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It is so healing to see a well-designed, mixed-use, multi-modal neighborhood replace a single-story mega office building surrounded by a sea of parking
@@dragonproductions236 Walkable and bikeable neighbourhoods are planned well because they minimize distances and are flexible in use. When you say we'd have to choose you're probably talking about how thoroughly something is planned. Just because something is planned though doesn't mean it's well planned. Suburbs in the US are thoroughly planned, but flawed from the start because they are badly planned.
@@SturmZebra13 As someone who has to live with "walkable and bikeable" neighborhoods, they suck. They're bad, every place where there's a 4+ lane road that splits the town in half has been better. I'm not talking about just the US either.
I'm a lifelong Northern Kentuckian and worked in Covington a few years. This is a very exciting, once in a lifetime opportunity to make a nice mixed use development in the heart of Covington. I'm glad to see the approach the City leaders are taking in developing this the right way. It will be such a nice place to live, work, shop, eat, drink and play when it is all done. I can't wait!
For someone that's never been in the US, gotta say the amount of space utterly wasted in parking lots is just depressing to watch. Is nice to see that things are starting to change over there.
As an American, its hard to find a successful mall or retail store in a suburb or middle-sized city. You'll have places with parking lots the size of maybe 10 city blocks but only 10-20% of the parking lot is filled cause most of the department stores in them either have low business or they've shut down. Some cities are taking action, and I think most of the US could see some changes since more attention is being brought to urbanism. Maybe.
Part if the issue was that the US has so much space to waste, so they did. It's good to see things like the Covington redevelopment start to claim that space back.
@@emkayusa Which in itself, is its own problem and only encourages more car use. But, the biggest problem is that the law requires a certain size parking lot for each building resulting in huge parking lots that go 25-50% unused. That space could be used to create dense, pedestrian-friendly areas, and parks rather than empty fields of concrete.
Its great to see small cities in the US take massive steps like this to set a precedent for other smaller cities or bigger ones in general to follow suit.
@@valleyofiron125 This is hilariously out of touch, but also somehow not entirely wrong. West coast states had (and still have) the perfect opportunity to develop more walkable, transit oriented cities, but have failed to live up to that standard. Hopefully it gets better over the years, but it's really disheartening to see progress get squandered time and time again.
@@valleyofiron125a quick look at economic stats online suggests that your dollars will buy more in Kentucky than in Seattle. So maybe it would be a good move.
@@valleyofiron125 seattle has the fastest growing transit network in the us and has just opened up a new train line literally a few months ago. it also is completely viable to get around via bus, and has dozens of developments like this one going up. You will never find anything like that in kentucky xd
One under appreciated aspect of European and South American cities that we simply don’t see in the US or Canada is the city squares or city plazas. This development could have a huge pedestrian-only style square, with outdoor dining, retail shops, and apartments surrounding the square. Put a fountain in the middle of the square and viola, you have a beautiful place that people of all ages can enjoy.
and you can use that plaza/square as an outdoor venue. you can use it to host concerts, 4th of July/sports match celebrations, the options are limitless. and those events attract people from out of town who will spent money in your city, so the city will get (monetary) benefits from it too.
@@eugenetswong Roundabouts are actually a bad idea if your only goal is to reduce congestion. They work to a point but the moment they go over capacity they basically fall apart. What they're _actually_ best for is traffic flow control and pedestrianization, as they naturally reduce traffic speeds and, when designed properly, improve crossing safety.
@@yusufHaffejee-ql9oj I just bought a duplex right across the street from this development and ultra excited although construction noise and vibrations shake our building. Will probably have to put up with this for years.
@@timursalikov5911you’re across the street from this big project?? Yes you’ll have to put up with noise for a while, but once it’s done you’ll be able to walk to some restaurants.
Halifax has the same thing happening. The city is tearing down an interchange for a highway that was never built. It's in a prime location in the fastest growing downtown in Canada.
I can’t believe it took them this long to tear out the Cogswell exchange. That thing has been a nightmare since it was built. Thank god they never tore down the entire downtown to build a highway.
Came to the comments to same thing! Cogswell is a similar story and it’s really exciting to see its redevelopment finally happening… I travel through the area pretty much every day :)
@@Lafv They only didn't build the highway because they ran out of money. There was even a plan to build a third bridge across the Halifax harbor. If Halifax was in the US, there would've been enough federal funding to build the highway. Just something to think about.
We have a similar redevelopment in my city covering about 50 acres. The city realigned a highway and spent 2 years putting in utilities. The first sections to open are a new library and park, with private developments to follow. There are a lot of complaints with how long it is taking but it's better to take your time and wait for the projects you want that support the city's long term vision.
Philadelphia has this exact opportunity with the old 1,300 acre site but instead sold it to a developer that wants to use it mainly for warehouses... so sad, in the middle of one of Americas largest cities we're putting up warehouses.... it had the potential to be the greatest city park in the country possibly but now we get warehouses disconnected by streets and super small parks along the edge. The whole project seems like greenwashing as they're promoting how many new trees will be there until you realize its barely anything for how large the space is. Really wish the city was bolder and made a plan to help the city rather than bite the capitalistic bullet.
I really truly hope Philly is able to bounce back its stable right now, slowly declining but not enough to think its going to be a dying city in 5 years but man it is so sad that this old and beautiful city is still suffering from the steel collapse of the 50's and 73'
If the site was formerly an oil refinery it may have contamination that limits what can be done with it and precludes the building of things like residential, retail, schools etc.
As a non-disabled person myself, hearing the actual city planner say that a wheelchair user having to get off the sidewalk isn’t just “unfortunate” or “a struggle”, but instead what it really is: unacceptable, is great. Even though it hasn’t changed yet, that mindset is the start. I truly hope more city developers have this mindset in future. Universal design is good for everybody.
It is a very subtly remarkable thing to say. Many people that have experience speaking with city planners or hearing city planners speak in the US will likely pick up on how remarkable it is for somebody in his position to say something like this. His "no excuses" approach to his role is extremely admirable.
The NKY river cities are doing great things and are very underrated places to live. Smart leadership in place in Newport, Covington, Bellevue, Dayton. Exciting times for my region.
The leadership in Covington is crooked. I was a commissioner and saw a lot of the goings-on that would make you cringe. From the shutting down of City Heights to "evict" poor people, allowing the State to take Goebel Park's pool with inadequate compensation during the widening of the Brent Spence Bridge, the giving of federal housing funds to the company headed by Newport's ex-mayor Guidulgi (and current mayor's father), and now this, putting insane amounts of resources and liability for the development of housing for the top 1% of income earners.
@@nolannicaise9598Unfortunately, I am all too aware of the disdain some of the commissioners have for low income households in Covington. I appreciate everything you tried to do during your short time as a commissioner, especially advocating for vulnerable road users. As small as things like the 4th St road diet are in the grand scheme of things, these are the things that give me hope Covington can move in the right direction eventually.
