Greenways and green lids: center offers ideas for urban design

bike lane
Researchers worked with residents to imagine the future of the
Midtown Greenway.

From planning streetscapes to “putting a lid” over a Minneapolis freeway, the University’s Metropolitan Design Center (MDC), housed in the College of Design, is coming up with ideas that transportation planners can use—now and in the future.

Thomas Fisher, former dean of the College of Design, became the center’s director in June. He discusses recent work and shares highlights from his blog and recent articles in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

What is the role of design in metropolitan planning? 

I believe that design has an especially important role to play in imagining and implementing the cities of the future. Our metro areas are encountering dramatic changes: demographic shifts, environmental stresses, and economic disparities. We need to rethink many of the 20th century systems that have come to the end of their useful life.

Tell us about the center’s work.

Our researchers address urban issues in the Twin Cities region and beyond. Our goal is to help communities rethink urban design assumptions and rewrite the rules guiding development so that we create metropolitan areas that we can afford economically, sustain environmentally, and justify ethically to future generations.

What’s a recent example in the Twin Cities?

In one project, we engaged the community to imagine the future of the Midtown Greenway, a 5.5-mile-long former railroad corridor in south Minneapolis with bicycling and walking trails. During the past decade, developers constructed more than 1,200 apartment units on the greenway’s northern edge, but the southern edge remains undeveloped. To explore the possibilities of the southern half, the city of Minneapolis and the College of Design held a one-day workshop with area residents to generate ideas and find those with the greatest benefit and likelihood of success. The workshop’s consensus envisioned a new kind of public right-of-way, accommodating people as much as vehicles. City officials are considering the next steps in rebuilding W. 29th Street along the Greenway, and I know that the workshop has affected their thinking about it.

What ideas are a bit more ‘out there’?

The work we have done on green “lids”—which cover roadways and create open space above the roadbed—is one example. College of Design students analyzed the possibility of a green lid over I-35W in Minneapolis. By developing the air rights above roadways in such areas of high demand, we can generate revenue that can help us repair roads and other infrastructure. We also want to show what a family-friendly neighborhood in the city might be like, with child-safe play space separated from traffic. We have submitted a proposal to MnDOT to research best practices and learn lessons from other U.S. cities that have built over their highways, with the goal of identifying the best way forward for Minnesota. The City of Edina has also expressed interest in exploring this strategy as part of new development along Highway 100.  

Your thoughts for the future?

In five years—or certainly 10—driverless cars will make your street and neighborhood look very different. Roadways will change, along with parking lots and garages, residential streets, and urban densities. We’re entering a transformative time, one as large as the shift from horses to the automobile. Our center will be there to help chart the way.

Subscribe

Sign up to receive our Catalyst newsletter in your inbox twice every month.

Media Contact

Michael McCarthy
612-624-3645