starbucks out of there at 4:32, starbucks, mc'ds, home depot, walmart are all the product of sprawl, regardless if there in the core or not.

[onelovegal]

Thanks. Makes me wanna visit. Love a healthy downtown! ~ UofL Planning student.

[justinleemiller]

That short stretch of Main Street survived by accident. 60 years ago every Michigan town had a street like that. Battle Creek had Michigan Avenue, density, trolleys, city center orientation, all gone. Even Ann Arbor has been gutted from what it once was. And sprawl is on the way. Most of those folks drive in from sprawlville to get a small peak at urbanity in Ann Arbor. -J class of 2001

[moistdef]

Great video!

[RoamingComedian]

Loved the video, very interesting. I'm a radio/TV/film major, but I've always had an interest in urban planning. This is the perfect combination!

[avantananda]

A great place as heaven for pedestrians for good. How did they managed the transportation system since it's only few vehicles down there?

[clundgren60]

What a great video!

[mistygarden]

Liked the video very much. Many small cities could learn from this. In-fill vacant lots with interesting, pedestrian scaled bldgs. that have the features mentioned in the piece. Nothing ruins the flow of a downtown more than surface parking lots, vacant lots and gas stations. Downtowns also need housing for the middle income people.

[brian409]

I'm a planning student from Chicago and have a particular interest in community development (especially downtown revitalization)-- needless to say -- I loved the video!

[hugoreme]

great video. lots of valuable information and knowledge...could be used as a reference for cities wanting to regain their strength.

[mustlx]

Great Video

[rhcpfreak21]

I work in urban planning in Las Vegas. I really enjoyed your video.

[KirkWestphal]

Thanks very much!

[Chenzo2323]

It's a far cry from Detroit, let me tell you.

[F9T4meee]

I live in ann arbor and i go downtown everyday!

I love it.

Its so beautiful!!

[greenhillsballer]

yeah i agree i live in ann arbor 2! :D

[501QueenStreetcar]

Was it Hispero Costwell referenced? And was the title "Energized Overcrowding"?

[KirkWestphal]

Spiro Kostof, in one of his books (the "City Shaped") talks about this condition as "energized crowding." Apologies for the mumbling!

[Miasmummy2497]

this is very well done.

[A2Grapevine]

Great piece!

My dad ran that service station located at the corner of Main & William for years.

Standard bought it from Shell & converted it when dad's original station was torn down for the new City Hall at Huron & Fifth Avenue.

I remember eating at the old 'Loy's Double D' restaurant on Huron when a young boy & going into Rider's Hobby shop on Washington & buying the 'Matchbox' toys for 50 cents when they actually came in what looked like a matchbox and AMT Model cars in the early 60's.

[DiagnosedAsSound]

Thanks so much for this! I've just been accepted for graduate studies at Michigan, and it feels like this presentation gave me a great feel for the area. Thank you!

[theklassyone]

Well said. Now why can't the whole city, or at least most of it, be like the downtown?

[80Spencer]

I love Ann Arbor so much...my wife and I talk of it often...we live in Texas now and talk constantly about how we want to get back to Michigan. I lived in Milan for several years and while Texas is great we only consider it a stop for our grad work till we can get back home. You never know how good you have it till you leave it...god...I want to go back home. -- Great video thank you. So many memories.

[yummygirl]

gotta love freaking ann arbor

i miss it... so much

[walwaad]

As a long-time Michigan resident who now resides in the New York City metro area, the video shows how much downtown Ann Arbor has in common with Manhattan, if only on a very, very small scale. Ann Arbor has always been a progressive city, a model which should be adopted by other Michigan cities.

[claretea]

I used to live in Michigan for a long time and live in NYC now. I like NYC but I really miss Michigan. Do you ever feel like that?

[walwaad]

Yes, I do. After living in Michigan for all of my life, five years ago I moved to New Brunswick, NJ, about 30 miles outside NYC. While I love New York, I really miss Michigan.

[hahabaha1]

This video was so well made! I'm hoping to be accepted at UMich for architecture and I think that was a lovely put together video! You organized and spoke very well in it. I hope your professor gave you an A.