I’m so happy to see this video! Covington, Kentucky has been my home for the past 12 years… it was originally supposed to be a short a term move. I love Covington so much, and even before this, the city government has done so much to improve the city since I’ve been here
You have quickly become one of the best city planning RUclipsrs. Your design ideas and interview partners are always great choices. I love to see US cities gradually taking European style cities into account, with more mixed use and walkable areas. Your content should be watched by city planners all over the world. Greetings from Germany. 😊
My city Bodø, Norway is doing this right now. The military is pulling out so the airport will be moved freeing 2900acres, that'll house the "new city" with approximately 15-20000 new housing units the next hundred years. As the city is located on a peninsula this land is sorely needed to be able to sustainably grow the city and avoid the growth of suburbs.
Ford bought up the rail system and sold off the rights so that it couldn't be restored. The shitty car dependant culture wasn't an accident, it was deliberately forced on us all.
The Great Chicago Fire was absolutely a disaster, but it also allowed the city the opportunity to rebuild in a way that many people thought was necessary for the city's health. I see the IRS buildings demolition for Covington being a similar scenario
I hope this starts a trend. Charleston, SC is doing something similar albeit on a smaller scale, but they’re clearly making moves to preserve the city’s character and livability
@@JellyAntz well in Europe you would typically plan with as little space for cars as possible, so that walking and biking is not only possible but encouraged. Also when there are new streets they are built smaller so the cars on there have to drive slower.
@@saidabachabergschdaigamuesli well, the guy did say that they still want the space to integrate with the surrounding roads, good they at least demolished the previous monstrosity of a single behemoth facility and trying for more walkability and separated bike spaces even around the space👌
I’m currently studying architecture and these kind of new mixed-use development areas get me so excited for the future of cities, I hope one day I get to be part of the creation of one
If you get please consider my idea: 2-1-1-1 buildings, which are similar to 4 over 1 buildings. Instead of using the 2nd and 3rd floors for more homes, please use the 2nd floor for office space, and the 3rd floor for flexible space. The 3rd floor could be a small warehouse, a small personal storage business, office space, or a large activity room. It should be easy for people to tear down walls to redesign all/some of the 3rd floor. The 2nd floor should be for office space, where they don't want pedestrians looking in the windows.
I have a lot of insight on this project, as someone who lived and worked only two or three blocks up the street from it for four years. The neighborhood that was there before was quite flood-prone and was majority Irish, and was a mix of housing, shops, and small industrial factories, including one that manufactured X-Rays (Kelley-Koett) and a furniture factory (Phoenix Manufacturing), which burned just before the neighborhood was cleared. The IRS facility created a huge barrier between my street and the river, and, coupled with the stroad that is 4th Street, really made that area unpleasant, and I would usually avoid it if I was walking to anywhere near the river or over to Cincinnati. The redevelopment of this site will be a major boost to Covington, and is actually one of three major riverfront redevelopment projects occurring in the Greater Cincinnati area right now, with the Ovation Development in Newport, Kentucky being currently under construction, and The Banks in Cincinnati, which has been under development for the last two decades. I did a series of graphics and a lot of research to put together a historical blog post for my former employer about the Covington Riverfront, though I will say the text editing ended up being incomplete before it was posted. You can find that here: www.hubweber.com/blogscroll/2023/5/31/ccr-history-now-and-future
Kentucky come up! Let's go! I live 2.5 hours Southwest, so happy to see this. And the fact that KTC was onboard to narrow KY-8, so, so happy. Gives me so much hope.
I noticed in the video of the proposed development that they show traffic lights at all the intersections. What a missed opportunity to have roundabouts at each intersection as roundabouts are documented to be substantially safer, cheaper, and much more efficient than traffic lights. What people don’t realize is that there can be traffic circles even on suburban streets to replace four-way stop signs. I lived on a street in Vancouver, British Columbia that saw the replacement of all stop signs with roundabouts. What I loved about the project was that the city allowed residents like myself to adopt a traffic circle and the city provided a small budget of $500 for planting. As you might imagine, they became beautiful gardens that provided traffic management and beauty to the neighborhood. It also dramatically reduced accidents.
Roundabouts are great in certain situations, but I think signalized intersections are the right choice here given that this area should hopefully be quite busy with pedestrians. Roundabouts can often be not as pedestrian friendly, especially for people with visual impairments.
@@micameeee8151 If there are going many pedestrians, and ideally cyclists, then we should look at how the Netherlands to see if they have great roundabouts for pedestrians. That being said, I agree that roundabouts are naturally car friendly. We should be advocating for more roundabouts as the default for highways and freeways. It could reduce a lot of congestion.
Thank you & @giantpickle for not letting me be the only person to comment about roundabouts. I agree in general. I am from Surrey. What is this Vancouver street? I'd love to see it. I'd love to see roundabouts for the north shore freeways to drain the commuter congestion faster.
Roundabouts take up a tremendous amount of valuable urban space which pushes back the building line and creates a sub or exurban feel. They are also more dangerous for pedestrians because they are intentionally designed for continuous movement of cars. This is intended to be a neighborhood.
I'm from southwest Ohio originally and this is the first I'm hearing of this project. It's great to see both Cincinnati and Covington/Newport realize the Ohio River has great potential for entertainment and green spaces (Newport on the Levee, The Banks, and now this). A large amount of acreage right near downtown is super rare to reclaim and it reminds me of Westminster, CO. Essentially a Denver/Boulder bedroom community, they never really had a cohesive downtown to speak of, just sprawling neighborhoods. The Westminster mall was torn down (save for an anchor store or two) and is now being redeveloped into "Downtown Westminster." It has large apartment complexes and townhomes with bike and transit connections to Denver & Boulder. Maybe not the very best urbanist design but a much better use of space and reasonably walkable with some sorely needed density.
Covington is my home and its a tremendous city. I can't wait to see what happens with the site! It's one of the most underrated small city's in the United States and this project will only add to it
I used to live in Covington and work on the Cincinnati newspaper occasionally and have heard about this site in passing a couple times, so getting this vid on my front page and getting to learn more was so cool!
I went to school in Cincinnati when the only thing to know about Covington was that it was a “block and a bridge” away. (Raise your hand if you know what this meant.) I am so pleased to see this potential and hope to visit it someday! Thanks!
@@kyee1713 Instead, Cincinnati and Covington are welcoming the expansion of the I-75 corridor with open arms. The leadership really doesn't care about public health and sustainability or urbanism. Sad.
I stopped counting on Cincinnati to do anything good when they passed a ballot measure that sold off their rail line to Norfolk Southern. This would have never been a good move, but this happened within a year of the East Palestine disaster.
@@velohenchas someone who voted against selling that rail it baffles me that our mayor would tell voters to sell, the fact it worked is insane. Should never have happened for sure
Cincy resident here that's driven past that site weekly since 2009. I don't know how I was so disconnected about this happening, but this is the first time I've seen a full plan for this land. I love the way you broke it down and this definitely got me to subscribe to the channel. I certainly hope we see more of the optimism you shared about dead malls - The memes of Spirit Halloween are one thing, but it'd be nice to see something besides decaying buildings. Great video!
Nice plan, but the absolute KING of large-tract redevelopment/repurposing was Denver in the 1990s. A closed amusement park, a decommissioned Air Force base, and a relocated airport would all become vibrant mixed-use New Urban neighborhoods in the early 21st century. As decades passed, adjoining neighborhoods also upped their game (adjacent to the former Elitch Gardens), a rail station was built (at Stapleton), and dozens of colleges repurposed existing barracks and office buildings (at Lowry). Austin did some interesting things, too: a decommissioned Air Force base became the new airport and the old airport became a New Urban mixed-use neighborhood. These were all VERY large urban and suburban tracts, with the smallest of the five (Elitch) being 28 acres.
