can apply to the scale of towns and small cities. This ques- tion is explored through the case studies of two European examples: Ferrara, Italy, and Totnes, U.K. Both of these places have introduced a number of sustainably initiatives despite their small scales. While many of these initiatives are geared toward the mobility sector, they speak to a much larger vision of that both places have begun to articulate: how smaller urban places can adapt and take advantage of the development challenges of the 21 st century. The author describes how these two experiences relate to towns and cities in Maine in the United States. In Focus Reports from the Urban and Regional Policy Program Urban Current Recognizing Scale: Sustainability in Smaller Urban Places by Christine Grimando 1744 R Street NW Washington, DC 20009 T 1 202 683 2650 F 1 202 265 1662 E info@gmfus.org August 2014 Introduction In September 2012, I travelled to the United Kingdom and Italy on an Urban and Regional Policy Fellowship from the German Marshall Fund of the United States to meet with planners, policymakers, and citizen activists about how sustainability initiatives are being implemented in their communities. 1 My particular interest was how smaller urban places are adapting or creating these practices. While major cities, with their relatively large political and fnancial resources, rightly receive attention, smaller cities and towns in aggregate comprise a vast amount of urban land area, people, infrastructure, and untapped poten- tial for sustainability initiatives. Tese places are also particularly vulner- able to non-sustainable development patterns, and require tools to shape their future. In my work as the planner for York, a coastal community in Southern Maine with a year-round population of only 13,000, the question of sustainable development what it is and how to best to implement it has emerged as a compelling and insistent issue for the community. It has been a vacation 1 At the time of writing, Christine Grimando was a planner for York, Maine. She is now a senior planner for the city of Portland, Maine. destination for well over a century, has several village centers, a small but tenacious fshing industry, and resi- dents who commute daily to the larger centers of Portland, Portsmouth, and Boston. Due to its coastal location and proximity to several larger cities, York is under tremendous long-term devel- opment pressure. Yorks population grew by 25 percent between 1990 and 2000, leveling of between the 2000 and 2010 census (mirroring Maine as a whole, which lost population in that decade). However, during that same time period, York gained households over an expanded land area, a clear indi- cator of development pressure and demographic changes. Troughout the 20 th century, York grew at greater rates than the county as a whole, and several orders greater than the state as a whole, 2 refecting its coastal location and comparative proximity to large population centers in the south. As the community looks at compre- hensive transportation strategies, and as an urban planner looking to imple- ment policies toward this end, I have been struck by the challenges of scale 2 See Yorks Comprehensive Plan for additional back- ground information, http://yorkmaine.org/LinkClick. aspx?fleticket=OmsJQ3kJ15o percent3D&tabid=177 In Focus Reports from the Urban and Regional Policy Program Urban Current 2 for York. Despite Yorks small size, it is experiencing consid- erable low density development far from its periphery. Tis is a challenge for the entire region, which ranges from smaller towns such as York to Portland, Maines largest city with 66,000 residents. Te entire state could be lef out of the discussion of many of the innovative urban plan- ning practices so ofen highlighted when the conversation remains focused on a handful of exceptional world cities. Maines wonderfully intact downtowns and surrounding countryside are very much compatible with bicycle use and cycling infrastructure, even as sprawling development continues to unfold at the fringes of many communities. Te embrace of bicycling provides an opportunity to take stock of road and street conditions and the larger patterns of development taking place within New England commu- nities. Te dysfunctional development patterns that have char- acterized much of the 20 th century in the United States present a unifying theme for mega-cities and villages alike; reversing and resisting these patterns, however, will require a refned response. One of several major threads to emerge from my fellowship work was that of mobility, and particu- larly how two of my destinations are striving to reduce auto dependency. 3 3 While I focus specifcally on transportation in this article, my research included a much broader set of policy questions. See a sample of these in the blog posts I wrote during my research. Town of York, Maine Ferraras Two Wheeled Center My frst destination was the small city of Ferrara, Italy, with a population of 135,000. Te town is engaged in a number of innova- tive practices, including green purchasing standards in government contracts; an envi- ronmental accountability and budgeting system for the city as a whole that includes sustainability indicators for air quality, water consumption, and waste production; and social equity and public participation eforts to involve the community in policymaking. Ferrara is using a multi-disciplinary, multi- sector approach to sustainability, but it was cycling in Ferrara that caught my attention. Ferraras central piazzas daily swell with people socializing, shopping, talking, dating, pausing, and commuting on their bicycles. Tough not as well-known as other European cities renowned for bike-friendliness, Ferrara enjoys some of the highest percentages of total trips by bicycle on the conti- nent. In fact, with total trips by bicycle at more than 30 percent, Ferrara is far ahead of any other Italian city, and the city was frst to appear in a 2009 list by copenhagenize. com of top bicycling cities outside of Scandinavia, the Neth- erlands, and Germany. By contrast, less than 10 percent of trips in Portland, Oregon, perhaps the most heralded city for cycling policy and culture in the United States, are made by bicycle. Ferraras journey to becoming a cycling city is an unusual one, and involved a mixture of historic precedent and political will. In 1991, the release of national statistics on modal splits indicated that the city far outpaced other Italian cities in trips by bicycle. Tereafer, the city began a campaign to protect, encourage, and capitalize on cycling as both a continuing viable means of transportation and a selling point for tourism. Ofcials