Evolving the Urbanscape

What factors are required at the planning and design level to effect positive change?

Eric Peissel: Making improvements and progress requires collaborative planning and design with both public and private stakeholders as well as engagement with people who will use these places. With this shift, policymakers, planners and designers have an opportunity to reimagine neighborhoods and better connect them to each other. Downtowns, or CBDs, traditionally the centres for regional transportation systems, will need to adapt as micromobility influences infrastructure and land-use decision making, which will also be guided by environmental sustainability factors. Already we see how electric scooters and e-bikes are becoming an important mix in the transportation cocktail. 

The reallocation of space from automobile use is an accelerating trend that promises to support more sustainable urban living. This includes opportunities to create spaces for more urban trees and plantings. To increase green elements within cities, WSP is even decking over divisive corridors such as railways and highways. The need for urban highways is being questioned, and I have seen firsthand how removing a highway can completely transform neighbourhoods, opening up the area for renewed street networks, new business and affordable housing, and other community-building uses.

On the land use side of the equation, there is more and more recognition that the missing middle, or medium-density development, will be key to allow for sufficient density to support transit-supported neighbourhoods while avoiding the impersonal environment created by large glass and steel residential towers. In the West, land-use zoning resulted in a lack of mixing of uses, which we now realize has only accentuated car dependence and has led to the current development patterns that exist in many suburban settings. With the mixing of land uses, there will be opportunity to create 15-minute cities where all daily necessities can be found by walking within a 15-minute timeframe; the need to address social equity requires understanding that the requirements for a 15-minute city will demand attention to underserved communities where lack of access to essential goods was shown to be a pressing issue during the pandemic.

The pandemic has also highlighted the importance of resilience. How can cities build resilience to deal with the main issues of today—from climate change to population growth?

Eric Peissel: Building resilience is essential for all types of communities. COVID and continuing experiences with extreme and more frequent climatic events around the world have taught communities that having the ability to manage through and bounce back from disruptive and unexpected events is no longer an optional objective. The good news is that the strategies cities adopt to address big issues can create a cascade of positive outcomes. 

Our work in cities like Copenhagen where we are developing parks and greenspaces to manage major stormwater events helps cities become both more resilient and greener. In New York City, we are working to protect the coastlines from another major storm surge through a variety of measures from recreating wetlands to creating waterfront public spaces, which also provide a protective measure.

There is a social component to resilience as well. COVID has also shown us the importance of having outdoor spaces, not only for recreation but also for cafés, restaurants and markets so that people can enjoy more activities in the open air. Montréal comes to mind here as it is a city that embraced outdoor dining many years ago, adding more venues with the pandemic, and it is great to see so many other cities retaining outdoor patios for restaurants post COVID. Outdoor spaces strengthen social capital and together with the right infrastructure provide the building blocks to develop cities in a sustainable way to make them more liveable and attractive for generations to come.

Can you cite a few downtowns that have impressed you during your travels to WSP offices around the world, and why?

Eric Peissel: I have had the benefit of visiting many cities, some ancient and others modern. Older cities are much more walkable because that was the primary means of transportation that existed when these cities were formed. Cities that boomed in the early decades of the Industrial Revolution were developed around transit and railways and still benefit from this lineage today. So, there are historical precedents that we can learn from; cities with different histories have succeeded in developing vibrant centres while offering active and public transportation options to navigate the urban landscape.

Recently, when visiting Copenhagen for the first time, I experienced the city’s extensive public transportation system, which includes buses, trains, metro, and ferries, as well, but the bicycle is at the top of the transportation pecking order. It was great to be in a city that was designed and built for cycling, making it easy, comfortable and safe to move around using purpose-built infrastructure.

My recent travels have also taken me to Bogota, a city that dedicates a network of streets and avenues to walking and cycling every Sunday from early morning into the afternoon. This step supports greater road safety for pedestrians and cyclists as well as reducing emissions, a goal of all forward-thinking cities today. As cities focus on ways to increase inclusive transport, Bogota can provide valuable pointers; both the city’s bicycle network and a vast and very efficient bus rapid transit system, which were developed in the past few decades, are heavily used, and together they have improved mobility and access for the whole urban population. 

I have also been impressed by Philadelphia, which has embraced active transportation in recent years and created a large network in relatively little time. Policies and programs in place for inclusive and greener development position the city to build upon efforts to rejuvenate Center City. COVID has certainly highlighted the need for public policies to address the issues of inclusion and equity, resilience and sustainability, which continue to challenge many cities and their downtowns. 

Finally, being a self-confessed transit geek, visiting Sydney, Australia was a pleasure with the very diverse public transit network including ferries, buses, light rail, commuter rail and metros.  The city’s impressive network reduces the need for private vehicles. In fact, the fastest way to our office from the airport is by train, not by car. It’s easy and convenient to use a combination of public transport options to move through the city, which, of course, is essential to urban vitality while also making it possible for people to discover more places.