Can you believe summer is almost over . . . We've been so busy (introducing the new landscapearchitect Product Search Tool, selling out two trade shows, updating the Fellows profiles, expanding circulation . . .) that I forgot to even mention that last month was the 30th Anniversary issue of LASN!

 

Man, does time fly when you're having fun, and the first 30 has been a lot of fun. Hard to believe we went from this picture of cofounder Martin Smith Jr. and myself at the CLASS Fund Golf Tournament in 1985, to having three of my "kids' working at the office today: Nathan selling the heck out of the trade shows and internet; Aaron reorganizing the FASLA section of landscapearchitect; and Tiffany working on the new product search engine and updating Fellows as well . . . Not sure if any of them will stick with LASN after college, but you may want to remember their names "cause they are getting pretty good at it . . .

But enough about the past . . . For now . . . At least as it relates to my journey. Instead, let's take a look at city streetscapes (the theme of the issue) and how they have changed over the past 30 years.

For one, cities are evolving across the country as populations in major cities are shifting from citizens to immigrants. According to a report by Erin Roman and Wei Lu for Bloomberg Business https://tinyurl.com/pfy9x78, Americans are leaving the major cities like New York, Chicago and L.A., while "people from abroad move in to these bustling cities to fill the vacant low-skilled jobs" left behind. One reason for the departures is that the costs of living in these cities have become prohibitive. The costs of buying or renting in these downtown areas have become so expensive that one must either have an awesome job or make collective living arrangements. The report continues by citing that people from abroad are able to survive in these big cities by "living in "creative housing arrangements' in which they pack six to eight individuals, or two to four families into one apartment or home. It's an arrangement that most Americans just aren't willing to pursue, and even many immigrants decide it's not for them as time goes by."

Ironically these biggest of cities are the areas where voters vote overwhelmingly for more public assistance and programs. In essence, the larger the city the more dependent they are on outside resources to survive. At the same time some of these cities are working hard to connect their people. For example we are featuring a downtown Chicago project (ahead of LASN's upcoming November ASLA Show issue) that upgrades the "people street' and encourages a growing canopy along the Navy Pier waterfront. This is part of a huge effort redeveloping that coastal stretch of the city over many years.

Still, Americans are moving out of the rust belt, with Cleveland, Dayton, Toledo, Syracuse, Rochester, Detroit and Milwaukee all in the top 20 cities losing citizens. Many of these cities, though, are not gaining immigrant populations, since these areas are also losing the manufacturing jobs that helped create them.

So where are they moving to? They are moving to the suburbs, to the Pacific Northwest, to the warmer states of Florida, Arizona and Texas . . . To places with more space, and to places with a greater sense of community.

That's why we chose to feature the newly redeveloped downtown of Tolleson, Arizona, where wide, decorative streets attract locals and bring together a sense of community that a large downtown just cannot provide.

Unlike cities developed in the early days of America, western cities like Seattle were built "out' more than "up' and that's why we chose two streetscapes in the Seattle area that exemplify how cities with larger populations can ehance that small town feel. Seattle, however, and cities like Portland, San Francisco and Vancouver are beginning to grow "up' faster than "out', and will eventually become like their older sisters if history once again repeats itself . . .

The one thing that remains the same, however, and unites all of these projects, is that virtually every "streetscape" we reviewed and featured was meant to repeal the big city feel and enhance the small town attributes that bring together the citizenry and provide that sense of community. I think a lot of this is due to the work of Landscape Architects who have been, almost exclusively, the ones to bring nature and people together in positive settings even in the midst of a concrete jungle . . .

Good work and God Bless . . .

George Schmok, Publisher