| TMP Article:
Knight Program Charrette
East Downtown, Lower Hillside and Lakefront, Duluth, MN |
The Knight Program in Community Building held its 2005 charrette in the East Downtown and Lower Hillside area of Duluth July 13 - 18. 12 fellows along with 12 students from the University of Miami's Suburban Town Design program and a handful of local Minnesota students and professionals converged on the lower hillside to learn from the residents, city officials, the medical community and a host of local developers, landowners and business people. Public meetings were well attended and residents were very vocal, which was welcomed by the fellows who facilitated the meetings.
 
Two images of streets in the study area. (Left: E 2nd Av at 1st St.; Right: Lake Av at 1st St.
A major result of the charrette was the recommendation for Duluth to develop a form-based code to help make the new development contextually fit with the historic neighborhood, making development a more attractive endeavor both for developers and residents. Special consideration was recommended in the historic downtown area and in preservation of views to the lake. The charrette team also felt that the city could help to focus neighborhood scale retail development by implementing zoning that permits convenience retail in designated clusters within neighborhoods.
The team adjusted the 5 minute walking radius to an oval to account fo the steep hill that the city is built upon.
Another major recommendation was to convert the One-Way streets (1st, 2nd and 3rd) to two way streets as they traverse the east side neighborhoods. In downtown, these streets could remain One-Way.
Duluth Neighborhoods and connections to the surrounding area.
One recommendation for hospital design was to build hospital buildings in a court fashion. This would increase the greenspace in the two urban hospital complexes. A major influence on this design principle were numerous studies which show that patients recovery time is shorter where patients have visual and physical access to greenspace.
A sketch of a possible hospital court.
The Team offered many more recommendations. Click the links below to read through the full lists.
Duluth Principles (Draft)
Short Term Wins |
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