Breaking up the lot into smaller plots is kind of brilliant. It gives the local developers who are already active in the City a chance to contribute to this new development in a way that would not be possible if the whole thing went to some venture capitol firm.
Completely insane to build such a big one story building in the middle of the city. 😀 But yeah, now they can fix it. In the drawings I miss buildings that have shops on the bottom, and apartments on top. I hope the city understands that's how you should build, and will encourage that.
One minor quibble about a missed opportunity … assuming the street layout is already fixed. Seems to me the area would benefit by using roundabouts/traffic circles. They slow auto speeds but maintain traffic flow and eliminate left hand turns across oncoming traffic. Just my 2 bits worth.
@@leonardochapman4736 Roundabouts are still bad for pedestrians and cyclists if they're big and have multiple lanes. For one, they make them take a long detour around the roundabout. And they increase the crossing distance, thereby increasing the risk of a crash. Multiple lanes pose a risk of a vehicle in one lane stopping, and a vehicle in the other lane continuing, potentially hitting a pedestrian. And they're not good for people with visual impairments, who have no way of telling if it's safe for them to cross.
My city has a very similar situation as Covington. In the 90s, a large shopping center with lots of surface parking, and it was very out of place, as on both sides (across the river and up the hill) of it were 2 historical downtowns (theyre 2 seperate cities). There is a plan they have on our county's website, and it is very similar to what Covington is doing.
Having grown up in Northern Kentucky, it's amazing to see how Cincinnati and the NKY river cites have finally learned to embrace the Ohio River and build up around it. When I was a kid, you only had Riverfront Stadium, on the Cincy side, and nothing much at all in Covington and Newport, much of it run-down. All those tall buildings by the Suspension Bridge in Covington weren't there at all! Since then, Cincinnati has torn down its old cookie-cutter stadium, replaced it with two much nicer stadiums with the Banks development between them, and refurbished the whole area along the river with parks. Covington has a skyline now, and now there's this development in planning. Newport has built up Newport on the Levee. It's a completely different feel from the run-down areas of my youth. Cincy really does need to cover that huge highway trench that is Ft Washington Way though (and they built supports into it to support such a covering when they re-constructed the highway decades ago), to really connect the city back to the river.
We have this exact problem where I live, we have a huge mall that serves no use at all with massive parking lots that takes up about 58 acres of land. This is a very well made video and I learned a lot from it, hopefully my city does the exact same that they're doing in Covington. Keep up the good work!
Awesome video! My former hometown Santa Clarita is doing something similar down the road. The Westfield Mall really lost traction because of the Pandemic. I visited not long ago and it felt like a literal ghost town. Originally there were plans to convert a sears in the mall to a Costco, but now those plans have been scrapped. The city is now looking to redevelop the mall and surrounding area to mixed use developments which makes me excited! It’s in a pretty decent location as it’s not far from the Metrolink Antelope Valley Line, and the McBean Regional Transit Center is also relatively close. It will be very easy to access transit to this area which I usually can’t say about anywhere else in Santa Clarita since it’s mostly single family homes. Hopefully we see this more in other areas of the city!
Very well presented and written. Keep up the good work. What is also wonderful about this project is that it connects to a beautiful 1860's Mainstrasse Village already filled with restaurants/ bars. It also connects to a bridge that goes to The Banks in Cincinnati which has also already done a similar project filled with parks, restaurants, plaza's , and sports/ entertainment venues. It's an awesome area to live and play!
Why is classical architecture referred to as "fake history"? If your new home is built in a traditional style, is it fake or beautiful? It seems like this development will significantly improve the area. However, opting for a modern architectural style that might look dated in 20 years is a missed opportunity, especially with a blank slate. I believe that if the public in Covington were polled on their preference for a modern versus classically inspired city center, they would overwhelmingly choose the classical plan.
Oddly, while the whole video is focused on the large-scale redevelopment (which I'm glad they're trying to make fine-grained!) I'm almost more excited for the two-way cycle track bridge. Coming from a city with a pedestrian/bicycle bridge, you'd be surprised how much that really changes things! Also, I do appreciate how the planner you interviewed is very down to earth in what he's talking about! I do disagree with some things he said (I think "fake historic" architecture is just very solidly beautiful architecture that stands the test of time, and we should start looking into it again, because our contemporary architecture is usually crap even for large projects), but I think we ultimately hope the same thing for the area.. for it to be a beautiful, organic-feeling neighbourhood for Covington. And from the renders, I genuinely believe they've achieved this. Personally I'm very impressed at how they made the contemporary architectural style feel beautiful, cozy, and even vernacular. The render feels like it's doing what renders ought to, too.. portraying the future space in a way that's as true to life as possible, not in an immaculate way to sell the idea. Wishing Covington the best!
I feel like this would've been a great opportunity to extend the Cincinnati Streetcar over the river into Covington. It could serve the new development and then run a little further south to the cathedral or even beyond. The existing streetcar vehicles are tiny, so even if per-trip-ridership isn't super high, it would make for a very attractive and modern public transport connection, that could tie the new development in nicely with the big neighbour to the north.
This I just a couple miles away from where I live. Thank you for giving this town a moment of spotlight to showcase the extraordinary possibilities that have been presented!
A key aspect to cultural hubs like this one is variety; both in the types of zoning but also a building's design. Engaging multiple development companies should break up the cookie-cutter template of every single building looking the same or very similar. It also keeps revenue and jobs within the community rather than outsourcing it to, as mentioned, large "out of state" development firms.
Still way too much space for cars, but I guess baby steps are steps, too. Almost all cities in Europe start reducing or abolishing space for cars in the center, I think this is the way to got.
Totally agree!! Looked like every screenshot had cars in it, which is a big wasted opportunity. Especially the road running along the water (even if buried under a park). Just make cars go a block further from the water!
@@martinpregger A few things to unpack here. "Better" lives is entirely subjective, and therefore a meaningless metric. "Longer" lives don't matter, but rather the quality of life, which, as I said, is entirely subjective. And "healthier"? Sure, on average, but they're getting less healthier too. So they're also doing something wrong.
@@simplesimon8255 What you are saying does not reflect in any data, quite the contrary - Europeans are staying healthy, longer than ever before. Just take the worlds'' most livable cities - not a single us city in the top 20s...
This is the Strong Towns approach! I wish soooo bad that this was how every city did things. We would actually have competitive landlords and organic neighborhoods instead of a monopolized top-down overplanned corporate boredom.
That's cool. The cycle infrastructure definitely needs to run past the shops though - that's where you get the most value out of it. It'd also be a good idea to preserve some ROW for a tram or light rail.
there’s an area just like this in rock hill, SC. it’s really beautiful and even serves as a sort of museum with old pieces of railroad equipment and such used as “sculptures” with explanation signs it’s really nice
I live nearby. I always thought that building was a waste of space. There’s no shortage of people who want to move into the downtown area and this new development could be very helpful.
