As towers pop up, open places roll out
Tempe officials push a walkable downtown

by Jonathan J. Cooper
published on Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Andrea Bloom / THE STATE PRESS

WAVE OF THE FUTURE: Vice President of Project for Public Spaces Phil Myrick discusses possible development plans for downtown Tempe during a City of Tempe town hall-style meeting Monday. Potential plans include cleaning up Hayden Butte and developing Rio Salado Parkway.

Tempe officials hope to make downtown a "place" - a vibrant hub of pedestrian activity engulfing Papago Park, the Mill Avenue District and Tempe Town Lake.
To do that, Tempe needs a seamless connection of pedestrian-friendly roads and walkways throughout the region. It needs to cluster landmarks, destinations and icons close together, then build attractive passageways between them, Phil Myrick, vice president of Project for Public Spaces, said at a meeting Monday.
"When you push them together, it makes more energy," Myrick said. "There should be so many things to do that everybody in the community has the opportunity to go there and spend hours."
Tempe hired the New York-based nonprofit consulting organization to help bring people to downtown Tempe landmarks.
Through town hall meetings and volunteer data collectors, including more than 100 ASU students, the consultants are identifying the key destinations that can become "places."
Myrick calls his project "placemaking" - turning a neighborhood, city or destination from somewhere people can't wait to get out of to somewhere they never want to leave.
"[Tempe has] all the elements, but they're not organized in a way that makes sense," Myrick told a joint meeting that included the Tempe City Council and the boards of directors from the Tempe Chamber of Commerce, Tempe Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Downtown Tempe Community.
He then presented a preliminary plan to link Tempe's landmarks and destinations in a way that would entice pedestrians to stop and spend time instead of passing through.
"We can't leave it to the private sector to come up with a vision for this lake," Myrick said. "It's just not going to happen."
City staff, volunteers and ASU planning students combed Mill Avenue and other locations, asking questions and gathering data to pinpoint the most popular destinations, their strengths and their shortcomings, said Eric Hansen, a Tempe planner who has been working on the project.
"ASU students and faculty are some of the biggest user groups in the city of Tempe," he said. "By including them, we get information about what they use and how they use it."
Myrick and other project planners will meet with ASU officials today to hash out ways to include ASU's property in the project.
ASU owns key land along the lakeshore, currently part of Lot 59, as well as Lot 16 land at Mill Avenue and University Drive and the Tempe Center.
"ASU has a lot of property in play," Hansen said. "Everyone has been very concerned with how you blend ASU into all this."
Tempe commissioned the nine-month project to help deal with the thousands of residents who will move downtown as new mid- and high-rise condominiums open up in the next few years, Hansen said.
Those residents will need places to socialize, walk their dogs and eat dinner, Hansen said.
And they'll need natural pathways and routes to distinctive destinations, he added.
Planners also hope to build links with existing neighborhoods to bring residents from nearby areas.
"The goal here is to continue to build this community," said Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman.
Reach the reporter at: jonathan.cooper@asu.edu.


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