Somehow it has come to pass that later this month, I will find myself on a panel discussion at Bauhaus University in Weimar (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar) to discuss planning during times of financial crisis. I have struggled with how best to contribute to this important discussion. The current economic crisis has halted the forward momentum of city-building worldwide. While this global recession has hit most major cities, many North American cities struggling back from a legacy of decline in recent decades have been hit hard. Where they had once formed the central identity of metropolitan regions, they have become hollow cores, containing little more than the ceremonial features of government and culture.
One thing I hope to discuss at the Bauhaus is how in the United States, a few cities have been successful in resisting the worst features of “urban renewal.” Major metropolises like San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, and New York have managed to retain their uniqueness and significance, and will in all likelihood grow even more vibrant into the future, even given the current economic crisis. Some medium-sized urban centers like Denver, Portland, and Seattle are part of a new breed of urban life, and are now sufficiently established to weather all but the most catastrophic economic collapses. But many other cities have been struggling for decades to remerge from systematic social exodus and short-sighted, auto-dominated “urban renewal” initiatives of the past fifty years. With the current economic crisis, such cities are now faced with perhaps their greatest collective hurdle.
Long Beach finds itself in this third category of cities—of those who have not yet firmly established themselves as flourishing urban environments (despite many incredible strides made over the past couple decades), and who now rest on unstable foundations as the economy falters. Long Beach has experienced the same afflictions of shifting industries and suburban flight as many other urban centers in the United States and beyond. Specifically, Long Beach suffered the sting of losing two of its largest economic engines within a short period of time during the 1990s, when the Navy left Terminal Island and a large portion of the aerospace industry left Southern California altogether. While the city has largely based its recovery upon refocusing toward trade and tourism, these losses, combined with the nation-wide recession of the nineties, have slowed the city’s revitalization.
This time around, given the current state of the economy, the rules of game have changed. How do cities repave streets and create new parks when tax revenue has slowed to a trickle? Who will support nonprofit organizations and cultural institutions when people struggle to just put food on their table? How do builders pay for new construction when every source of financing seems to have dried up? Who will move into newly constructed commercial and residential buildings when no one can afford to do so?
To navigate these treacherous waters, cities will certainly need creative and patient planning. Unfortunately, recent history does not inspire confidence that Long Beach’s decisionmakers prioritize either of these virtues. As the city’s economy struggled through the base closures of the 1990s, our leaders did not demonstrate the confidence to insist upon something better when developments like City Place and Aqua Towers came along, for fear of losing any chance of new developments downtown. We did not have the creativity to envision and implement something better than what replaced the Pike on the waterfront, or the Naval Hospital on the east side of town. My assessment of Long Beach’s vision, however, is not entirely negative. For instance, in the last twenty years city leaders have possessed the determination to push through military base decommissioning and factory closures, actions that have allowed the city to emerge brighter than before, with cleaner neighborhoods and a more vibrant downtown.
Despite such bright spots in our urban history, more is obviously needed for a city like Long Beach to successfully retain gains made in recent years in terms of revitalizing neighborhoods, business districts, urban cores, and main streets. We must prioritize saving those businesses and residents who have come to call this city home. This includes providing as high a level of municipal services as possible within the constraints of our limited budget. Maintenance is not always the most politically popular approach to governance—politicians and community leaders alike prefer cutting the ribbons of new developments. Nonetheless, keeping libraries open, police on the street, and potholes filled is the basis of government responsibility and crucial to economic growth.
Cities do not have lifespans with clear endpoints: their growth and development takes the form of a journey with all manner of ups and downs. When facing a crisis—be it barbarians at the gates or an economic calamity—cities typically must hunker down and work to sustain and reinforce their existing urban fabric. In the case of Long Beach, it behooves us to keep in mind the improvements that have already been made downtown and in many shopping districts and neighborhoods citywide. City leaders should work to buttress these gains whenever possible.
In addition, it is worth noting that the seismic shifts in industrial and commercial production taking place due to the current economic downturn can create opportunities for cities that turn these changes to their advantage through careful planning. Geographically situated between the major employment centers of downtown Los Angeles, west Los Angeles (including Hollywood and Santa Monica), and Orange County, Long Beach could market itself more effectively as an ideal site for companies seeking to consolidate local offices or relocate regional offices.
Long Beach’s diverse commercial office space market is competitively priced, with excellent access to freeways, transit, and quality housing. This is just one way in which the less-than-zero-sum game of contraction and relocation can be a source of economic and social benefit. While most new construction has temporarily ceased in Long Beach, some projects are still moving forward, including work on the complex shared by the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles. This project alone encompasses over two-thousand acres; this sheer scale of development could provide incredible opportunities for an underserved community on the west side of the city—if our decision makers can only be creative and patient enough to put all the pieces together.
The key term for me in all this—the key point I wish to share with my colleagues at the Wiemar conference—is “planning.” Since I work in the area of urban design and city planning, this may seem like an obvious point, but time and time again I encounter those who seem to think that cities just grow on their own like trees in a forest. But cities are human creations; they need human ingenuity, foresight, and determination to grow and thrive. In other words, they need planning. During times of great instability, it is those cities whose leaders and citizens show ingenuity, foresight, and determination that will weather the economic storm and emerge stronger. Some cities will stumble, others will hold their own, and some will there will some even thrive. It is all a matter of finding the right path.