[conradcreeley]

this was very interesting for me as i will be visiting Ann Arbor in May 2008 thank you

[ertgreen]

great video. :) really showed the lovely ann arbor.

[cmell]

ugh I hate main street

[hannizwei]

I was an exchange student and I lived in Farmington Hills which is about 25 miles far away from Ann Arbor.

I enjoyed it every time when I came to Ann Arbor. I really loved the stukture of the city whith all the bars, restaurants and cute little shops.

It seemed to me that Ann Arbor lives with it's own style in the USA, far away from all the shopping malls .

Sometimes, I'll come for another visit.

[futuris81]

Great video!

I used to live in Ann Arbor. It brings back so many memories to me. Ann Arbor has some European flair: sitting outside, drinking a beer, etc. One of the few places in MI where you can do that!

One comment from my side though ... I think many students will see State street as their middle point of live, incl. all side streets, campus, etc.

[koonung]

mad vid mate. I'm studying urban planning at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

GO planning! not much ppl in Australia know of urban planning, i just tell them its Sim City!

[njcronk]

I compare A2 with Boulder, CO often. Although of similar size, demographics and feel, Boulder's urban planning seems better. Boulder's Pearl Street mall attracts millions of tourists each year. A2's Main Street has promise, though. More flower gardens would attract people. They also need to block off downtown to car traffic, put all the auto parking in lots behind the stores, fill in the street with art that kids can play on, and gardens, and tourism will be increased dramatically.

[Eeemmy91]

Nice video!!

In the summer holidays, I've viseted Ann Arbor (I'm from Belgium) and it was great!

[777tao]

Well done Data...Loved the Holodeck...hope you all have a great indian summer ! Thanks Youtube for giving me a window seat...Greatful as ever...From Ca. z

[jrs89]

This video was FANTASTIC! I might even consider doing some urban planning studies down the road (possible minor or additional grad degree).

[ragingleonard]

Interesting video. I grew up in AA and this brought back a lot of memories.

Thanks.

[losingmymind14]

I live in Ann Arbor and I never noticed most of the facts in this video. Of course I don't spend much time downtown but I hear it gets crowded In areas around the Medical School and that hardly anyone uses Main. I dunno.

[SpaldingDriveSap]

Automobiles are wonderful. I have two and I like them.

[wsphloyd]

Very cool and instrospective video!

I'm surprised bars weren't mentioned a bit more... I think they bring a lot of people to and are a big part of the downtown "scene".

Also... downtown Ann Arbor could really use a grocery store and a drug store. If it had those, people who live downtown and close by would rarely need to drive anywhere.

[undkid521]

great video.

[rogg0020]

Super work. A UM grad who walked Main Street almost every day, this video was incredibly informative.

[bridgettina81]

oh God

...awesome

[danadou]

Great work. I love Ann Arbor and miss it a lot.

[lemja]

really interesting! I loove ann arbor, and i miss it sooo much! your video was great :) Thank you for bringing back good memories!

[jason4004]

As an Architect who visited there in 1992 it was extremely intresting. I think in terms of urban design this identfies what makes a place special. I live in Manchester in the UK and some of these issues apply!

[joebonk]

nice video. arent automobiles disgusting? in this video its like the elephant in the room. every scene shows the repulsive, antihuman automobile system

[bcunni]

I agree joebonk that automobiles are disgusting. One of the reasons why cities have failed in this country is because our government conspired with big business (i.e. GM and Ford) to destroy other transportation choices and make the American people dependent on the automobile.

[SpaldingDriveSap]

Gee, it must be why so many people hate cars and don't drive them. :-)

[thiswasnotmeantforme]

Personally, I'm a bigger fan of the State St. area, but that's just because it's closer to my classes =)

Awesome video - it was incredibly informative, and I liked how it was done!

[lpadancer89]

I really enjoyed this- very interesting!

[mirellasv]

Video is wonderful.

I adored the idea. The video expresses images and perceptions simultaneously.

Congratulations 

Brazil, 2007