Vanderbilt Register, March 7-20, 2005

Vanderbilt Helps Set Course for City’s Future
Faculty, students, staff contribute to ‘Plan of Nashville’

by Meghan Umphres

As Nashville’s largest private employer, Vanderbilt University’s presence can be felt throughout the city, from the towering architecture of its academic buildings and health care facilities to the myriad of arts events and educational lectures it brings to the community. Home to roughly 11,000 students and 18,000 employees, it is a city within a city, a microcosm that affects its neighbors and vice versa.

So, it is no surprise that when the Nashville community came together to create what would ultimately become the comprehensive guide to Nashville’s future growth, Vanderbilt’s best and brightest were a part of the process, including faculty, staff and students from a cross section of disciplines. More than 700 Nashvillians participated in a series of community workshops to implement a vision for the city, starting with their own wishes, hopes and dreams.

With the help of several departments at Vanderbilt, as well as governmental agencies and neighborhood groups, The Plan of Nashville: Avenues to a Great City was born. The 250-page book was written and edited by Christine Kreyling, a notable Nashville journalist, and is produced by the Nashville Civic Design Center, a non-profit organization committed to elevating the quality of Nashville’s built environment to promote public participation in the creation of a more beautiful and functional city.

With Mayor Bill Purcell’s vision, and partnerships among Vanderbilt, the University of Tennessee, the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency, the metropolitan government of Nashville and Davidson County and the private sector, the Civic Design Center was established in 2000. Its mission: to construct a plan for Nashville for the next 50 years.

“ This was a huge community undertaking,” said Mary Pat Teague, assistant director of community, neighborhood and government relations at Vanderbilt. “Vanderbilt’s contributions were just another natural connection between the city and the university.”

Mike Schoenfeld, vice chancellor for public affairs, agrees. “This whole project was done by people who are very committed to expressing a vision of what Nashville could be. In a sense, the coming together was like an old-fashioned barn raising.”

Based on the premise that a city is not born, but made, participants formulated what they hoped to be a strong plan for Nashville’s future. Since its inception in 1714, the area now called “Nashville” has undergone constant development and growth. In 1963, Nashville became a metropolis, and from there, more than 100 urban plans developed. More recently, with its rapid growth, the mayor decided it was time to create a vision, bringing together a cross-section of the community.

“… there is a critical period in the life and ultimate success of a city when an overwhelming majority [of citizens] come to believe that they are the identity of their city; … and the city is their shared responsibility,” Purcell wrote in the book’s foreword.

The plan that came of this collaboration focuses on the core of Nashville and the first ring of neighborhoods, including Midtown, the Gulch, the River District, Northeast Nashville, East Nashville and SoBro. This core and the surrounding communities are where the urbanism of Nashville resides. Historically, as the automobile was popularized, anti-urban feelings sparked the emergence of suburban sprawl or suburbanism. However, now the tables have turned and “new urbanism” is infiltrating cities across America, including Nashville.
According to a new urbanism Web site, “new urbanism promotes the creation and restoration of diverse, walkable, compact, vibrant, mixed-use communities, … assembled in a more integrated fashion. These contain housing, work places, shops, entertainment, schools, parks and civic facilities essential to the daily lives of the residents, all within easy walking distance of each other.” The plan for Nashville is a systematic arrangement of elements of new urbanism based on the needs expressed by citizens of Nashville and reflective of its history.

“ What makes this plan unique for Nashville is that it focuses not just on the downtown, but on the first ring of traditional neighborhoods that surround the core and the interrelationship between the two,” said Kreyling. “And the fact that the plan is rooted in the history of the city is also different from previous Nashville plans.”
Committee participants came together to mold what could-be for Nashville, using the history of the city and what already exists as a starting point to imagine what they hope is to come. Conversations focused on a variety of city development topics, including public transportation, parks and civic space. Conserving the natural landscape was emphasized but hotter topics included roadways and housing.

“ While [transportation] was a heated topic and one of great interest, many other issues were discussed,” said Doug Perkins, associate professor of human and organizational development, director of the Center for Community Studies and a participant on the steering committee. “We can’t lose sight of the need for affordable, mixed housing and not just in the inner core but in the surrounding neighborhoods as well.”

“ The common thread of conversation seemed to be the need for livable communities,” said Cyril Stewart, director of VUMC facilities planning and a participant on both the design and steering committees. “Affordable housing needs to be well-designed and accommodating to a variety of socioeconomic lifestyles. Connections between the neighborhoods also need to strengthen. More pedestrian environments would allow for that.”

Committee members found that the raw concept of new urbanism could only be pursued by focusing on not just one of the elements, but all of them in concert. Participants were divided into 10 study areas. Then, with the Civic Design Center, a viable mold for each community was created. Though the plan is at last in writing, organizers say the work has only begun.

“ The plan presents a buffet of options for Nashville,” said Schoenfeld. “It is filled with ‘ah-ha’ moments, where citizens will see development of a particular area and be able to understand how it fits with the flow of the city.”

Brian Christens, a Vanderbilt graduate student who participated on the committees, is excited about the progress made but admits the plan is not a prescription. “It develops a framework for Nashville, but the political and legal restrictions still need to be fleshed out.”

“ The plan itself contains a nice array of good concepts; however, demonstrated successes go a long way,” added Judson Newbern, associate vice chancellor for campus planning and construction.

Zoning laws and issues of policies will determine the feasibility of some of the elements laid out in the plan. For example, schools must be constructed with space for playgrounds and fencing. These types of issues could provide obstacles to some of the ideas presented in the book.

“ The challenge now is to apply the book to city planning,” said Stewart. “This book presents challenges to the community and the only way to develop them is by getting involved with the continued process.”
Christens, who interned at the Civic Design Center and wrote the end piece in the text, agrees. “Genuine citizen participation needs to increase in order for any of the plan to be implemented,” he said.

The Plan of Nashville is already being used in Vanderbilt classrooms to study the impact of such a plan on city growth. Perkins used it in a presentation for a course on community development. Paul Speer, associate professor of human and organizational development, is using it in one of his graduate seminar courses. In addition, the Center for Community Studies, under the direction of Perkins, intends to engage the book in its efforts.

“ The concepts in the plan are forward-thinking,” said Schoenfeld. “The opening section of history is just as powerful and valuable as where we can go. Classes in history, business, engineering, public policy – the options are endless – for use in the classroom.”

Published by Vanderbilt University Press, The Plan of Nashville: Avenues to a Great City is available at the Vanderbilt University bookstore. The book was designed by Vanderbilt’s Creative Services. For more information, visit www.planofnashville.com or www.civicdesigncenter.org.

to view this article online, click on the link below