Kinda like Europe (but saltier)
Changes to the Salt Lake Metro Area
From Chapters 3 & 4 of Green Cities of Europe
In the years after world war 2 Copenhagen was on the same trajectory as the United States in terms of extreme population growth, rapid development and increased car usage. What’s interesting is how differently the city of Copenhagen and Salt Lake City look and act now. This is incredible because it means that Copenhagen saw the problem early and chose to address, thus they are leaps and bounds ahead in green development than Salt Lake because there is much less that they have to undo” and their development has created a culture that is more flexible and positively responsive to sustainable development tactics/implementation. Freiburg, Germany had a different set up, the aftermath of WWII left the city almost completely levelled and this resulted in their planning being grounded in the act of preserving and protecting what was left of the city, this was done by restrictions on redevelopment unknown to Western America development all while planning to accommodate population growth. This combination of preserving the culture, history and environment of a city devastated by destruction while looking ahead into future growth trends has led to a town's success with sustainable redevelopment.
Below are 4 examples from both Freiburg and Copenhagen that I find not only genius but also attainable for Salt Lake City in terms of our own sustainable development.
I don’t know how easy this would be to implement in Salt Lake City but I found the idea visionary and worth mentioning; I love that Copenhagen guides the planning in other localities through principles and priorities rather than one master plan. I think it allows for more creativity in development projects and seems to imply a faith in the people's ability to envision the bigger picture which contributes to a culture that is fond of sustainable development. I also think that it makes the ecology of planning stand out more as it doesn’t rely on the static of one master plan but rather the end vision of shared developmental values. This kind of thinking also transcends city limits and can make municipalities allies rather than border crossers.
I would love to see the investment in Solar Energy further explored in the Salt Lake Valley which receives 222 days of sun a year (that’s so much!!!). The way the city of Freiburg was able to link solar technology to economic development is such a vital tool to legitimising not just renewable energy but any sustainable development practice in general. The fact that solar energy was linked to the cities economic initiatives legitimized the program. In a place like Salt Lake City, a culture that is quite concerned with its economic state, this is a smart move. Right not solar energy is being quite incentivizes in the Salt Lake Valley through subsidies, similar to those of Freiburg. Still I think an approach which also makes encourages investment into solar energy and divestment from fossil fuels to go hand in hand (a place to run to not just something to run away from. This “industrial ecology” can also become a part of the social realm of the city through art installations and information centers that weave solar energy into the fabric and culture of our city, strengthened by the economic impacts of such development that gives residents a faith in the new energy solutions as was done in Freiburg.
Salt Lake City could also stand to take heed from some of Freiberg's stormwater management techniques. I find it crazy that not too long ago it was illegal to harvest rainwater in the valley. Salt Lake tends to forget that it is part of a high desert ecosystem and that water is very much a growing issue for our cities future sustainability. Big Salt Lake office buildings downtown could benefit from green roofing in social and economic ways, making use of unused roof top space for social use and would add the value of the building. Water swailes housed by lots of native plants would give sense of place to areas and could function as great drainage systems for our crazy spring storm seasons, these areas would act as landmarks and green spaces with an aesthetic that makes them uniquely of Salt Lake City. Economic Incentives to make private properties permeable and to invest in permeable surfaces in different phases of development would be a great way to take steps to restoring our aquifers. All of these water centred developments would “make the invisible visible” revealing our cities ties and dependence to water in beautiful ways.
Copenhagen's radial finger plan would be such an antidote to the Salt Lake Valley’s metropolitan areas sprawl, a epidemic that has affected the environmental, cultural and economic health of Salt Lake City and surrounding municipalities for years. The finger plan is mostly applicable in terms of its fingers (rather than the green space between the fingers). This is because we have some of the widest streets in the United States (dare I say the world) and also have an extensive blueprint of past trolley lines that could guide the areas we choose to implement street cars/ TRAX by researching the history of the most used trolley areas before the trolley system was taken from us. Green-space would be more difficult as the majority of the valley is already developed, but there could be methods to re-green areas along the train lines and encourage green space to be a requisite for developments that build along these new train lines. Rather than a hand/finger plan I see an 8 string guitar (perhaps 12 string), with the main strings connecting the south and north of the valley extensively (it doesn’t have to be a super straight line to be harmonious) and re-greening, ecological industry and urban agriculture taking place between the strings. Different Fret boards could be the street cars that run shorter distances east and west. We already have the G, B and high E strings (the, blue line, the red line and the green line)! This is good because development projects can happen right now without creating a whole new train line, although new train lines/street cars should be developed urgently.
Solar Village Fieburg, Germany
Bioswale, Frieeburg, Germany
Fingerplan, Copenhagen, Denmark
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