I've colleagues who worked at the Covington IRS campus. I had no idea it was already closed down and bulldozed. There were plans to close and move more IRS campuses and offices, but thd pandemic changed a lot of plans. It's nice to see the city reclaim this property and find something more community friendly to do with the land.
There's a similar project happening in Sterling Heights MI that I'm super excited about, they're getting rid of an unprofitable mall and trying to build a much nicer urban center! Would love to hear a deep dive on it too
Above all, these new developments are so much nicer to live and spend time in. Because they are build for people with a diverse set of needs and potentials, not for squeezing out profits.
There's still more cars than I'd like to see, but wow, this is an amazing project and I'm really impressed with the city's ambition. It looks like it can really be a real cultural center and great space to be in!
I’m in Cincinnati and I guess I know why that area is under construction now. Covington and Newport are cool towns. Keeping it from being one single development is a good idea, so it doesn’t just become another mall.
I'd say rewild it and turn it into a rich biodiverse national park/nature preserve in the middle of the city to help give the city cleaner air and become more green and pleasant.
@@user-ConnorKaroThompson Yeah that makes sense. Then they should at least consider taking inspiration from the architecture uprising and build housing with facades of a beautiful traditional design. Along with street lamps and other small details with a more classical look. I also think they should build it with more parking decks and underground parking garages so they don't have to spend as much space on parking then they would with parking lots. The old IRS building that stood there before was a perfect example of what not to do with such an area, if they could've replaced that giant parking lot with a sizable parking deck half above ground and half under and stacked the 1 story building into at least 3 or 4 stories they could've saved so much space which could've been used for more development and infrastructure.
This video gives me hope. Hope that cities will see this and learn. Notice how when asking for input on what to build there, the people of the city wanted walkable green mixed use areas. And the Mayor listened, he didn't sell out his city to some mega corporation for the quick income and ease.
I live in Cincinnati and can’t wait to visit this when it’s done, another major walkable development called Ovation is also happening in Covington which is exciting!
Ohh the old IRS building! My mom used to work there in the 90s. They've also recently decided to permanently close a road in downtown Cincinnati to make a pedestrian area
My city had something similar recently. We had a K-Mart that was abandoned and 2 or 3 micro stores attached to it and the dirt was also toxic. So the tore it all down and made a vibrant outdoor shopping center with a similar sized store to the old but better looking, with tons of popular and new restaurants in the area
I really loved this new video! It's pretty interesting how mixed-use development can aid our cities and create a better space. Keep doing the great work! :D
The piece about breaking the plot into multiple parcels for many distinct, parallel developments is critical. In many cities with thriving urban fabric, that fabric owes its strength to the fact that there are many small endeavors happening alongside each other. Apart from offering variety to suit the needs and wants of more people, it's essentially like species diversity in an ecosystem: if one enterprise doesn't work out, the surrounding area can absorb that and provide an attractive environment to draw the next enterprise because the whole area isn't tied to the fate of just one of them. And until that new enterprise starts, the area still has a lot to offer the people who live and work there. I can think of several beautiful old buildings in the heart of my city that are vacant because there's this myopic focus on getting a single mega-tenant to fill the space, when there's more than enough foot-traffic past that building to sustain lots of small businesses, and the area is so well supported by transit that most people in the city would have an easy commute to that spot.
Imagine a WTC complex on that site. You could give this place some mixed-use skyscrapers, each with LOTS of studio apartements and offices, and allow for some (decently) affordable housing alongside office space maybe?
I just want to say good job with what you do here, I love your work and I hope to see the channel blow up, let's get StreetCraft on the front page everyone!
Always nice to see people thinking of the bigger picture, and I definitely hope it has an effect not just on the immediate surrounding area, but on development patterns in general
This is really cool. I visited Cincinnati about a year ago and walked across the bridge to Covington and really enjoyed it. Looking forward to seeing what happens.
That’s such a good outlook and cool viewpoint, to look at something you make/design and hope that people 100 years from now think of it as being an iconic piece of the time
Check out Brilliant for a fun and easy way to interactively learn new things with a 30-day free trial and 20% off an annual premium membership:
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Which mall in Michigan?
@@The_Dweazelshut up bro you ain’t on to anything
Since there are too many Covingtons in the US, I am placing the exact location for those who are interested - maps.app.goo.gl/MZQqLKwFC3FvUN6f7
Please, what exactly will I learn from this online course? Can I make these video plans ?
It is so healing to see a well-designed, mixed-use, multi-modal neighborhood replace a single-story mega office building surrounded by a sea of parking
If you like that, you should look at the Neue Altstadt (New Old Town) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Indeed healing; may we begin to see this type of project happening everywhere.
>Well designed
>Walkable/Bikeable bs
Pick one.
@@dragonproductions236 Walkable and bikeable neighbourhoods are planned well because they minimize distances and are flexible in use. When you say we'd have to choose you're probably talking about how thoroughly something is planned. Just because something is planned though doesn't mean it's well planned. Suburbs in the US are thoroughly planned, but flawed from the start because they are badly planned.
@@SturmZebra13 As someone who has to live with "walkable and bikeable" neighborhoods, they suck. They're bad, every place where there's a 4+ lane road that splits the town in half has been better.
I'm not talking about just the US either.
I'm a lifelong Northern Kentuckian and worked in Covington a few years. This is a very exciting, once in a lifetime opportunity to make a nice mixed use development in the heart of Covington. I'm glad to see the approach the City leaders are taking in developing this the right way. It will be such a nice place to live, work, shop, eat, drink and play when it is all done. I can't wait!
Why did I read it as I’m a lifelong North Korean
@@dannymclennan1947 idk bro 💀💀💀💀
So you tell people you’re from Cincinnati
@@colinbalzer4423 when out of town yes since it is considered the Cincinnati Metro region.
@@dannymclennan1947yikes 😮
For someone that's never been in the US, gotta say the amount of space utterly wasted in parking lots is just depressing to watch. Is nice to see that things are starting to change over there.
As an American, its hard to find a successful mall or retail store in a suburb or middle-sized city. You'll have places with parking lots the size of maybe 10 city blocks but only 10-20% of the parking lot is filled cause most of the department stores in them either have low business or they've shut down. Some cities are taking action, and I think most of the US could see some changes since more attention is being brought to urbanism. Maybe.
Its starting
Part if the issue was that the US has so much space to waste, so they did. It's good to see things like the Covington redevelopment start to claim that space back.
It’s not wasted, it’s for parking cars.
@@emkayusa Which in itself, is its own problem and only encourages more car use. But, the biggest problem is that the law requires a certain size parking lot for each building resulting in huge parking lots that go 25-50% unused. That space could be used to create dense, pedestrian-friendly areas, and parks rather than empty fields of concrete.
Its great to see small cities in the US take massive steps like this to set a precedent for other smaller cities or bigger ones in general to follow suit.
@@valleyofiron125 This is hilariously out of touch, but also somehow not entirely wrong. West coast states had (and still have) the perfect opportunity to develop more walkable, transit oriented cities, but have failed to live up to that standard. Hopefully it gets better over the years, but it's really disheartening to see progress get squandered time and time again.
@@valleyofiron125a quick look at economic stats online suggests that your dollars will buy more in Kentucky than in Seattle. So maybe it would be a good move.
