Infrastructure: Make America Great Together?

Speaker after speaker agreed: Infrastructure would be a good investment especially for cities. The psychiatrist Mindi Fullilove and the doctor Richard Jackson spoke about infrastructure in the context of health and human well being,

"In social psychiatry health comes from connectedness i.e. A sense of shared values". (Mindi Fullilove). 

Panel discussion in the NYT Conference center by Renzo Piano
with open air atrium behind the stage opening a view to 41st Street.
Speaking: Mitchell Silver, NYC Parks Commissioner
(photo: Philipsen)

The developers Jonathan Rose and Chris Leinberger evoked the "Well Tempered City" and the social entrepreneur.
NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver spoke about the value of parks ("parks are where you let your brain breathe"), Tyler Duvall , Partner at McKinsey advised about the structural deficiencies in how to deliver infrastructure,

Mitch Landrieu, Mayor of New Orleans made a fervent case for cities as the places where accountability of politicians is guaranteed. Regarding infrastructure he suggested the hybrid slogan "Make America Great together". But he was cautioning that too often he has seen "a pony go in and a frog come out" [of the ploitical process]. Former ambassador and architect Richard Swett argued for architects to be leaders in society.

The occasion: The Build America Summit convened by AIA president Russell Davidson. The main idea: Expand the notion of what infrastructure is beyond roads and bridges. The president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) made a heroic effort to impress the need of massive investments into schools, libraries and aging pipes and rails as part of infrastructure. His notion was supported by a poll that AIA had commissioned which confirmed that the public really cares about schools and public buildings. The Build America summit had been planned long before the election results were known and I had the privilege to participate in one of the early discussions about how the topic could be framed.

Join AIA, allied industry partners, and national thought leaders in a critical conversation to renew and rebuild America’s social infrastructure—the public buildings and spaces that are the heart of our communities.
The Build America Summit—hosted by AIA President Russell Davidson, FAIA—provides an unparalleled opportunity to develop critical recommendations for the future of America’s communities, cities, and towns. AIA website)

Since then infrastructure has become the one common denominator in the fractured world of the American political landscape, the canvas on which everybody projects their dreams, both those who want to make America great again and those who want to make our cities more livable.

Creative notes taking: For each session one panel (photo: Philipsen)

But what is infrastructure and who will benefit? A look back into history shows the width and breath of the topic: Franklin Roosevelt (the New Deal), Mussolini ("run the trains on time") and Hitler (the Autobahns), all set on massive infrastructure construction programs to reignite a failing economy and give their people jobs. The fact that the Democratic and the Republican candidates both promised large infrastructure investments in the last election that the topic unites very different agendas.

The large swaths of red on the electoral map depicting predominantly rural area which trumped the urban ones in this election may mostly dream of the roads and bridges everyone is talking about. The urban folks may think schools, libraries, rail, and even social infrastructure have an uphill battle, not only because their folks didn't win, but also because their understanding of infrastructure is more complicated. Several speakers agreed that it is unlikely that the urban faction will get their wishes fulfilled by Washington.

While everyone seemed to agree that the topic is more apropos than ever, there was also a giant amount of head-scratching and bewilderment among the 220 or so participants that had convened for the Build America Summit in the beautiful conference center of the New York Times designed by Renzo Piano. The space at times took on the character of a sanctuary, as short as the distance was from the tower where the President elect held court.

New Orleans Mayor Landrieu
(Photo: Philipsen)

"As you build make the healthy choices the easy choices" (Richard Jackson)

Jonathan Rose likes to keep the bigger picture in mind when analyzing how to respond locally. He sees these global mega trends:

• urbanization, 
• population growth, 
• growing wealth and consumption 
• Global cities be increasingly outside the US. 
• Uncertainty, complexity. Volatility and ambiguity.
•  Income disparity. 
• More and more global migration and refugees 

He said that the purpose of city is to harmonize nature and humans. "First came the temple than the city" he reminded the audience, and expanded the definition of the summit topic to include social and cultural infrastructure. He pleased the audience when he exclaimed:

"We need to imagine the future and you architects are in the business of imagining."

Two weeks before the summit it looked like the anxieties and uncertainties about the future had found a scapegoat in AIA's CEO Robert Ivy after he wrote an immediate post-election letter to the President-Elect to offer AIA's collaboration and support in the big infrastructure rebuild. But the summit put things into perspective and made the upheaval among the nearly 90,000 AIA members appear less than prudent in light of the full extent of the actual challenge. Who needs an internal battle when the real world problems seem so insurmountable?

Speaking: Chris Leinberger, center. Next to him chair of the RUDC
Sam Simbabwe. Left: Moderator Alan Greenberger, Drexel University
(photo: Philipsen)

Chris Leinberger remained optimistic about cities even though he recommended

"Don't hold your breath waiting for Congress. Do it on your own." 

He and panelist and architect David Dixon see the opportunity for cities to capture the "incredible wealth" (Dixon) aggregating in cities and fund social projects with it. Dixon used the example of Boston's One Charlestown development where 1000 new affordable housing units are funded by 2,000 market rate units in the same development. Kurt Weigle, President & CEO of the Downtown Development District of New Orleans and moderator Steven Lewis from Detroit cautioned that there are only a few cities where public infrastructure can be exacted out of the development process. "We depend on low income tax credits, New Market credits etc. Wigle said. On the same panel, Stephen Goldsmith, Professor of the Practice of Government and Director of the Innovations in American Government Program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, supported Dixon and Leinberger in their approach that cities have sufficient assets to initiate the proper investments: "You don't start with what comes from Washington but around the assets you have", he said. "What is your overarching narrative?" He suggested that mayors and city administrations should "sell the result not the process". He sees local government as an integrator and a catalyst.
Leinberger mentioned Chattanooga as his favorite example of a city that was down on its heels and had little going for it other than the resolve to make it better and succeeded. He also noted the importance of catalytic private investments such as those of billionaire businessman Dan Gilbert in downtown Detroit.

Lindsey Scannapieco: The Bok,
Philadelphia 

A reverse case of public infrastructure came from one of the few young and less known panelists, Lindsey Scannapieco, Managing Partner, Scout Limited who developed The Bok in South Philly, an enormous 340,000 sf surplus school in Philadelphia. "For new ideas you have to use old buildings" she said and bought the school from the City for a couple of million dollars and began filling it with start-ups and local entrepreneurs of all walks of life. The building is still only less than 10% filled but it already shapes the neighborhood, a process not without conflict and initial suspicions, especially regarding the main money maker of the project, a rooftop bar that became a magnet and popular hangout for young folks from across town. It is a reverse case in that a public building was privatized to provide a new form of communal space, an approach that deserves additional discussion.

Allied Industries: The full spectrum (photo: Philipsen)

Besides the very informative and enlightening keynote addresses and panel discussions, one of the best things that happened at the summit was that all the so-called "allied professions" were there as well. In the final panel AIA's Robert Ivy sat down with them to discuss the approach to infrastructure. On the panel were the leading figures of the American Planning Association, Interior Designers, Landscape Architects, Civil Engineers, General Contractors, the Urban Land Institute, and Code Officials. All agreed that the country can't solve the investment deficit in infrastructure without broad collaboration and innovative methods of funding, procurement, and project delivery.

For all the agreement on outreach, though, I haven't found any public media that reported about the summit.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA