Tuning Cities for Young Families
Oct. 16th, 2021 10:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis article talks about how today's young adults want to raise a family in dense urban neighborhoods. Okay, great, density is good for both environmental and economic reasons. But the article makes it seem "hard" to meet family needs in current downtown infrastructure. It's not hard, people used to do it a lot. So let's look at what we could do with a modern downtown to make it more family-friendly.
First, we can sort buildings based on height. Bigger cities typically have taller buildings, but whatever densest area you have, that's your urban core. Second, realize that most buildings except for specialty things like a stadium are basically shells with some shelves inside. You can flip back and forth between commercial and residential uses, although this is easier with older buildings than modern ones. If you have empty buildings, you can fill them with pretty much whatever needs space, and just retrofit as necessary. Third, figure that a couple with 1 child or 2-3 of the same sex/gender will need 2 bedrooms, while more kids or sex/genders will need 3+ bedrooms. Soundproofing is important.
* Low-rise downtown (up to about 4 stories). While some of these will be single-purpose offices or apartments, many will be mixed-use buildings that are great for families. The ground floor is usually office or retail space. Above that will be one or more residential floors. You can fit a 1-bedroom apartment on one floor easily. If the buildings go deep into the lot, you can fit more bedrooms per floor. If you have 2 or 4 floors, usually one is living space and one is sleeping space. With only bedrooms on a floor, you can fit 3-4 per level. Handicap space? Use side-side units with the bottom apartment and office accessible, upper floors rented to abled people or add an elevator. For large families, townhouses offer spacious homes in dense areas, easily 4-6 bedrooms. Often a low-rise downtown will have a few empty lots. Turn those into parks.
* Mid-rise downtown (about 5-12 stories). At this level, what you often have going spare is office buildings whose tenants moved out. Retrofit them as apartments or condos and suit the amenities to families. The ground floor will be public-facing businesses. One or more floors above that can house larger businesses. You need at least one amenity floor, and might want to divide adult and youth amenities. Each building should aim for different ground-level businesses to create variety and cover most needs locally. Preferably, residents should own or work at as many of the businesses as possible rather than having those come from outsiders.
- Parking: can rely on public transit if highly available, underground parking, bike parking with showers and repair facilities, ZipCars, motor pool, etc. If you put the gym next to the bike garage, they can use the same locker room. Some cities let apartment buildings buy space in a nearby (within 1-2 blocks) parking garage. You should have at least a few ADA parking spaces and service parking spaces even if the building is mostly carless. Include at least one shuttlebus for group outings to city parks, shopping centers, etc. to reduce need for private vehicles. A separate ADA van is equally good for moving people in wheelchairs, furniture, or bulk cargo.
- Ground floor: restaurant(s), coffeehouse, toy store, clothing store(s), salon, clinic, grocery store, bank and/or music store with lesson and recording facilities.
- Business floor(s): small law firm or financers, counselors, consultants, maid service, etc. Include several sizes of office from single rooms to small suites for residents to rent (e.g. artist studios, computer programmer space).
- Adult or general amenity floor: large lounge, reading corner with BookCrossing shelf, cafe if you don't have one on the ground floor, rec room, reservable activity rooms, laundry room.
- Youth amenity floor: child care with in-home babysitting option, tutoring offices, reading room, child and teen rec rooms, reading corner with BookCrossing shelf, exchange bank of toys/clothes/books that children grow into and out of.
- Residential floors: mostly 2-3 bedrooms, can include a few 1-bedroom or studio units in odd-shaped niches, but do include at least one penthouse floor with 4-6 bedroom units for large families.
- Rooftop: green roof, community garden, dog walking area, astroturf "park" area, playground equipment, exercise equipment, grill & picnic area, pavilion(s), and/or outdoor games like shuffleboard.
Probably you won't have empty lots at this level. Activity options include:
- Create an alley park between two buildings.
- Depave something and make a green park or community garden.
- Turn part or all of a parking lot into a painted-games playground or skatepark.
