Urban Advantage

[GRDadof3 4088]

One of the members at the Grand Rapids forum posted this link to Urban Advantage, a company that helps urban planners envision pedestrian-friendly, socially interactive communities. Go to images (FLASH version) on the link and check it out

[hood 1]

They come up with some pretty nice, and detailed stuff, they even add shadows. Did they do some work for Grand Rapids?

[GRDadof3 4088]

I'm not sure. The Heartside Historic District did something similar for South Division Avenue, but I don't think it was the same company.

[urbanvb 219]

That is an awesome website! And though many of the properties have had new or remodeled buildings on them, notice how trees, sidewalks and planters (landscaping) plays an intrical part in softening and bringing harmony to the area.

[Jasoncw 0]

On the website, they basicly rebuild everything, lol. Yeah, with alot of money you can make anything into a nice little dowtown spot, but the problem with alot of places is money in the first place. Where do those fancy mult-story lofts come from, what about the money to completely redo the roads and sidewalks?

[GRDadof3 4088]

There are a variety of different ways: setting priorities within the municipal government that oversees that area, establishing "Neighborhood Enterprise Zones" like we have in Grand Rapids, structuring tax incentives for these areas to encourage development, working to have areas established as historic districts, and on and on. But it first takes people who are vested in that area and have the vision to see what others can't. This is another tool people can use to help those who don't have vision (potential investors for instance) see what the end result may look like.

[Urban_Legend 191]

Wow, I love before and after stuff like that!

One can only dream that cities could/would actually rehab their neighborhoods like that....

[GRDadof3 4088]

BTW: If you look at the bottom of each image slideshow, these were graphics done for specific project proposals, so they most certainly could be done (and hopefully will be done).