Find out Saturday morning at the Tampa Museum of Art.
No, it’s not the thing Roman gladiators raced around in goring people. We never heard of a charrette until we saw it at CreativeTampaBay. But we aren’t all that erudite, either, so that isn’t saying much.
Now that we know what “charrette” means, we know what The Urban Charrette is and we like it - a lot.
We even joined their MySpace group cuz that’s how we roll here in two-point-ought.
TUC is working to help Tampa develop urban-design strategies that will make it more vibrant and liveable. That might not sound like such a big deal, or even interesting, until you go to a city that really is vibrant and liveable and appreciate the humongous difference between that and Tampa.
First and foremost in our recent experience is Portland, Oregon. This town is the antithesis of Tampa. You want to see what a city can do to become liveable and just cool as hell? Go there. In fact, we think anyone and everyone interested in or involved with The Urban Charrette should go to Portland and learn about what it did beginning in the 1970s to become what it is today.
Way back when elevator shoes were cool, downtown Portland was devolving into one of those zombie office parks, where people dare not go after dark. You know, sort of like downtown Tampa. What they did, of course, would set some Tampons’ hair on fire, especially the ones who do “development.”
Oregonians, those heretics, established an urban growth boundary. They essentially drew a big red circle around Portland on a map. Inside the boundary they allowed high-density urban development. Outside the boundary they imposed strict restrictions. The result is a much more contained city that makes travel by foot and bicycle a lot more practical.
Portland also added light rail to the mix, so you can get around the town without a car, or getting run over by one, assuming you’re down with leaving your’s at home.
Here’s to The Urban Charrette. We hope they get lots of people out for their upcoming forum this Saturday, beginning about 8a, at the Tampa Museum of Art.