- Refurbish a building for youth activities. Include play floor for young children, older children, and teens. Miniature golf is a fun family game option. Add stores selling games, toys, and craft/hobby supplies.
* High-rise downtown. Enter the cityscraper, a high-rise building with amenities rivaling that of a small town.
- At this size you should have some affordable units.
- ADA units will be served by elevator access. For pete's sake decorate some for wheelchair access, some for low vision, and some for low hearing at minimum.
- Consider adding a private school as soon as the childmass could support one, or at least, a daycare with a good educational slant like Montessori.
- Organize group activities for children, like bussing them to a city park for team sports or a community center for swim lessons. The more family activities you can offer in-house (like music or dance lessons) the better.
- Some kind of entertainment business like a movie theatre, playhouse, or bar with live music is advisable.
- Use greenwalls, garden floors, and/or hydroponic farms to prevent nature deprivation disorder.
- If you don't want pets in apartments, have a cat cafe or pet lounge instead.
- You really need major businesses like a bank (or at least an ATM lobby) and a clinic. Either have a grocery in the building or hire a shopping service.
- Multiple amenity floors are advisable, about one per 10 residential floors. You can space them out or stack them together.
- Diversify! Do not rely on only one or two anchor businesses. Cultivate small businesses to become larger ones and rent more space. Put a business incubator on one or two floors if possible.
When stocking a downtown or a mixed-use building, think about the businesses every small town needs. Calculate how many of each you need to serve your population. The more of these everyday needs that you can provide, the less your residents will have to travel. Keep their feet at home, keep their dollars at home! Design policies to promote and protect startups and small businesses. You want everyone working who can and wants to. Then they have more money to spend on each other's businesses, and that runs up your tax base so you can afford to make improvements.
Yes, these amenities will cost money. It will still cost less than driving for an hour to reach them. The reason you want people to live, work, and play in-house is that it creates an eddy in the city's economy, where your cityscraper has a mini-economy of its own that feeds prosperity by keeping the cash circulating under your roof, allowing more residents to afford more services.
First, we can sort buildings based on height. Bigger cities typically have taller buildings, but whatever densest area you have, that's your urban core. Second, realize that most buildings except for specialty things like a stadium are basically shells with some shelves inside. You can flip back and forth between commercial and residential uses, although this is easier with older buildings than modern ones. If you have empty buildings, you can fill them with pretty much whatever needs space, and just retrofit as necessary. Third, figure that a couple with 1 child or 2-3 of the same sex/gender will need 2 bedrooms, while more kids or sex/genders will need 3+ bedrooms. Soundproofing is important.
* Low-rise downtown (up to about 4 stories). While some of these will be single-purpose offices or apartments, many will be mixed-use buildings that are great for families. The ground floor is usually office or retail space. Above that will be one or more residential floors. You can fit a 1-bedroom apartment on one floor easily. If the buildings go deep into the lot, you can fit more bedrooms per floor. If you have 2 or 4 floors, usually one is living space and one is sleeping space. With only bedrooms on a floor, you can fit 3-4 per level. Handicap space? Use side-side units with the bottom apartment and office accessible, upper floors rented to abled people or add an elevator. For large families, townhouses offer spacious homes in dense areas, easily 4-6 bedrooms. Often a low-rise downtown will have a few empty lots. Turn those into parks.
* Mid-rise downtown (about 5-12 stories). At this level, what you often have going spare is office buildings whose tenants moved out. Retrofit them as apartments or condos and suit the amenities to families. The ground floor will be public-facing businesses. One or more floors above that can house larger businesses. You need at least one amenity floor, and might want to divide adult and youth amenities. Each building should aim for different ground-level businesses to create variety and cover most needs locally. Preferably, residents should own or work at as many of the businesses as possible rather than having those come from outsiders.
- Parking: can rely on public transit if highly available, underground parking, bike parking with showers and repair facilities, ZipCars, motor pool, etc. If you put the gym next to the bike garage, they can use the same locker room. Some cities let apartment buildings buy space in a nearby (within 1-2 blocks) parking garage. You should have at least a few ADA parking spaces and service parking spaces even if the building is mostly carless. Include at least one shuttlebus for group outings to city parks, shopping centers, etc. to reduce need for private vehicles. A separate ADA van is equally good for moving people in wheelchairs, furniture, or bulk cargo.
