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Baltimore: Revitalization by Design
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11351 |
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THE ARTS
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11 / 1986 |
3,571 Words |
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Ray Rhinehart
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It used to be that Baltimore was a city of departures, not destinations; a ten-minute layover on the rail line linking America's political and financial capitals. Native son H.L. Mencken called it "the ruins of a once great medieval city." To countless others, the gritty metropolis at the head of Chesapeake Bay Was simply "Bal'mer," an intersection of blue movies, blue crabs, and blue collars.
All that's history. Under the joint sponsorship of a community that knows where it wants to go and design professionals who have the know-how to get there, Maryland's largest city is playing to sell-out crowds of admirers who are taking the time to exit Interstate-95 for an enthusiastic look-see. What they're finding as they gawk at the commercial cathedrals of Charles Center or the newly polished white marble stoops of Baltimore's justly famous brick row houses is a city whose feet are firmly planted in its rich past and whose vision is fixed on an even greater future. And while its citizens, officials, and design professionals turn the corner away from despair and low self esteem, older cities across America and around the world are looking over Baltimore's broad shoulders to see if the road that leads to confidence and renewed energy has room to accommodate their own visions and dreams.
Where did Baltimore go right? Breaking out of the downward spiral that came on the heels of the World War II wasn't easy or without false starts. Two proposed cure-alls -massive urban renewal schemes and an infatuation with road building-turned out to be daggers tearing away at the city s downtown, its neighborhoods, and Baltimore's most obvious natural resource -its harbor, Although the combination of strategies that ultimately rescued all three were unique to each, each success story is distinguished by three common traits:
Alliances: The ability to develop effective coalitions among business leaders, city officials, design professionals and citizens to foster, not force, a common goal;
Vision: The skill to articulate a persuasive image of the future in order to identify those actions that move a community from where it is to where it wants to be; and
Design: An instinctive appreciation of the fact that design orchestrates the order and purpose of a place.
A fourth trait would have to be the determination to see a dream through to its realization, rejecting quick cosmetic fixes along the way.
The importance of alliances to move a project forward is widely understood. But the supporting roles of vision and its twin sister design belong to another, less quantifiable reality. As such, vision and design are not always appreciated for the power they in fact exert. Yet Baltimore's ascent from the "capital of nowhere" and "the world's most anonymous big city" is directly attributable to the vision Baltimore had of what it was and could be, as well as the role of design to impart a third dimension to a community's vision. Thus the story of Baltimore's renaissance is as much a story of the power of art as it is of politics - perhaps more so.
The business leaders who in the 1950s began the process that ultimately led to creating the first chapter of
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