@@valleyofiron125 seattle has the fastest growing transit network in the us and has just opened up a new train line literally a few months ago. it also is completely viable to get around via bus, and has dozens of developments like this one going up. You will never find anything like that in kentucky xd
It’s really not that small. But I see your point!
One under appreciated aspect of European and South American cities that we simply don’t see in the US or Canada is the city squares or city plazas. This development could have a huge pedestrian-only style square, with outdoor dining, retail shops, and apartments surrounding the square. Put a fountain in the middle of the square and viola, you have a beautiful place that people of all ages can enjoy.
and you can use that plaza/square as an outdoor venue.
you can use it to host concerts, 4th of July/sports match celebrations, the options are limitless.
and those events attract people from out of town who will spent money in your city, so the city will get (monetary) benefits from it too.
Also, they are already envisioning traffic lights, instead of just using round abouts to reduce congesion.
Thing is, some cities in the US and Canada _do_ have plazas like you describe. But a lot of them are part of an office or mixed commercial property.
@@eugenetswong
Roundabouts are actually a bad idea if your only goal is to reduce congestion. They work to a point but the moment they go over capacity they basically fall apart. What they're _actually_ best for is traffic flow control and pedestrianization, as they naturally reduce traffic speeds and, when designed properly, improve crossing safety.
@@VestedUTuber Or in small towns.
Massive respect for Covington city hall. Their incremental approach will absolutely set them up for success for decades to come!
I was recently in Maple Grove, MN and they have a huge mixed-use district that was built in four phases and works beautifully.
You just got me excited for a development over 5000 miles from my house lol
I live in South Africa and it excites me 😭
@@yusufHaffejee-ql9oj
I just bought a duplex right across the street from this development and ultra excited although construction noise and vibrations shake our building. Will probably have to put up with this for years.
@@timursalikov5911 well you'll be happy with your resale value in a couple of years!
I'm excited for it and I barely even thought about it when I drove past it last week and I live in Canada
@@timursalikov5911you’re across the street from this big project?? Yes you’ll have to put up with noise for a while, but once it’s done you’ll be able to walk to some restaurants.
Halifax has the same thing happening. The city is tearing down an interchange for a highway that was never built. It's in a prime location in the fastest growing downtown in Canada.
I can’t believe it took them this long to tear out the Cogswell exchange. That thing has been a nightmare since it was built. Thank god they never tore down the entire downtown to build a highway.
Came to the comments to same thing! Cogswell is a similar story and it’s really exciting to see its redevelopment finally happening… I travel through the area pretty much every day :)
@@Lafv They only didn't build the highway because they ran out of money. There was even a plan to build a third bridge across the Halifax harbor. If Halifax was in the US, there would've been enough federal funding to build the highway. Just something to think about.
@@pauldiamond1481 it lied there like a corpse of some ancient extraterrestrial spider, lol.
I hope that that trend continues throughout Canada
We have a similar redevelopment in my city covering about 50 acres. The city realigned a highway and spent 2 years putting in utilities. The first sections to open are a new library and park, with private developments to follow. There are a lot of complaints with how long it is taking but it's better to take your time and wait for the projects you want that support the city's long term vision.
Which city?
if cities build for outsiders most locals want benifit from it build for locals first
Philadelphia has this exact opportunity with the old 1,300 acre site but instead sold it to a developer that wants to use it mainly for warehouses... so sad, in the middle of one of Americas largest cities we're putting up warehouses.... it had the potential to be the greatest city park in the country possibly but now we get warehouses disconnected by streets and super small parks along the edge. The whole project seems like greenwashing as they're promoting how many new trees will be there until you realize its barely anything for how large the space is. Really wish the city was bolder and made a plan to help the city rather than bite the capitalistic bullet.
where was this?
@@emperor192 The old oil refinery site, bordering the Schuylkill River
@@FountainChannel thx
I really truly hope Philly is able to bounce back its stable right now, slowly declining but not enough to think its going to be a dying city in 5 years but man it is so sad that this old and beautiful city is still suffering from the steel collapse of the 50's and 73'
If the site was formerly an oil refinery it may have contamination that limits what can be done with it and precludes the building of things like residential, retail, schools etc.
Great video, it warms my heart to see that cities are adapting to create beautiful environments for people.
As a non-disabled person myself, hearing the actual city planner say that a wheelchair user having to get off the sidewalk isn’t just “unfortunate” or “a struggle”, but instead what it really is: unacceptable, is great.
Even though it hasn’t changed yet, that mindset is the start.
I truly hope more city developers have this mindset in future. Universal design is good for everybody.
It is a very subtly remarkable thing to say. Many people that have experience speaking with city planners or hearing city planners speak in the US will likely pick up on how remarkable it is for somebody in his position to say something like this. His "no excuses" approach to his role is extremely admirable.
The NKY river cities are doing great things and are very underrated places to live. Smart leadership in place in Newport, Covington, Bellevue, Dayton. Exciting times for my region.
Totally agree
The leadership in Covington is crooked. I was a commissioner and saw a lot of the goings-on that would make you cringe. From the shutting down of City Heights to "evict" poor people, allowing the State to take Goebel Park's pool with inadequate compensation during the widening of the Brent Spence Bridge, the giving of federal housing funds to the company headed by Newport's ex-mayor Guidulgi (and current mayor's father), and now this, putting insane amounts of resources and liability for the development of housing for the top 1% of income earners.
@@nolannicaise9598Unfortunately, I am all too aware of the disdain some of the commissioners have for low income households in Covington. I appreciate everything you tried to do during your short time as a commissioner, especially advocating for vulnerable road users. As small as things like the 4th St road diet are in the grand scheme of things, these are the things that give me hope Covington can move in the right direction eventually.
I’m so happy to see this video! Covington, Kentucky has been my home for the past 12 years… it was originally supposed to be a short a term move. I love Covington so much, and even before this, the city government has done so much to improve the city since I’ve been here
You have quickly become one of the best city planning RUclipsrs. Your design ideas and interview partners are always great choices. I love to see US cities gradually taking European style cities into account, with more mixed use and walkable areas. Your content should be watched by city planners all over the world. Greetings from Germany. 😊
My city Bodø, Norway is doing this right now. The military is pulling out so the airport will be moved freeing 2900acres, that'll house the "new city" with approximately 15-20000 new housing units the next hundred years. As the city is located on a peninsula this land is sorely needed to be able to sustainably grow the city and avoid the growth of suburbs.
I love Cincinnati architecture it’s a shame what happened to the city in the 1950s and 60s so much was destroyed and streetcars were removed
Also have lived in the area for my whole life. It’s extremely sad. I dedicated my life to restoring history and doing historical preservation work.
Ford bought up the rail system and sold off the rights so that it couldn't be restored. The shitty car dependant culture wasn't an accident, it was deliberately forced on us all.
The Great Chicago Fire was absolutely a disaster, but it also allowed the city the opportunity to rebuild in a way that many people thought was necessary for the city's health. I see the IRS buildings demolition for Covington being a similar scenario
I hope this starts a trend. Charleston, SC is doing something similar albeit on a smaller scale, but they’re clearly making moves to preserve the city’s character and livability
This video was genuinely encouraging to watch. For people wondering how we fix our situation in the US, this is it!
One (a few) blocks at the time.