- Ground floor: restaurant(s), coffeehouse, toy store, clothing store(s), salon, clinic, grocery store, bank and/or music store with lesson and recording facilities.
- Business floor(s): small law firm or financers, counselors, consultants, maid service, etc. Include several sizes of office from single rooms to small suites for residents to rent (e.g. artist studios, computer programmer space).
- Adult or general amenity floor: large lounge, reading corner with BookCrossing shelf, cafe if you don't have one on the ground floor, rec room, reservable activity rooms, laundry room.
- Youth amenity floor: child care with in-home babysitting option, tutoring offices, reading room, child and teen rec rooms, reading corner with BookCrossing shelf, exchange bank of toys/clothes/books that children grow into and out of.
- Residential floors: mostly 2-3 bedrooms, can include a few 1-bedroom or studio units in odd-shaped niches, but do include at least one penthouse floor with 4-6 bedroom units for large families.
- Rooftop: green roof, community garden, dog walking area, astroturf "park" area, playground equipment, exercise equipment, grill & picnic area, pavilion(s), and/or outdoor games like shuffleboard.
Probably you won't have empty lots at this level. Activity options include:
- Create an alley park between two buildings.
- Depave something and make a green park or community garden.
- Turn part or all of a parking lot into a painted-games playground or skatepark.
- Refurbish a building for youth activities. Include play floor for young children, older children, and teens. Miniature golf is a fun family game option. Add stores selling games, toys, and craft/hobby supplies.
* High-rise downtown. Enter the cityscraper, a high-rise building with amenities rivaling that of a small town.
- At this size you should have some affordable units.
- ADA units will be served by elevator access. For pete's sake decorate some for wheelchair access, some for low vision, and some for low hearing at minimum.
- Consider adding a private school as soon as the childmass could support one, or at least, a daycare with a good educational slant like Montessori.
- Organize group activities for children, like bussing them to a city park for team sports or a community center for swim lessons. The more family activities you can offer in-house (like music or dance lessons) the better.
- Some kind of entertainment business like a movie theatre, playhouse, or bar with live music is advisable.
- Use greenwalls, garden floors, and/or hydroponic farms to prevent nature deprivation disorder.
- If you don't want pets in apartments, have a cat cafe or pet lounge instead.
- You really need major businesses like a bank (or at least an ATM lobby) and a clinic. Either have a grocery in the building or hire a shopping service.
- Multiple amenity floors are advisable, about one per 10 residential floors. You can space them out or stack them together.
- Diversify! Do not rely on only one or two anchor businesses. Cultivate small businesses to become larger ones and rent more space. Put a business incubator on one or two floors if possible.
When stocking a downtown or a mixed-use building, think about the businesses every small town needs. Calculate how many of each you need to serve your population. The more of these everyday needs that you can provide, the less your residents will have to travel. Keep their feet at home, keep their dollars at home! Design policies to promote and protect startups and small businesses. You want everyone working who can and wants to. Then they have more money to spend on each other's businesses, and that runs up your tax base so you can afford to make improvements.
Yes, these amenities will cost money. It will still cost less than driving for an hour to reach them. The reason you want people to live, work, and play in-house is that it creates an eddy in the city's economy, where your cityscraper has a mini-economy of its own that feeds prosperity by keeping the cash circulating under your roof, allowing more residents to afford more services.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-10-17 05:13 am (UTC)Odds are that taking lessons from how things were, and how things are elsewhere, will pay off. One building can have the greengrocer's, the one across the street can have the butcher's, the baker's can be over there, and dry goods can come in via a service. Etc, etc. And, most importantly, be aware of the constraints of the customer base. Sure, it would be nice if everyone could eat organic free-range eggs and artisanal grass-fed meat, but if those are out of budget, better make sure there's some factory-farmed hamburger around, too. If one doesn't try to build on the supermarket model, there might be room for both.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-10-17 05:18 am (UTC)They had a butcher, a flower shop, a boardinghouse, (I think) the refurbished empty lot, city busses, and I forget what-all else in the same block. Further afield were apartments and the school.
