6 MARCH 2017 SI T E S E L E C T IO NNFL game — turned out to be no big deal: A friendly officer at the next available exit told me about an alternative route into the city center. That route was easy to navigate, thanks to the forward-looking 1821 design of Alexander Ralston, a protegé of Washington, D.C., designer Pierre L’Enfant. The drive took me through layers of the city’s history as I made my way along Washington Street, one of the radial avenues emanating from Monument Circle. I passed new lofts, enduring commercial businesses, the Indianapolis Zoo, and the trails and gardens lining both sides of the White River, just a short walk from Victory Field, the home stadium for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians.“Indianapolis is in the formational stages of transit-oriented land use and design policies, revitalizing neighborhoods and recovering industrial river edges for habitat and recreational purposes,” says a web description from the Master of Urban Design program at Ball State University. “This capital city with a French-inspired plan has evolved into a city of monuments, walkable downtown neighborhoods, and waterways,” one that is affordable and livable for students and professionals alike, including those who want to go car-free.Suburbs Turned BoomtownsAs in many leading metro areas, that sense of town center isn’t confined to the center of only one town. The nine-county metro area features growing pedestrian-friendly districts for working and living in such communities as Carmel, Fishers, Plainfield, Zionsville, Noblesville, Greenwood, Avon and Shelbyville.In those communities and more, opportunities are multiplying to do what I did in downtown Indy: Break away from work and go for a run, walk or ride. I passed the NCAA Hall of Champions as I ran along the river, then the growing campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Among its many thriving schools is the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, one of the many ways the globally renowned Eli Lilly & Co. and the 80-year-old Lilly Endowment (2015 assets: $11.8 billion) infuse this region with civic-minded infrastructure.Analysis released in January 2017 by the Indiana University Public Policy Institute showed that two decades of public investment in Carmel’s central core has “helped cement Carmel’s national reputation as one of the country’s best suburbs.” The redevelopment has come about because of a 1997 plan that consciously focused on center city vitality rather than more retail centers and far-flung office parks.“We looked at the sprawl taking place in other suburbs and decided we wanted to go in a different direction,” said Mayor Jim Brainard in the report. “Rather than continue to spend millions of dollars on new roads, fire stations and other public services, we chose to invest in the underdeveloped areas of our central core, where we already had police and fire coverage, schools, and utilities. We were also confident that this investment in the city’s future gave us a better chance at attracting private investment.”Indeed it has, with 565 building permits issued between 2004 and 2014 in that city center, and another 904 issued within a half-mile. Meanwhile, the project area experienced 6 MARCH 2017 SI T E S E L E C T IO NThe city’s design, conceptualized in 1821 by Alexander Ralston, includes radial avenues emanating from Monument Circle downtown.Indy17-full.indd 63/3/17 8:15 AM
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