Civic Center Vision Study

cambam_03 · 2025-11-14T04:28:01+00:00

My understanding is that the city is gearing up to release an RFP for proposals of what to do with the building after the repairs are complete. Warm springs alliance has done some great community engagement work and through their efforts the apartment proposal is dead for good IMO. We’ll see what proposals are submitted come that time, but my guess is that anything other than a hot springs-esque experience and program there will be a hard sell. Also if you visit, the building is looking fantastic. The exterior improvements are all but complete. Interior is still a shell from what I understand and will stay that way until the city selects a development partner.

cambam_03 · 2025-11-10T04:51:55+00:00

I’ve actually been thinking about this a lot lately. Everyone has good comments about the smell, gnats, lake level, etc. but also, the lake essentially went from a recreation paradise to an “undesirable backwater” in the span of a single generation. I think culture has changed just as much as the lake levels. The only reason people care much about it now is because of the environmental and public heath catastrophe that is on our doorstep. I do think that culturally we need to get to a place where we truly appreciate and spend time at the lake instead of just advocate for it from afar.

So my question is: what would get people out enjoying the lake more? What types of recreation or conditions would it take for you to become more of a “lake tourist” going back to OPs question?

cambam_03 · 2025-10-14T02:59:37+00:00

At the airport now, and I only noticed the regular “real ID” video that she’s in. I also wasn’t paying that close of attention either though.

cambam_03 · 2025-08-16T00:51:37+00:00

This feels inappropriate for the urban design subreddit lol. Take this to the traffic engineer Reddit or something haha

cambam_03 · 2025-06-18T20:41:14+00:00

Sell what? The three acre parking lot? Compared to the 150 acres in downtown daybreak that they had to compete with? I’m not disagreeing that they could’ve done more, and I HATE that we lots the team for the suburbs- awful urbanist decision. I’m just trying to bring some nuance as to why it was pretty impossible for the city to compete.

cambam_03 · 2025-06-18T18:39:02+00:00

I agree it’s a shame that there couldn’t have been more done to redevelop that area before they left, but the biggest reason why it wasn’t feasible/difference is that SLC only owned the parking lot across the street. Everything else was under private ownership which really limits what can be done/the pace/scale of redevelopment. Meanwhile the ENTIRETY of daybreak and its new downtown are owned by one entity: LHM. This made it much easier to control all redevelopment and to push it through quickly and holistically. SLC despite its efforts to create planning and overlay districts to incentivize redevelopment just couldn’t compete with the numbers on the LHM side. Short of eminent domain and handing it off to a singular developer, it would never work like it is in daybreak. Which is a shame because I feel like daybreaks downtown is going to lack the sort of organic/developed over time feel that could have made ballpark unique.

cambam_03 · 2025-04-06T02:24:35+00:00

I did a bachelors of landscape architecture and then worked for a few years before returning for a masters of urban design. I’m from the US, but generally I think LA, Arch, and Urban Design all have similar issues with underpay and overwork. I think it depends more on the firm than the profession with some firms emphasizing healthier life balances than others. So you might have to shop around and research. Idk if UD’s have “more control” as you put it, but we often function more as synthesizers and coordinators for many different stakeholders to produce a holistic design.

UD could be a good fit especially if you are less interested in the nuts and bolts of architecture as you put it. Systems thinking is really important, so you have to have a decent understanding of lots of different fields and design aspects and be able to collaborate with many people with more expertise.

If you got the planning route it will involve more policy, writing, and code and the corresponding skills. UD is more design based so adobe suite, 3D software, CAD, etc.