Yes ...
Date: 2021-10-17 07:37 am (UTC)For comparison, look at Silver Square in Terramagne-Rutledge. Even only half-full it has:
Silver Square is a mixed-use block with a parking garage underneath. Some of the buildings face the outer streets while others face the inner courtyard. The left side includes a bank, a supermarket, a clothing/housewares store, and two restaurants. Silver Hill Kitchen is a nice family restaurant for sit-down meals serving classic Vermont fare. La Provençale is a casual French restaurant that does delivery and takeout as well as sit-down dining, with an emphasis on fresh produce. The upper right is an office building with 1-bedroom and studio apartments above it. The rest of the units are live-work spaces with a lower level for retail, office, or workshop and above that a 1-3 bedroom apartment. Most are variable in size and shape, but there is a row of 5 matching townhouses in the lower right corner. There are 16 live-work units in the lower right plus 8 more near the upper right. That section also includes the main lobby (facing outward) and the multipurpose room (facing inward). Most of the live-work buildings have a tiny private yard, but most of the center is a common courtyard filled with trees, flowers, community garden boxes, benches, and a brick patio. Among the surviving businesses there are the Smooth Move smoothie bar and a hole-in-the-wall Italian-Vermont fusion joint called Naples Maples that does things like pizza, calzones, and maple gelato. There is also the Pretty Penny beauty parlor and Quirk's, a resale store for whimsical things. The block is about half empty and many of the people living there are senior citizens because it's cheap.
This will be a good place for some of the Syrian refugees to move in.
Thoughts
Date: 2021-10-17 06:23 am (UTC)Agreed.
>> One building can have the greengrocer's, the one across the street can have the butcher's, the baker's can be over there,<<
That's good for people who can afford specialty items. A general grocery store may be cheaper.
>> and dry goods can come in via a service. Etc, etc. <<
One reason I suggested a service is that buying in bulk is cheaper than buying retail. The bigger the building, the better your savings should be.
>> And, most importantly, be aware of the constraints of the customer base. Sure, it would be nice if everyone could eat organic free-range eggs and artisanal grass-fed meat, but if those are out of budget, better make sure there's some factory-farmed hamburger around, too. If one doesn't try to build on the supermarket model, there might be room for both. <<
In a mid-rise I'd go for one bargain service and one nicer service. In a high-rise I'd want at least bargain, middle, and gourmet options plus any specialties that had enough people (e.g. kosher, vegetarian). There are companies that provide ready meals, meal kits, snackboxes, etc. and the bulk accounts for these have a big savings -- which is why some office buildings use them. Some services may offer different price levels within the same company.
https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/every-meal-kit-delivery-service-in-america-article
https://urbantastebud.com/best-snack-subscription-boxes/
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-10-17 07:29 am (UTC)That's limiting one's thinking to the idea that a focused offering somehow requires specialty items to make a go of it. We live in High Suburbia here, but, in addition to at least four farmers' markets about as close as any supermarket, there are half a dozen produce markets in similar range whose regular prices for seasonal fresh produce handily beats any of the supermarkets'. The bakeries and meat markets don't do that much for the lower end, but I suspect that's primarily due to the low cost being generated by economies of scale they can't match. In these times, though, where meat counters get shipped slaughterhouse-packaged subprimal cuts, covering a range of options might be easier. Bakeries can be similar: ship in the stuff where economies of scale win, and make the quality stuff themselves. They can offer better stuff cheaper that way. Add in charcuterie and cheese shops for the win; there's no intrinsic reason why those counters have to be at the supermarket -- they aren't made there. This is the way France does it, for example, and it works fine for them.
I think the biggest change for an urban setting will be for the building owners to look beyond pricing their retail space for whoever will pay the most for it, and recognize that encouraging the kinds of businesses that their prospective tenants will require by offering them lower rent will pay off in occupancy.
