We would like to sincerely thank everyone who came out on April 14th to volunteer their time and expertise to help with the Downtown Tree Inventory effort. Special thanks to Mayor Fischer for taking time to stop in and share his thoughts and support for the effort and initiating the volunteering efforts in Louisville.

We are currently compiling all the data that was collected and are planning out the next steps. We were able to gather data on approximately 40% of the downtown area and are looking to finish up the field checking of the last remaining areas. Once we have completed the entire field checking process we will begin to tackle the rest of the tree inventory areas. Below, Pat Smith put together a map that shows what was covered and what needs to be addressed.

If you or anyone you know might be interested in helping us tackle the remaining areas, please let us know. Now that the leaves are out, the tree identification efforts should be significantly easier, though tree specialists are still welcome and appreciated in the continuing efforts. Once we have completed the entire downtown inventory we will make the data public for anyone who would like to utilize it for research or analysis.

Stay tuned...

This edition of City Explorer focuses on a four-day trip to Bogota, Columbia, during March of 2013. As with other City Explorer booklets, this issue utilizes some observations of the built environment and describes some possible takeaways for Louisville. These observations are meant as a starting point for discussion and not as some final report.

Click here to download the report: City Explorer: Bogota PDF (5.9 MB)

The native plants are in! Thanks to Margaret Shea from Dropseed Native Plant Nursery for all of the plants. They look great. Here is a list of what you'll find if you are strolling by the Urban Design Studio or dropping in to visit us.

Green Wall Plants:
Virgin's Bower - clematis virginiana
Slender Mt. Mint - pycnanthemum tenuifolium
Bottlebrush - elymys hystrix

Window Box Plants:
False Aloe - manfreda virginica
Fame Flower (Flower-of-the-hour) - talinum calcaricum
Gray Goldenrod - solidago nemoralis
Hawkweed - hieracium gronovii
Little Blue Stem - schizacharium scoparium
Prairie Coneflower - echinacea simultata
Prairie Dropseed - sporobolis heterolepis
Prickly Pear Cactus - opuntia humifusa
Spiked Lobelia - lobelia spicata
Stiff Aster - aster linareafolia

We are using six Woollypockets "Wally One" planters for the green wall. They are designed for indoor use, though they also make outdoor versions that can be fastened to masonry and other structural material.

With this display we are hoping to get more people interested in native plants and vertical gardening. There are many benefits to utilizing native plants and creating green walls or vertical gardens. Below are a couple images of the information display boards that accompany the window display and offer some reasons to create your own native landscape.

This study, by the Urban Design Studio, examines and expresses the potential to develop the area of Paristown Pointe, near the intersection of Broadway and Barrett Avenue into a unique commerce and tourist destination in Louisville, Kentucky.

View the report here: Louisville Stoneware Brief Urban Design Area Study (7 MB PDF)

This edition of City Explorer focuses on a five-day trip to Austin, Texas, during February 2013. As with other City Explorer booklets, this issue utilizes some observations of the built environment and describes some possible takeaways for Louisville. These observations are meant as a starting point for discussion and not as some final report.

Click here to download the report: City Explorer: Austin PDF (1.8 MB)

This edition of City Explorer takes a look at Champaign-Urbana in Illinois during two trips in November and December. As with other City Explorer booklets, this issue focuses on some observations of interesting aspects of the built environment in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana in central Illinois.

Click here to download the report: City Explorer: Champaign-Urbana PDF (1.4 MB)

In 2007 the Urban Design Studio, working with University of Kentucky architecture students, studied the SoBro (South of Broadway) neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky. This report was all but lost due to a hard drive melt down, but has finally been put back together. Many of the issues that existed in the area are still present today so we thought we would upload the document to help contribute to the body of work that has been done and is continuing to evolve for the neighborhood.

View the report here: SoBro Neighborhood Report 2007 (8MB PDF)

This edition of City Explorer recounts a week-long trip during December of 2012 to San Juan, Puerto Rico, primarily focusing on Old San Juan. The trip was part of the Urban Land Institute's Daniel Rose Fellowship program looking at different aspects of San Juan from historic preservation and government to transit and tourism. Every city has something that Louisville can learn from as far as its built environment is concerned and some of these features are explored in the following document.

Click here to download the report: City Explorer: San Juan PDF (2.3MB)

This edition of City Explorer reflects on a week-long trip during the fall of 2012 to Denver, primarily focusing on the area of town known as LoDo or Lower Downtown. There are a number of great examples of ways that Louisville can learn from Denver's built environment including their use of balconies, bicycle infrastructure, lighting, modern residential, parking garages, public art, transit, urban parks, vibrant streetscapes, waterways and trails, and wayfinding systems.

Click here to download the report: City Explorer: Denver PDF (2.5MB)

PARK(ing) Day 502 was a huge success with 26 organizations coming together to temporarily transform our city streets with some great park designs. As we work to gather all the photos and other material from the day, I thought we would post a time-lapse of the construction of the Imagine Transit in Louisville park that we built at the Urban Design Studio. Enjoy.

Thanks to Ben Evans for shooting the video of the event.

The 21st forum in the Sustainable City Series held on June 5, 2012 focused on the research by Dr. Brian Stone, Jr., Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning and author of the new book The City and the Coming Climate: Climate Change in the Places We Live. D.r Stone discussed the effects of climate change on cities and the role that trees can play in reducing the influence extreme heat events can have on our city.

Various characteristics of urban environments contribute to elevated temperatures in our cities known as the urban heat island effect, with the amount of vegetation being one of the leading factors. Recent studies indicate that not only is Louisville heating up faster than other cities, but also our tree canopy has been in a steady state of decline.

This event was made possible by the Tree Commission with the generous support of Christina Lee Brown.