I get that this is better than what was before, but to a Guy from Germany the new proposal still looks bad
@@saidabachabergschdaigamuesli please elaborate
@@JellyAntz well in Europe you would typically plan with as little space for cars as possible, so that walking and biking is not only possible but encouraged. Also when there are new streets they are built smaller so the cars on there have to drive slower.
@@saidabachabergschdaigamuesli well, the guy did say that they still want the space to integrate with the surrounding roads, good they at least demolished the previous monstrosity of a single behemoth facility and trying for more walkability and separated bike spaces even around the space👌
I’m currently studying architecture and these kind of new mixed-use development areas get me so excited for the future of cities, I hope one day I get to be part of the creation of one
If you get please consider my idea: 2-1-1-1 buildings, which are similar to 4 over 1 buildings. Instead of using the 2nd and 3rd floors for more homes, please use the 2nd floor for office space, and the 3rd floor for flexible space. The 3rd floor could be a small warehouse, a small personal storage business, office space, or a large activity room. It should be easy for people to tear down walls to redesign all/some of the 3rd floor. The 2nd floor should be for office space, where they don't want pedestrians looking in the windows.
I have a lot of insight on this project, as someone who lived and worked only two or three blocks up the street from it for four years. The neighborhood that was there before was quite flood-prone and was majority Irish, and was a mix of housing, shops, and small industrial factories, including one that manufactured X-Rays (Kelley-Koett) and a furniture factory (Phoenix Manufacturing), which burned just before the neighborhood was cleared. The IRS facility created a huge barrier between my street and the river, and, coupled with the stroad that is 4th Street, really made that area unpleasant, and I would usually avoid it if I was walking to anywhere near the river or over to Cincinnati.
The redevelopment of this site will be a major boost to Covington, and is actually one of three major riverfront redevelopment projects occurring in the Greater Cincinnati area right now, with the Ovation Development in Newport, Kentucky being currently under construction, and The Banks in Cincinnati, which has been under development for the last two decades.
I did a series of graphics and a lot of research to put together a historical blog post for my former employer about the Covington Riverfront, though I will say the text editing ended up being incomplete before it was posted. You can find that here:
www.hubweber.com/blogscroll/2023/5/31/ccr-history-now-and-future
This is so exciting as a local. This development is gonna stitch together the 3 main neighborhoods of our city! Can’t wait to watch this evolve.
Kentucky come up! Let's go! I live 2.5 hours Southwest, so happy to see this. And the fact that KTC was onboard to narrow KY-8, so, so happy. Gives me so much hope.
I noticed in the video of the proposed development that they show traffic lights at all the intersections. What a missed opportunity to have roundabouts at each intersection as roundabouts are documented to be substantially safer, cheaper, and much more efficient than traffic lights. What people don’t realize is that there can be traffic circles even on suburban streets to replace four-way stop signs. I lived on a street in Vancouver, British Columbia that saw the replacement of all stop signs with roundabouts. What I loved about the project was that the city allowed residents like myself to adopt a traffic circle and the city provided a small budget of $500 for planting. As you might imagine, they became beautiful gardens that provided traffic management and beauty to the neighborhood. It also dramatically reduced accidents.
I agree, some (small) roundabouts would be nice, but at least they're making a lot of progress.
Roundabouts are great in certain situations, but I think signalized intersections are the right choice here given that this area should hopefully be quite busy with pedestrians. Roundabouts can often be not as pedestrian friendly, especially for people with visual impairments.
@@micameeee8151 If there are going many pedestrians, and ideally cyclists, then we should look at how the Netherlands to see if they have great roundabouts for pedestrians.
That being said, I agree that roundabouts are naturally car friendly. We should be advocating for more roundabouts as the default for highways and freeways. It could reduce a lot of congestion.
Thank you & @giantpickle for not letting me be the only person to comment about roundabouts. I agree in general.
I am from Surrey. What is this Vancouver street? I'd love to see it.
I'd love to see roundabouts for the north shore freeways to drain the commuter congestion faster.
Roundabouts take up a tremendous amount of valuable urban space which pushes back the building line and creates a sub or exurban feel. They are also more dangerous for pedestrians because they are intentionally designed for continuous movement of cars. This is intended to be a neighborhood.
I'm from southwest Ohio originally and this is the first I'm hearing of this project. It's great to see both Cincinnati and Covington/Newport realize the Ohio River has great potential for entertainment and green spaces (Newport on the Levee, The Banks, and now this).
A large amount of acreage right near downtown is super rare to reclaim and it reminds me of Westminster, CO. Essentially a Denver/Boulder bedroom community, they never really had a cohesive downtown to speak of, just sprawling neighborhoods. The Westminster mall was torn down (save for an anchor store or two) and is now being redeveloped into "Downtown Westminster." It has large apartment complexes and townhomes with bike and transit connections to Denver & Boulder. Maybe not the very best urbanist design but a much better use of space and reasonably walkable with some sorely needed density.
Covington is my home and its a tremendous city. I can't wait to see what happens with the site! It's one of the most underrated small city's in the United States and this project will only add to it
0:01 Please don’t use that ringtone without a proper warning, I almost died of a heart attack 😭😭
You might want to go and see someone about that.
@@ImperialKnight86i dont know if this was a low key offense or just a helpful coment but i love it fjskaakskaka
U prolly avoiding debt from someone 😂😂
@@ImperialKnight86idk why but every time the ringtone starts there’s a very brief moment of me feeling really anxious. Anyone experiencing this?
I used to live in Covington and work on the Cincinnati newspaper occasionally and have heard about this site in passing a couple times, so getting this vid on my front page and getting to learn more was so cool!
I went to school in Cincinnati when the only thing to know about Covington was that it was a “block and a bridge” away. (Raise your hand if you know what this meant.) I am so pleased to see this potential and hope to visit it someday! Thanks!
It's exciting to see! Thanks!!
Still bummed that the Cincinnati area failed to get regional rail transportation but it’s always great to see little improvements like this.
Well, it’s still like that unfortunately but I do hope there will be more efforts for better transportation planning sooner rather than later
@@kyee1713 Instead, Cincinnati and Covington are welcoming the expansion of the I-75 corridor with open arms. The leadership really doesn't care about public health and sustainability or urbanism. Sad.
I stopped counting on Cincinnati to do anything good when they passed a ballot measure that sold off their rail line to Norfolk Southern. This would have never been a good move, but this happened within a year of the East Palestine disaster.
@@velohenchas someone who voted against selling that rail it baffles me that our mayor would tell voters to sell, the fact it worked is insane. Should never have happened for sure
Cincy resident here that's driven past that site weekly since 2009. I don't know how I was so disconnected about this happening, but this is the first time I've seen a full plan for this land. I love the way you broke it down and this definitely got me to subscribe to the channel.
I certainly hope we see more of the optimism you shared about dead malls - The memes of Spirit Halloween are one thing, but it'd be nice to see something besides decaying buildings. Great video!