>> One reason I suggested a service is that buying in bulk is cheaper than buying retail. The bigger the building, the better your savings should be. <<
The catch there is that not everyone wants the same properties for their toothpaste, or shampoo, or toilet paper, or laundry detergent, or whatever like that. Lots of things overlap, but enough don't that there isn't as much opportunity as might be thought at first glance.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-10-17 08:00 am (UTC)No, it's based on my observation that megachain supermarkets can beat almost every small store that focuses on a product area like meat or cheese. People with a little spending money can upgrade and visit a butcher. People on a tight budget are stuck shopping at Wal-Mart or Aldi.
>>I think the biggest change for an urban setting will be for the building owners to look beyond pricing their retail space for whoever will pay the most for it, and recognize that encouraging the kinds of businesses that their prospective tenants will require by offering them lower rent will pay off in occupancy.<<
Likely so -- although T-Rutledge is more about getting any renter because the empty properties outnumber the people available to rent them.
>>The catch there is that not everyone wants the same properties for their toothpaste, or shampoo, or toilet paper, or laundry detergent, or whatever like that. Lots of things overlap, but enough don't that there isn't as much opportunity as might be thought at first glance.<<
I was thinking primarily about food, where staples such as flour, sugar, salt, etc. don't vary much. But household items like toilet paper would be good too. The laundry room should stock laundry supplies for sale. When designing for young families, remember they almost always have a tight budget, because kids are expensive. If you could get an okay brand of toilet paper for half the price, would you still splurge on premium?
Anyhow, I think that enough families in a mid-rise would be interested in banding together to support some services. A high-rise with more families could probably support more diverse services. People would still be free to do their own shopping. But when you've got kids hanging on you, it's just easier to take what's available that doesn't require you to go out shopping. So as long as the building chooses good services, it should work.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-10-17 12:53 pm (UTC)So, I heard the other day that the Aldis chain was closing...
>>I was thinking primarily about food, where staples such as flour, sugar, salt, etc. don't vary much. But household items like toilet paper would be good too. The laundry room should stock laundry supplies for sale.<<
Do like a hotel and stock basic necessities for residents/their guests. Also include a way to give feedback so you know if the detergent gives someone hives or something...
Some smaller places could even do like Japan and have vending machines for toothbrushes, clean underwear, etc.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-10-17 07:40 pm (UTC)That sucks. They sometimes have individual products that are excellent. Cheese is a particularly good bet.
>> Do like a hotel and stock basic necessities for residents/their guests. Also include a way to give feedback so you know if the detergent gives someone hives or something... <<
That's about what I was thinking. With young families, I would ask people what products they use, try to find a service that offers the most common, and favor hypoallergenic ones due to babies' sensitive skin.
>> Some smaller places could even do like Japan and have vending machines for toothbrushes, clean underwear, etc. <<
That's an excellent idea. They could make a lot of extra money with a diaper machine. Who wants to drive half an hour just because they ran out of diapers? Especially in the middle of the night.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-10-17 05:29 pm (UTC)We are observing from different viewpoints. You live on the outskirts of a smaller metropolitan area with lowish population density, where land is cheap. I live in the suburban area of a very large (San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose) metropolitan area, with population density ranging from somewhat to lots more than yours, four cities with more people in them than your entire area, and ten more over 100,000 -- and land is outrageously dear, in many cases due to restrictive land-use policies that people are just now starting to recognize as problematic and change.
There is an ever-regenerating stream of stories here about megachain supermarkets attempting to open branches in urban centers or food deserts, with a corresponding stream of stories about those branches closing a few years later. Seems the volume is insufficient to get the store to cover the operating expenses, for various causes. And I'm sure you are aware of how thin their margins are. Even here in suburbia, every so often a supermarket closes because the chain can't justify keeping it open.