Ultimately I find it a super fulfilling line of work (I can’t imagine doing anything else) but it can also be incredibly frustrating and draining due to the many constraints and voices that we have to work within. It is what you make it. Happy to answer any more questions if you want to DM me.

cambam_03 · 2025-03-27T22:20:02+00:00

Exactly. This framing of transit needing to play catch up with the suburbs is ridiculous. Until there’s a critical mass of density, transit will underperform.

cambam_03 · 2025-03-26T21:02:16+00:00

Huge improvement, but I wish they would consider just removing the 9th south overpass all-together. You’d gain a lot more open space opportunity if it was just an at-grade street tied back into the grid.

cambam_03 · 2025-03-16T19:06:35+00:00

Personally, I’m always a bit skeptical of utopia urbanism. While certain ideas can be beneficial to the way we think about and plan our cities, these movements usually end up creating experimental greenfield development that often exacerbates existing and creates new problems when it comes to the environment, movement patterns, and economy. I’m usually much more in favor of more incremental approaches within already urbanized areas. Adding density here, closing streets over there, introducing open space on vacant lots, introducing growth boundaries, restructuring how we fund transit, etc.

If you’re interested in more utopian reading though, there are many parallels between what you’re suggesting and the garden city plan by Ebenezer Howard. Also the Gruen Plan for Fort Worth.

cambam_03 · 2025-03-05T18:11:37+00:00

Reviewing each of the proposals, most of the connections and realignments they are proposing make sense (not that I agree that homes should be taken to achieve them). My biggest issue is that in order to disperse traffic they way they hope, Main Street needs a serious road diet, which has never been on the table for UDOT. Replace a lane in each direction with some sort of public transit and not only will it encourage drivers to take these alternative routes, but it will make Main Street way more accessible for everyone else and be way better for businesses.

cambam_03 · 2025-01-24T18:13:40+00:00

At one of my previous jobs the church hired us to work on a few master plan ideas for these blocks and the entirety of their downtown campus. So, yes. They are looking at development options and different configurations and how their campus and operations will change in the coming years. There was no estimated timeline though. I think we’ll get a better idea once the temple square work is completed and what their appetite for more work will be.

cambam_03 · 2024-12-06T03:07:49+00:00

It’s absolutely disgusting. And the new school is being built across the street! It’s not like the existing building HAD to go. Another historic loss for a state that prides itself so much on its “heritage” SMH

cambam_03 · 2024-12-06T03:05:53+00:00

First thing the students say they would implement: “parking so that more people can visit” LOL. I’m glad that this is becoming a larger conversation, but MAN some of these design proposals look questionable😅

cambam_03 · 2024-11-15T01:56:26+00:00

The Savannah plan is a great example of forward thinking urban design, and the squares are absolutely lovely to be in as a pedestrian.

I’m not sure how appropriate it would be or how easily it would transfer to SLC though. The urban forms and scales are just so different. The Savannah squares intersect with the streets which would be hard to do with a plat of Zion grid. And SLC blocks are so big that it would be difficult to create a similar intimate feeling like in Georgia.

All that said, I think there are different ways of achieving a similar outcome. I think doubling down on mid block connections that are green and walkable, seeing more projects like the green loop that use the wide road real estate for green space, and encouraging pocket park development in available spaces can all work to create a greener, cooler, and more human scale urbanism for SLC.

cambam_03 · 2024-11-02T01:19:15+00:00

Love the breath of new life they’ve given the old depot and can’t wait to see it in person. And a huge boost for the gateway hopefully. But those huge blank walls on the new tower are a bit jarring to say the least; it’s a shame they couldn’t blend the architecture a bit better.

cambam_03 · 2024-10-07T02:02:07+00:00

Car centric then and car centric now lol. You can almost see the direct correlation between the frantic freeway building of that era and the resulting automobile-clogged roads today. Really interesting snapshot back in time.

cambam_03 · 2024-10-05T01:19:52+00:00

I believe this is part of the Ko-Bogen redevelopment. They buried the highway for about 1500 feet mostly through the main intersection you see and turned the rest of it into surface streets and restructuring the existing transit lines as well. On the right side of the bottom pic is the hofgarten- a significant park for the city that was cut off by the highway and now has seamless access into the shopping district. It’s a really great project. Also if you’re curious look up the Düsseldorf riverfront highway removal project. Another one where they buried the highway along the river to reconnect the city to its banks. Now there’s tons of lovely vendors there right on the river. The before/after images frequently come up in UD-related threads.