Nice plan, but the absolute KING of large-tract redevelopment/repurposing was Denver in the 1990s. A closed amusement park, a decommissioned Air Force base, and a relocated airport would all become vibrant mixed-use New Urban neighborhoods in the early 21st century. As decades passed, adjoining neighborhoods also upped their game (adjacent to the former Elitch Gardens), a rail station was built (at Stapleton), and dozens of colleges repurposed existing barracks and office buildings (at Lowry). Austin did some interesting things, too: a decommissioned Air Force base became the new airport and the old airport became a New Urban mixed-use neighborhood. These were all VERY large urban and suburban tracts, with the smallest of the five (Elitch) being 28 acres.
Breaking up the lot into smaller plots is kind of brilliant. It gives the local developers who are already active in the City a chance to contribute to this new development in a way that would not be possible if the whole thing went to some venture capitol firm.
*I wish my suburb in Charlotte, North Carolina had this one of kind opportunity, but I'm so happy and excited for this project!*
Completely insane to build such a big one story building in the middle of the city. 😀 But yeah, now they can fix it.
In the drawings I miss buildings that have shops on the bottom, and apartments on top. I hope the city understands that's how you should build, and will encourage that.
One minor quibble about a missed opportunity … assuming the street layout is already fixed. Seems to me the area would benefit by using roundabouts/traffic circles. They slow auto speeds but maintain traffic flow and eliminate left hand turns across oncoming traffic. Just my 2 bits worth.
Yeah this was my first thought, "why traffic lights not roundabout?"
Tbh as a pedestrian, I feel like roundabouts can really damage walk ability
@@quadcorelatte8217 ever seen a Dutch - style roundabout?
pedestrians and bikes have right of way on entrances and exits
@@quadcorelatte8217Many roundabouts in the UK have light-controlled crossings on roundabouts, they aren't mutually exclusive infrastructure.
@@leonardochapman4736 Roundabouts are still bad for pedestrians and cyclists if they're big and have multiple lanes.
For one, they make them take a long detour around the roundabout. And they increase the crossing distance, thereby increasing the risk of a crash. Multiple lanes pose a risk of a vehicle in one lane stopping, and a vehicle in the other lane continuing, potentially hitting a pedestrian.
And they're not good for people with visual impairments, who have no way of telling if it's safe for them to cross.
Its so great seeing our cities very slowly healing
My city has a very similar situation as Covington. In the 90s, a large shopping center with lots of surface parking, and it was very out of place, as on both sides (across the river and up the hill) of it were 2 historical downtowns (theyre 2 seperate cities). There is a plan they have on our county's website, and it is very similar to what Covington is doing.
Holy shit that's my neighborhood!! That's crazy! Thanks for covering this!!! I love Covington and Cincinnati so much 😄
When he said “traditional development “ and showed car centric sprawl you know how big of a win this really was.
*THE STREET(Craft) MASTER IS BACK*
Having grown up in Northern Kentucky, it's amazing to see how Cincinnati and the NKY river cites have finally learned to embrace the Ohio River and build up around it. When I was a kid, you only had Riverfront Stadium, on the Cincy side, and nothing much at all in Covington and Newport, much of it run-down. All those tall buildings by the Suspension Bridge in Covington weren't there at all! Since then, Cincinnati has torn down its old cookie-cutter stadium, replaced it with two much nicer stadiums with the Banks development between them, and refurbished the whole area along the river with parks. Covington has a skyline now, and now there's this development in planning. Newport has built up Newport on the Levee. It's a completely different feel from the run-down areas of my youth. Cincy really does need to cover that huge highway trench that is Ft Washington Way though (and they built supports into it to support such a covering when they re-constructed the highway decades ago), to really connect the city back to the river.
We have this exact problem where I live, we have a huge mall that serves no use at all with massive parking lots that takes up about 58 acres of land. This is a very well made video and I learned a lot from it, hopefully my city does the exact same that they're doing in Covington. Keep up the good work!
Awesome video! My former hometown Santa Clarita is doing something similar down the road. The Westfield Mall really lost traction because of the Pandemic. I visited not long ago and it felt like a literal ghost town. Originally there were plans to convert a sears in the mall to a Costco, but now those plans have been scrapped. The city is now looking to redevelop the mall and surrounding area to mixed use developments which makes me excited! It’s in a pretty decent location as it’s not far from the Metrolink Antelope Valley Line, and the McBean Regional Transit Center is also relatively close. It will be very easy to access transit to this area which I usually can’t say about anywhere else in Santa Clarita since it’s mostly single family homes. Hopefully we see this more in other areas of the city!
i hope this brings Covington's downtown to life and sets an example for the rest of the city❤
Very well presented and written. Keep up the good work. What is also wonderful about this project is that it connects to a beautiful 1860's Mainstrasse Village already filled with restaurants/ bars. It also connects to a bridge that goes to The Banks in Cincinnati which has also already done a similar project filled with parks, restaurants, plaza's , and sports/ entertainment venues. It's an awesome area to live and play!
Why is classical architecture referred to as "fake history"? If your new home is built in a traditional style, is it fake or beautiful?
It seems like this development will significantly improve the area. However, opting for a modern architectural style that might look dated in 20 years is a missed opportunity, especially with a blank slate. I believe that if the public in Covington were polled on their preference for a modern versus classically inspired city center, they would overwhelmingly choose the classical plan.
Your content is what we've been missing in the urban planning space.
Oddly, while the whole video is focused on the large-scale redevelopment (which I'm glad they're trying to make fine-grained!) I'm almost more excited for the two-way cycle track bridge. Coming from a city with a pedestrian/bicycle bridge, you'd be surprised how much that really changes things!
Also, I do appreciate how the planner you interviewed is very down to earth in what he's talking about! I do disagree with some things he said (I think "fake historic" architecture is just very solidly beautiful architecture that stands the test of time, and we should start looking into it again, because our contemporary architecture is usually crap even for large projects), but I think we ultimately hope the same thing for the area.. for it to be a beautiful, organic-feeling neighbourhood for Covington. And from the renders, I genuinely believe they've achieved this. Personally I'm very impressed at how they made the contemporary architectural style feel beautiful, cozy, and even vernacular. The render feels like it's doing what renders ought to, too.. portraying the future space in a way that's as true to life as possible, not in an immaculate way to sell the idea.
Wishing Covington the best!
I feel like this would've been a great opportunity to extend the Cincinnati Streetcar over the river into Covington. It could serve the new development and then run a little further south to the cathedral or even beyond. The existing streetcar vehicles are tiny, so even if per-trip-ridership isn't super high, it would make for a very attractive and modern public transport connection, that could tie the new development in nicely with the big neighbour to the north.
Would love to see that eventually!
They tried but uh I guess there’s not enough support or political will for now unfortunately
I've never been more excited to find a RUclips channel that interests me! I truly appreciate the work you put into your videos.
This I just a couple miles away from where I live. Thank you for giving this town a moment of spotlight to showcase the extraordinary possibilities that have been presented!
I'm just across the river. Glad to see such positive changes being planned!
A key aspect to cultural hubs like this one is variety; both in the types of zoning but also a building's design. Engaging multiple development companies should break up the cookie-cutter template of every single building looking the same or very similar. It also keeps revenue and jobs within the community rather than outsourcing it to, as mentioned, large "out of state" development firms.
This is fabulous. A breath of fresh aie.😊😊😊❤❤❤
I'm a lifelong Northern Kentuckian and worked in Covington a few years. This is a very exciting
Still way too much space for cars, but I guess baby steps are steps, too. Almost all cities in Europe start reducing or abolishing space for cars in the center, I think this is the way to got.
