Indianapolis Cultural Trail
I love the cultural trail. It provides a guiding path through downtown and reassures visitors and residents that they are headed in the right direction. It attracts a lot of press and is a showcase for the great things happening in downtown Indianapolis. The people who made this project happen, either through donations or hard work, deserve to lauded for their efforts.
However, in the end I worry that the reason this urban trail is so successful is because downtown Indianapolis is entirely unlivable without it. Because the Cultural Trail, while great and necessary, is a very expensive piece of infrastructure that does what many cities can do for free.
However, in the end I worry that the reason this urban trail is so successful is because downtown Indianapolis is entirely unlivable without it. Because the Cultural Trail, while great and necessary, is a very expensive piece of infrastructure that does what many cities can do for free.
Labels: controversy Friday, cultural trail, Indianapolis
posted by Graeme at
7:30 AM
3 Comments:
Controversy Friday indeed. Unlivable downtown without the Cultural Trail? The trail isn't even 50% complete! Clearly an ample number are finding the downtown quite livable--within the Midwest, only Chicago and Minneapolis have larger downtown populations. I think I see what you're getting at in terms of pedestrianism and bicycle friendliness, but I think of plenty other US cities that lack both could pedestrian infrastructure and anything like the Cultural Trail--and have empty downtowns to boot. I'd love to hear you elaborate on this one.
Hey, just wanted to say that I really like your blog. I am a civil engineering student who is very passionate about structural engineering, too!
Thanks Hashim, I'm glad you enjoy the website.
American Dirt, I think your points about Indianapolis having more people living downtown compared to other Midwest cities is entirely true. Even really big cities like Atlanta and Houston don't have a heavily populated downtown. But I am not content with any model that a US city can provide.
Many cities outside of the US have figured out how to move pedestrians within the city without resorting to a radical solution like the Cultural Trail. Even in the slums of South Africa, or the metropolis of Mumbai, or small towns in Cuba... there are cities all over the world that have remembered that cities are for people.
I should probably mention that my argument about "unlivable" is one of semantics. In particular, unlivable is anywhere I could not convince my wife to move (and she is an adventurous soul). Downtown has a good amount of people that fall into the demographics of urban pioneers and families w/o children, but not a broad mix of people.
I will happily consider it "livable" when I can walk down the street and see a cross-section of our society including young, adult, elderly, poor, rich, white collar, blue collar, and people of all cultures represented in large numbers.
In truth, I wrote this article to provoke a response. I don't want people to think that the Cultural Trail will solve the downtown pedestrian requirements on its own. We need more. Several neighborhoods in Indy already meet my qualifications of livable. Let's try to make downtown Indy more like other parts of Indy (but with taller/more dense development).
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