Life on City Streets is an analysis of systems within the built environment that focuses on creating an ‘innovation district’ in the second largest city of Georgia.  The city of Columbus in recent years has experienced a post-industrial evolution of its primary economic sectors from manufacturing and services toward a more information and idea centric market.  The first step in this project examined the overlay of transportation systems in Columbus with systems of mass media and press.  From these two systems, I distilled the common theme of circulation as the focal point of my proposed innovation district.  An innovation district facilitates the creation and dissemination of new ideas and supports municipal economies by spurring job growth in ways that play to a city’s specific economic strengths. These districts emphasize and reimagine the inherent attributes of cities: proximity, density, connectivity, and authentic places. Due to their frequent proximity to low-income neighborhoods, their development can help connect less privileged communities to employment and educational opportunities.  They are often bounded by businesses, schools, or institutes called anchor institutions that are integral to the functioning of the local economy. 

 

          In Columbus, I identified these anchor institutions as Delta Data (a regional technology and data processing firm), the headquarters for TSYS (one of the largest credit card processors in the nation), and the metropolitan Government Center.  I used these three institutions to triangulate a general area in which to develop an innovation district, also taking into consideration areas of the city with a high density of relatively affordable space that have prime development potential as well as areas that were already well developed and could support neighboring growth.  Given the current presence of numerous major financial and educational institutions in downtown Columbus, I chose to focus on the development of complete streets linking these areas and institutions as a means of creating a well connected, accessible, and attractive innovation district.  After taking measurements of several downtown streets, I found that Columbus’s expansive streetscape (reserved almost exclusively for automotive use) was actually wide enough in most places to accommodate space for sidewalks, storm gardens, separated bike lanes, multiple car lanes, and even a dedicated tramline.  By creating an efficient multifunctional street space that is inviting and safe for all modes of transportation (pedestrian, cyclist, motorist, and public transit), the city’s appeal would lie not only in its opportunities for employment, but also in the quality of its public life. 

 

          Expanding walking, biking, and public transit infrastructure would provide alternative and far more sustainable means of transportation to individual automobile use.  Building a well-rounded environment that effectively and comfortably connects places of work, life, and play is crucial in attracting creative young urbanites and bold new ideas to potential innovation districts such as these.  Creating complete streets in downtown Columbus would help solidify the functionality of these connections in an already growing financial data innovation district, securing increased economic development citywide.