Completing Kakaako’s streets

On February 11, 2013, a rainy Sunday afternoon, I met with a group to walk Cooke Street to spec out a complete streets demonstration planned for the Hele on Kakaʻako Cyclovia event on Sunday, May 12, 2013. The complete streets demo is currently planned for Cooke Street between Halekauwila St. and Ala Moana Blvd, see pic below. I had a chance to interview a few participants and pose some questions.

What is complete streets?

Complete streets extend the realm of public activity into the sidewalk and street; often taking up a lane that is usually dedicated to parked cars to making a more vibrant, walk-able, eco-expressive and a safe place for community. To me it also has a sense of insurgency and is used as a strategic pop-up occupation of a typically car dominated area to creatively exemplify the potential diversity of placemaking.

Daniel Simonich, a master’s student in the Department of Urban & Regional Planning at UHM and organizer of the Kakaʻako complete streets demonstration said that, “Currently there is a checklist of feasibility measures for implementing complete streets, which is a first step, but the patch-fix approach lacks connectivity to the broader transportation system.” Daniel envisions that adopting a complete streets approach within the permitting process will require developers to include a more comprehensive plan for development.

The complete streets demo project in Kakaʻako is a result of Daniel’s continued efforts to support a community engagement process beyond the boundaries and time constraints of a practicum project and stipend work. “How do we keep this going beyond stipends and not lose the credit with the community?,” he posed.

Daniel has continued to lead efforts toward “a tangible project beyond just planning something, to take some sort of action beyond a rendering.” He says that he was inspired by last year’s Kailua Cyclovia event organized by Natalie Iwasa.

For Suman Maharjan, another master’s student in DURP, complete streets “give you a choice to make streets that make the public streets feel more public.” He explained that the idea is to have a “more vibrant and interactive space that is not quite as dead as a suburb-street to build a sense of community in urban centers.”

I was doubly impressed by the responses thus far, but I wondered two things.

First, if you build it will they come. And second, what about the community that is not present in the vision, but instead may be pushed out by the urban revitalization?

To my first question, Suman said, “lots of groups, lots of people will be involved and that more opportunities for social gathering will arise.”

To my second question, Daniel said: “It’s going to happen anyway and it’s more of a housing issue, but improvements to public structures has to come with development,” and in that sense he hopes to influence “how the city writes the rules.”

John Hagihara, another DURP student and Cycle Mānoa member, says that “in the long run we hope to make complete streets more visible with safer, more accessible streets for walking biking, driving, and the opportunity to provide those kinds of streets.” He says that, “if you think of what Kakaʻako is slated to be…as an urban center, I think great cities and areas need places for people to travel safely. Streets connect city spaces and the idea is to get more people out of their cars.”

Matt Lynch, of Asia Pacific Center for Regenerative Design, brings a vision of restoring degraded lands to their ecological functionality. Matt says that, “urban spaces should be contextual to the place in which they are. Urban streetscapes, which have replaced wetland habitats, should be redesigned to provide the filtration and habitat ecosystem services formerly provided by the natural wetlands.” And so he utilizes “pop-up gardens” to demonstrate, in complete streets, what “restorative processes in the land can look like.” Matt sees this as “an opportunity for engaging with stakeholders in the area to advocate for restoring ecological functionality.”

Complete Streets Kakaako from R3IMAGE on Vimeo.

Lauren Armstrong, DURPie and complete streets advocate, hopes that this demonstration will “show the potential for a more vibrant streetscape where Hawaii residents can live and raise kids – a place where people know each other and their neighbors.” She also says that she “does not want another Waikiki” and recognizes that “some people may get pushed out.” This is a tough concern to answer. Part of the ambiguity of city planning is that it both seeks to represent the public good and yet work with private sector interests. There is a certain vision of progress here that both excites and frightens me. My hope is that complete streets Kakaʻako carefully considers how to create a process for inclusion that reaches all economic classes and challenges perceptions of appropriate uses.

I am pleased to say that the doors seem open for discussion and visioning. If you would like more information on how to be involved in planning this complete streets demonstration in Kakaʻako please email Daniel Simonich at [email protected]

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