5 urban planning challenges for downtown Oakland

Recently, Oakland Local sought out five people with long histories in Oakland and asked them to share their thoughts about downtown Oaklands planning challenges and opportunities. (Read the companion piece here.)

For our completely unscientific survey, we talked to a preservationist, an architect, a landscape architect, a developer and a planner. It is impossible to represent the immense diversity of Oaklands population or even of the possibilities for downtown in the space we have for this article, so please take this as a small piece of a much bigger conversation.

Even among the five people who generously took the time to share their ideas with us, the range of different perspectives was impressive and, at times, surprising. Here are five challenges that came out of these conversations.

Frank Ogawa Plaza

Frank Ogawa Plaza, with abundant seating. Photo by Chris Pattillo.

I dont think its terrible, but I think it raises issues, said Naomi Schiff, a member of the board of the Oakland Heritage Alliance and a local business owner who has lived in Oakland since 1974, of the plaza that sits at the heard of downtown and fronts City Hall.

Closing the street was seen as essential for attracting investment, said Matthew Taecker, chair of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) regional and urban design committee. The consequence of that was that downtown lost a lot of its connectivity.

Occupy people were the only people that ever used that space, Schiff said. The encampments presence in the plaza showed that, all the politics aside, its an inviting space.

Chris Pattillo, chair of the Oakland Planning Commission and president of PGA Design, was part of the initial design team that developed the master plan for Frank Ogawa Plaza. To be really successful, any urban space needs three things: good design, maintenance and programming, she said. I think the overall design of Ogawa Plaza is a good design.

To have vibrant urban spaces, you have to work at it, Pattillo noted. You cant sit back and wait for something magical to happen.

Continued here:
5 urban planning challenges for downtown Oakland