Reflections on the city of Portland, Oregon

It seemed to me that Portland was a place where city planning worked.
Having stayed in the area for about a month now, I'd have to modify that
opinion; some planning worked, other planning failed, and I think the city
just got lucky in some things.  I'm writing this, partly to get my thoughts
in order on this matter and partly because I'd like to hear some opinions
on this.

The redeveloped downtown is a real success.  It's handsome and people
actually use it.  Several factors appear to contribute:

1. A sensibly managed redevelopment agency, which relies mostly on private
money to fund the work.

2. Poverty.  I believe that all through the 50s, 60s, 70s, early 80s,
Portland lacked the kind of money that weathier places had to tear up and
redo downtown in accord with the latest theories.  People had to make do
with what they had and so they made incremental changes instead.  Blocks
stayed small (important to pedestrians!)  Projects stayed relatively small.
Poverty probably also encouraged the choice of light rail, rather than
freeway expansion.  That was tried; see my section on Eastside, below.

3. Commitment.  The major local businesses appear to be committed to the
downtown, still.

4. Small blocks.  The small (200x200) blocks appeared to encourage both
flexible use of urban space and human scale.  Developments which span
blocks have to integrate the blocks somehow.

5. Public art and old hippies.  The 1% public art rule, in conjunction with
the many old hippie craftspeople who have migrated to Oregon, has led to
some excellent public art projects, as well as excellent decorative art.
The U.S. Craftsman movement never really died on the West Coast, and now
the Northwest seems to be having something of a revival.

6. Taste.  I don't know who the movers and shakers and designers are, but
they're picking generally handsome buildings.

On the side of luck, it seems to me that a real effort was made to create
an "inner city" in Eastside, parts of which are still quite poor.  There is
a least one "smash it all down" project--Lloyd Center--and a ring freeway
boundary (295).  However, I don't think they had the money to make a really
complete job of it!  And the Eastside housing stock is quite nice; quite a
few pleasant little bungalows on small lots.  Now that the city's lot has
improved, those bungalows are excellent low-cost housing.

And, let's not forget the urban border, dictated by the state.  I have the
impression that the logging industry was protecting their trees--still, it
has pressed the city to consider land uses which are economical of space.

R.