A city is a place where there is no need to wait for next week to get the answer to a question, to taste the food of any country, to find new voices to listen to and familiar ones to listen to again. - Margaret Mead
Writer's note:
I decided to look for architectural and neighborhood planning examples that might lead to a further conversation about San Leandro's Downtown and distinctive neighborhoods after reading about the Village Market Place developer negotiations with a third anchor tenant now in progress. That article can be found here http://sanleandro.patch.com/groups/business-news/p/village-marketplace-developer-in-final-negotiatio...
Find out what's happening in San Leandrowith free, real-time updates from Patch.
I wrote previously about the Village Market Place in a prior blog which can be read hre: http://sanleandro.patch.com/groups/opinion/p/seek-community-input-and-rethink-village-marketplace-pl...
10 PRINCIPALS FOR LIVABLE COMMUNITIES
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-The American Institute of Architects
**#1 Design on a Human Scale**
Compact, pedestrian-friendly communities allow residents to walk to shops, services, cultural resources, and jobs and can reduce traffic congestion and benefit people’s health.
**#2 Provide Choices**
People want variety in housing, shopping, recreation, transportation, and employment. Variety creates lively neighborhoods and accommodates residents in different stages of their lives.
** #3 Encourage Mixed-Use Development**
Integrating different land uses and varied building types creates vibrant, pedestrian-friendly, and diverse communities.
** #4 Preserve Urban Centers**
Restoring, revitalizing, and infilling urban centers takes advantage of existing streets, services, and buildings and avoids the need for new infrastructure. This helps to curb sprawl and promotes stability for city neighborhoods.
**#5 Vary Transportation Options**
Giving people the option of walking, biking, and using public transit in addition to driving reduces traffic congestion, protects the environment, and encourages physical activity.
** #6 Build Vibrant Public Spaces**
Citizens need welcoming, well-defined public places to stimulate face-to-face interaction, collectively celebrate and mourn, encourage civic participation, admire public art, and gather for public events.
**#7 Create a Neighborhood Identity**
A “sense of place” gives neighborhoods a unique character, enhances the walking environment, and creates pride in the community.
**#8 Protect Environmental Resources**
A well-designed balance of nature and development preserves natural systems, protects waterways from pollution, reduces air pollution, and protects property values.
**#9 Conserve Landscapes**
Open space, farms, and wildlife habitat are essential for environmental, recreational, and cultural reasons.
**#10 Design Matters**
Design excellence is the foundation of successful and healthy communities.
http://www.aia.org/aiaucmp/groups/aia/documents/pdf/aias077979.pdf