Totally agree!! Looked like every screenshot had cars in it, which is a big wasted opportunity. Especially the road running along the water (even if buried under a park). Just make cars go a block further from the water!
Here we go again. Europe, Europe, Europe. Why are we trying so hard to please the Euros?
@@simplesimon8255 They lead better, longer, healthier lives. We are not trying to please the Euros, but we should try to please ourselves.
@@martinpregger A few things to unpack here. "Better" lives is entirely subjective, and therefore a meaningless metric. "Longer" lives don't matter, but rather the quality of life, which, as I said, is entirely subjective. And "healthier"? Sure, on average, but they're getting less healthier too. So they're also doing something wrong.
@@simplesimon8255 What you are saying does not reflect in any data, quite the contrary - Europeans are staying healthy, longer than ever before.
Just take the worlds'' most livable cities - not a single us city in the top 20s...
This is the Strong Towns approach! I wish soooo bad that this was how every city did things. We would actually have competitive landlords and organic neighborhoods instead of a monopolized top-down overplanned corporate boredom.
That's cool. The cycle infrastructure definitely needs to run past the shops though - that's where you get the most value out of it. It'd also be a good idea to preserve some ROW for a tram or light rail.
there’s an area just like this in rock hill, SC. it’s really beautiful and even serves as a sort of museum with old pieces of railroad equipment and such used as “sculptures” with explanation signs it’s really nice
I live nearby. I always thought that building was a waste of space. There’s no shortage of people who want to move into the downtown area and this new development could be very helpful.
I've colleagues who worked at the Covington IRS campus. I had no idea it was already closed down and bulldozed. There were plans to close and move more IRS campuses and offices, but thd pandemic changed a lot of plans. It's nice to see the city reclaim this property and find something more community friendly to do with the land.
I love this channel!
There's a similar project happening in Sterling Heights MI that I'm super excited about, they're getting rid of an unprofitable mall and trying to build a much nicer urban center! Would love to hear a deep dive on it too
Above all, these new developments are so much nicer to live and spend time in. Because they are build for people with a diverse set of needs and potentials, not for squeezing out profits.
I always look forward to you posting, you break everything down so simply.
Man, if every plot of land that's taken up by an out of business big box store was repurposed for mix-use, that'd already make such a huge difference.
There's still more cars than I'd like to see, but wow, this is an amazing project and I'm really impressed with the city's ambition. It looks like it can really be a real cultural center and great space to be in!
I’m in Cincinnati and I guess I know why that area is under construction now. Covington and Newport are cool towns. Keeping it from being one single development is a good idea, so it doesn’t just become another mall.
They really squandered the opportunity to build 4 single family houses for 3 million each and 4 lane roads
Glad you're here, I've enjoyed these kinds of videos very much.
I have seen this video three times now and will keep watching it every time it pops up!
10:56 Thank you! Yes!!!
Yes! Cincy Metro Area!
We need more walksble mixed used development
I'd say rewild it and turn it into a rich biodiverse national park/nature preserve in the middle of the city to help give the city cleaner air and become more green and pleasant.
That would be lovely. But with the demand for housing and business space the way it is, it almost feels more useful to turn it into a development.
@@user-ConnorKaroThompson Yeah that makes sense. Then they should at least consider taking inspiration from the architecture uprising and build housing with facades of a beautiful traditional design. Along with street lamps and other small details with a more classical look. I also think they should build it with more parking decks and underground parking garages so they don't have to spend as much space on parking then they would with parking lots. The old IRS building that stood there before was a perfect example of what not to do with such an area, if they could've replaced that giant parking lot with a sizable parking deck half above ground and half under and stacked the 1 story building into at least 3 or 4 stories they could've saved so much space which could've been used for more development and infrastructure.
This video gives me hope. Hope that cities will see this and learn. Notice how when asking for input on what to build there, the people of the city wanted walkable green mixed use areas. And the Mayor listened, he didn't sell out his city to some mega corporation for the quick income and ease.
I live in Cincinnati and can’t wait to visit this when it’s done, another major walkable development called Ovation is also happening in Covington which is exciting!
Same here, never thought some cool things would happen nearby lol
It's actually in Newport.
Ohh the old IRS building! My mom used to work there in the 90s. They've also recently decided to permanently close a road in downtown Cincinnati to make a pedestrian area
Finally a city that just gets it! This will be a great project to follow. Hopefully more cities will follow this example. Keep it up, Covington!
My city had something similar recently. We had a K-Mart that was abandoned and 2 or 3 micro stores attached to it and the dirt was also toxic. So the tore it all down and made a vibrant outdoor shopping center with a similar sized store to the old but better looking, with tons of popular and new restaurants in the area
That 3d model of that future neighborhood looks like something we already do in europe.
Wow! What an awesome dose of good news!
I really loved this new video! It's pretty interesting how mixed-use development can aid our cities and create a better space. Keep doing the great work! :D
The piece about breaking the plot into multiple parcels for many distinct, parallel developments is critical. In many cities with thriving urban fabric, that fabric owes its strength to the fact that there are many small endeavors happening alongside each other. Apart from offering variety to suit the needs and wants of more people, it's essentially like species diversity in an ecosystem: if one enterprise doesn't work out, the surrounding area can absorb that and provide an attractive environment to draw the next enterprise because the whole area isn't tied to the fate of just one of them. And until that new enterprise starts, the area still has a lot to offer the people who live and work there. I can think of several beautiful old buildings in the heart of my city that are vacant because there's this myopic focus on getting a single mega-tenant to fill the space, when there's more than enough foot-traffic past that building to sustain lots of small businesses, and the area is so well supported by transit that most people in the city would have an easy commute to that spot.
If they kept doing this they could maybe restore service to the train station a couple of blocks away.
Imagine a WTC complex on that site. You could give this place some mixed-use skyscrapers, each with LOTS of studio apartements and offices, and allow for some (decently) affordable housing alongside office space maybe?
My dad and I really like your channel. Really good videos! 😮
Thanks!
GOD! This is an awesome idea. I hope all they plan comes together. The biking infrastructure will make a big difference. Great job, Covington.
When I saw my office building in the background I got so excited. This lot has been through a LOT
I just want to say good job with what you do here, I love your work and I hope to see the channel blow up, let's get StreetCraft on the front page everyone!
Im going to completely forget about this and then in 3 years when my event in calendar about this pops up im gonna be so happy
Always nice to see people thinking of the bigger picture, and I definitely hope it has an effect not just on the immediate surrounding area, but on development patterns in general
Green roofs should be also part of it to provide shade paces and the plants can grow in their own speed
I worked in the IRS building back in the 90s. I always wondered why such a valuable piece of real estate was being used up by an IRS building.
Drove past this site the other day. Nothing but dirt right now.
This is really cool. I visited Cincinnati about a year ago and walked across the bridge to Covington and really enjoyed it. Looking forward to seeing what happens.
That’s such a good outlook and cool viewpoint, to look at something you make/design and hope that people 100 years from now think of it as being an iconic piece of the time
Yay new video
As a Dutchman I’d say you need to call our urban planners and for the right price they’ll design you a perfect replacement for this 😂😂