One infinitely annoying thing is friends who study abroad and return to talk ad nauseam about how great Europe is. In the absence of a bidet to repeatedly spray them in the face, the only choice is to grin and bear it. Since you, the reader, have no bidet with which to spray me, it is only hella proper that I pen a column about my Spring Break trip to London with a thesis roughly translated as “ZOMG! Europe >> America!”
A night out clearly demonstrates the superiority of England to our beloved Wisconsin. It starts with a delicious pint of a warm, watered-down bitter that puts Hopalicious to shame. Then, nothing says amazing like a scrum-didly-umptious meal of fish and chips. Finally, after being fully satiated, the party stays bumping to the wee hour of 11 p.m., when the pub’s proprietor summarily sends you home.
In case the reader cannot tell, I am being sarcastic. Madison is borderline heaven and far superior to some mediocre English capital. That said, most European cities feature well-developed neighborhoods and extensive public transit that could provide a good model for future urban planning envisioned for Madison.
Two Madison issues to which the lessons of cities such as London can be applied are mass transit — highlighted by the proposed light rail system — and neighborhood development — highlighted by the proposed Edgewater Hotel and Central Library redevelopments. With the help of the chaps across the pond, Madison could become a full-fledged Iowa instead of a mere Eden.
Most European cities were developed around mass transit systems such as trolleys and trains, at times when zoning codes were completely unheard of. The result is vibrant, well-integrated streets and neighborhoods. This contrasts with American cities that have been developed with wide, auto-centric streets and expanses of segregated land uses that are the complete antithesis of vibrant. It is not surprising that only the most flag-waving, country music-listening ‘merican would not develop a Euro-crush after a trip abroad.
After 50-plus years of building the suburban “dream,” city planners are starting to recognize that vibrant urban areas can be an American thing as well. Madison is already blessed with the excellent downtown and State Street areas, but with its population projected to grow by 23 percent from 2000 to 2025, Madison’s future development is still undecided. Madison’s planners are seeking to provide infrastructure for future old-school development by building a light rail system through to the city’s outlying areas beyond the Isthmus.
Mass transit h?t?rs (French for “those who dislike”) justly argue that taxpayers should not be forced to pay for a light rail system. But just as justly, they are quiet about the massive amounts of taxpayer money required for the city’s massive network of roads. Travelers develop Euro-crushes not because of Europeans’ hygiene choices or that silly game of soccer, but because of the well-developed, walkable urban playlands. More roads create more suburban nightmares, but a light rail system has the ability to be a vehicle for future urban playlands here in Madison.
Urban playlands provide an excellent segway (Schuster for “segue”) into the issue of neighborhood development, which is currently as smoking hot in Madison as the Sconnie ladies. The Edgewater Hotel redevelopment is moving toward approval and an expansion of the Madison Central Library appears to be coming as well. The city has promised to commit significant amounts of public funding to these projects, $16 million for the Edgewater and $20-plus million for the Library, in the hopes that they can foster neighborhood development.
This type of big project neighborhood development is very popular in America, but it frequently creates a singular destination lacking a surrounding neighborhood. Destinations in Europe are created by integrating shops, residences and civic institutions into walkable neighborhoods where people are on the streets interacting with one another. Developments such as the Edgewater or Library run the risk of becoming places that people drive to and then promptly leave for their suburban hellholes.
A different route for public involvement in Madison’s development would be to invest large-project funds into more comprehensive neighborhood development. European cities are delightful because their integration of residential and commercial areas compels use of streets instead of shuttling about in personal vehicles. Madison already has a tradition of well-defined neighborhoods such as Willy Street and Atwood Avenue that could be even better if the city made a concerted effort to invest in more mixed-use development and public transit connections.
Taking urban planning cues from Europe would be a difficult endeavor, but Sconnies have a unique ability to be proud of their Wisconsin heritage without taking themselves too seriously. Thus, it is reasonable to believe Madison would be willing to learn a lesson or two from Europe’s tr?s bien urban planning and reduce the number of those annoying study abroad friends as well.
Zachary Schuster ([email protected]) is a graduate student studying water resources engineering and water resource management. He is convinced that Wisconsin, and not Iowa, is in fact heaven.
