January 6-12, 2005

cityspace

Distance Learning

by Steve Conn

Every city faces its own unique set of problems and must come up with its own solutions. Those solutions often bubble up out of the alchemical mix of local politics, economics and culture unique to each place.

Big cities often face similar issues and one city's solution can often prove useful and instructive to others. So it is in that spirit that I ask you to join me on a quick trip to Milwaukee.

Like Philadelphia, Milwaukee suffered some of the worst effects of deindustrialization and is now trying to create a newer sense of itself beyond bratwurst and Pabst. Under now ex-mayor John Norquist, Milwaukee became a center for innovative urban planning ideas in the 1990s. Some of those experiments are now beginning to yield fruit.

As part of its efforts to lure people to live downtown, the city has been creating, more or less from scratch, a riverwalk on the Milwaukee River which runs through the heart of the business district. Much of this is a boardwalk, some of which even overhangs the water, and it gives terrific views of the city's architecture along with terrific access to different points downtown.

Milwaukee has less riverfront to work with than Philadelphia does, but it is making more use of it. For those of us who dream about a path all the way to the bottom of the Schuylkill — not to mention along the Delaware — Milwaukee's success on a small scale deserves some attention.

But clearly the most dramatic development in downtown Milwaukee recently has been of destruction rather than construction. A few years ago, an elevated highway, which cut the downtown off from the neighborhoods to the north, was torn down. It was a bold move, audacious really, and the kind of vision Philadelphia could surely use.

Right now, the result is a vacant swath, but developers are already moving in. Few Milwaukeeans seem to miss their highway, and 10 years from now, I suspect it will be hard even to remember it was there, covered as it will be with new housing, retail and who knows what else. The lesson is clear: less highway, more urban development.

More than any project, however, what Philadelphians might learn from Milwaukeeans is a real sense of enthusiasm about their city. You feel it on the streets and the attitude pours forth in conversations with locals.

All cities are products of economics and politics, but they are also created through shared faith and collective will.