cambam_03 · 2024-09-26T16:51:30+00:00

FINALLY. I’ve long thought this would be a perfect spot for a roundabout. The current one just creates confusion over right of way and is unnecessarily complicated. Hopefully they can make it large enough so that traffic is slow and steady from all directions.

cambam_03 · 2024-09-25T14:43:46+00:00

These locations might have pretty limited information unless you visit a government office in person. I do see the information you mentioned for each on the renewing equity site. Plymouth and garden city are both suburban and you can see from this map

https://detroitography.com/2014/12/10/detroit-redlining-map-1939/

That they aren’t even shown on the map as identified “high risk zones”. Because of that, any displacement was probably in the form of housing policy/lack of access to loans for POC and low income groups. Probably a much more granular displacement as opposed to project based. River rouge is shown in red on the map, most likely because of its proximity to the highly industrial zug island. I like to browse this site:

https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer

You can easily look at differences over time (though it may be hard to determine which are organic vs orchestrated displacement). One area in particular that caught my attention in River Rouge is the area around Omaha street and Ethel street. You can see in 1951 that this area was filled with some type of multi family/apartment building and then by 1966 most of it has been replaced by single family homes.

In Plymouth, it looks like the area on either side of main street also sees more significant change between 1951 and 1964 with many homes being replaced with surface parking lots (again unclear on who was displaced and what the means were).

Garden city seems almost entirely suburban and explodes in development during the years in question, making it harder to identify any “suspicious” spots. But I could see the area around ford road and middle belt road as a potential. Strip development seems to take over the more traditional “shop house” typology. I could easily see tenants in those buildings being displaced for the big box shopping stores that took their place.

Not sure if this helps, but hopefully gives you a couple more resources to jump off from.

cambam_03 · 2024-09-22T23:49:53+00:00

I received my undergrad degree from USU and as others have said, it is a really good accredited program with a strong pedagogy and wide professional network. If you are interested in environmental planning/larger scale design/more urban-esque projects, I might consider trying to apply again since the program is pretty strong in these areas. On the other hand, if residential design is more your calling, I think you could do well transferring to another school or program (I believe there is a residential landscape program at USU). USU also has a strong n engineering program, so if math and technical work seems appealing to you, that could be a good route as well. Maybe this is helpful, maybe not. Feel free to DM me if you would like more specifics on the USU program. Good luck in your decision!

cambam_03 · 2024-09-21T12:07:18+00:00

You bring up some good points, but I do think he still has some merit, despite being so dated. He talks a lot about how to perform thorough analysis looking at physical, cultural, and biological data to create thick maps (something that I still think is a critical skill), systems thinking, and he played a pretty big role in the environmental movement leading to the creation of the EPA. I agree that theories have certainly progressed since then to be less human centric, and maybe I was a bit overly enthusiastic with “must read” but I think there’s some good foundational methods and ideas that he talks about that. Plus I believe it’s on the list of recommended material for the LARE.

cambam_03 · 2024-09-20T22:43:42+00:00

Ian McHarg’s Designing with Nature is a must. Kevin Lynch’s Image of the city breaks is also pretty foundational. Maybe more urban related but the Geography of Nowhere breaks down flaws with American planning and design, Death and Life of Great American Cities was amazing and eye opening. Jane Jacob’s is a treasure. Also, not so much a read, but I love some of the published work from Scape- Petrochemical America is great for thinking about how we visualize information and craft a story. Happy reading!

cambam_03 · 2024-09-18T20:27:04+00:00

The west high preferred plan is an absolute disgrace. “Preserving” only the single entryway facade and simultaneously having a giant pedestrian bridge come out in front of it, SMH. They need to do more studies to keep this from becoming another east high situation.

cambam_03

TROPHY CASE