>> People with a little spending money can upgrade and visit a butcher. People on a tight budget are stuck shopping at Wal-Mart or Aldi. <<
I'd guess that's a likely consequence of specialty stores' being in competition with the supermarkets for low-end items. (Although most of the supermarkets around here have premium products in their meat and bakery cases, in addition to the run-of-the-mill stuff. They are priced similarly to what one can get at a specialty shop or farmers' market. Ethnic grocers, who are a common go-to for us, can often beat those prices.) If sufficient demand for budget-priced products is there because there are enough people around who'll buy it, astute specialty stores may start offering it and label it so as not to get people to expect that it comes from their premium sources. And the folks who live nearby get one more reason not to have to hop in their car or get an Uber to go to the megachain.
>> I was thinking primarily about food, where staples such as flour, sugar, salt, etc. don't vary much. <<
Yeah, those are more fungible. But even there I can buy store brand for enough less than national brands to make a difference, while some people insist on the name. Those decisions are both valid.
>> But household items like toilet paper would be good too. The laundry room should stock laundry supplies for sale. <<
For emergency use, fine -- but unless you're talking about stocking the giant economy-size bottles for families dealing with infants and toddlers, the single-use stuff isn't going to cut it -- and will be much more expensive. Probably better dealt with through delivery services.
Speaking of which, having that be a support mode for a lot of these things and federated on a building level for the larger places is a likely win. If the building is big enough to support a delivery locker of the sort that is becoming common at supermarkets and convenience stores around here, the appropriate companies will probably find that they can justify giving all the tenants in the building premium delivery status. They just have to think it's worth doing.
>> When designing for young families, remember they almost always have a tight budget, because kids are expensive. If you could get an okay brand of toilet paper for half the price, would you still splurge on premium? <<
Tight budgets, absolutely. But the local discount store stocks paper goods without the brand label for that half-price, many of which are every bit as good as the standard paper goods at the supermarket. Smart & Final also comes in handy in that range. And by saving there, I wind up with more to do fun things with -- like eat out when it makes sense. Or feed the arts budget.
>> So as long as the building chooses good services, it should work. <<
In the current economic environment, that will be the biggest problem. Everyone in the building will have a different idea of what makes the service good enough to use -- and the whole thing will fail without enough buy-in from the residents.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-10-17 07:55 am (UTC)And back when the average couple expected a few more kids than they do today, too.
Yes ...
Date: 2021-10-17 08:27 am (UTC)* Housing, our main topic here. The small to medium live-work buildings used to be the norm, fell out of fashion for decades, and now are attracting fresh interest. Cityscrapers are newer, but we can look at older patterns of housing to estimate what would help make them attractive.
* Walkability. This used to be the norm but is now quite rare. By seeking to give people opportunities to live, work, play, and run errands within a small radius we encourage active travel, minimize time needed to accomplish things, and cultivate a customer base for local businesses. This relies heavily on making sidewalks pleasant to travel and ensuring there are many businesses packed close together. Amenities for walkers (benches) and bikers (racks, repair stations) will help this.
* Extended families. We've not only lost this, we've also lost the nuclear family; people often live in ones and twos now. That's lonely and precarious. To some extent we can compensate for this by substituting other relationships, such as helping neighbors form connections (a building lounge, a rooftop grill park) and providing services like childcare.
* Economics. A huge problem here is that one income used to support a family, while now it takes 2-5. Without fixing the minimum wage as a living wage, we're not going to solve the problem that people can't afford to have kids.
* Policies. America is the world's most family-hostile allegedly developed country, with no guaranteed leave. Happily, any corporation or organization can say "screw that" and furnish parental leave, throw office baby showers, install a nursing/pumping room, offer flex time, or if large enough even daycare. Anyone making these choices will strongly attract and retain young parent employees.
So, imagine that our proposed building renovations are backed by some developer who actually means their "family-friendly" advertising, and those buildings get bought by local landlords who are tired of seeing their city hemorrhaging young adults.
Over in T-America, Rutledge would be ripe for a "densifying" project like this. They have a lot of empty buildings and not near enough people. Part of that is because some of those buildings aren't quite right for current needs. That's fixable. But they don't actually have to do big projects like this. They have some places like Silver Square that are pretty good even half-empty. If they focused on filling those, it would thicken up the activity considerably.