established a city bicycle ofce and launched numerous promotional programs, including a small bike-sharing program that allows tourists to leave their cars outside the historic city center and utilize free bicycles available at critical public transit points. Most importantly, the formation of a plan that outlined best practices for bicycle policy meant the city gave weight to cycling as a signifcant means of transport, as a crucial In Focus Reports from the Urban and Regional Policy Program Urban Current 3 part of their economy, as a serious component of pollution reduction eforts, and as part of their local identity. In my discussions with city planners and with the local public transportation authority, AMI Ferrara, a few broad points were repeatedly emphasized: promote the culture of cycling for both the sake of tourism and the cultural identity of residents; gather data on common routes and accidents before making improvements to prioritize infrastructure invest- ments in the face of scarce budgets; and make cycling convenient, safe, and easy, and at least as fast as using an automobile for the majority of trips for ridership to be maintained or increased. One signifcant component of that conve- nience, which pre-dates Ferraras cycling self- consciousness by decades, is that much of the historic center of the city is car free. Separated bike paths and lanes begin at the edge of this area, and continue outward until the city runs into agricultural lands and natural areas. At the city limits, separated infrastructure ends again, but routes for recreational cyclists to the countryside and beyond are well signed. In other words, the network accounts for the rural to urban spectrum, and relies on diferent tools and strategies appropriate to diferent places on this spectrum. Te city center is the Bike Path connecting Ferrara with the surrounding countryside primary destination of this infrastructure, and functions like one large shared space, with cyclists and pedestrians clearly dominating public space. Where there are taxis, buses, or cars in or near the center, they move slowly and defer to bicycle and pedestrian movement. Another aspect of the citys cycling approach is an EU-funded efort to increase central city freight trips conducted by cargo bike to further eliminate the need for automobile trafc in the center. Subtle improvements all reinforce the successful movement of people and vehicles across the citys spaces. Tese include sensi- tive transitions between street and sidewalk through shifs in texture from one zone to another, strategic bollard placement, and changes in color and material to demarcate space. Tis trafc hierarchy inversion is striking, especially when viewing the range of people comfortably converging on the central streets and squares of Ferrara. Children and the elderly arriving on bicycles are common sites. Te gender balance and representation of the full age and economic spectrum of the population are also conspicuous. Long distance, recreational cyclists also pass through central Ferrara in neon and spandex, since the city is part of several City of Ferrara, Italy In Focus Reports from the Urban and Regional Policy Program Urban Current 4 shuttle bus, bike parking, a feet of electrically assisted bikes for hire, wayfnding eforts around town and online, a biofuels program, and a remarkable suite of other initiatives. Some of these are sure to be more successful than others, but that too is only a mark of their sweep and ambition. So noteworthy were their eforts that the U.K. Department of Transport awarded the group over $1 million in funding. Tis funding is now being directed for trafc routing improvements, physical improvements to streets and inter- sections, and development of a town-wide sustainable travel study. A Final Cycle Plan was issued in February 2013, combining references of best practices from elsewhere, such as the Netherlands, with a locally calibrated set of priori- tized proposals. Similar to Ferrara, Totnes was able to engender a new way of thinking about transportation in the community. Trans- portation has become important not just for mobility but for a sense of place, for the continued vibrancy of their crowded High Street, and for a sense of themselves as a community pursuing a more sustainable future. Due to the villages size and the physical dimensions of its streets and public spaces, which like so many communities in Maine are narrow and in demand by many users, Totnes path to a mobility strategy will not be through vast infrastructure projects. Instead, Totnes must maximize the space it does have, make subtle improvements in which space gets priori- tized for which users, and make surgical interventions when regional cycling networks, and it welcomes all cyclists as part of its broader green tourism eforts. Totnes on the Move My second European visit was to Totnes, a small, dense, and stunning village in South Devon, U.K. of approximately 8,000 residents. Totnes will never be large enough to support a full-fedged bike share system, the likes of which are being launched in Boston, New York, London, Paris, and even Madison, WI. It will never have space on most of its intimate, narrow streets for a full bike lane, let alone cycle tracks, which physically separate a bike way from vehicular trafc. Te rolling roads leading to the farms and countryside that immediately abut the town, remarkably free of strip development and residential sprawl, are also too narrow to support dedicated bike infrastructure. Totnes has received considerable attention as the frst Transition Town, now an international network of places pursuing community-led responses to climate change and eforts to reduce fossil fuel reliance. Te experience of Totnes cannot and should not be separated from the Transi- tion Town movement which continues to be very impor- tant and active in the town but its rubric does not in itself entirely explain the synergy and momentum of the place. Totnes is simultaneously engaged in sustainable transport, public space redesign, local economy initiatives, energy, housing, and local food initiatives, among many others. I went to explore what these eforts meant at the scale of the traditional village. I found that its approach to transporta- tion was not as a bicycle project, but as a means to increase safety, reduce pollution, and increase resilience. Totnes is determined to transition the community to a more comprehensive transportation model, working with the constraints and opportunities of its built environment. A community group formed Totnes on the Move, 4 with the endorsement of the Devon County Council, to tackle transportation from multiple perspectives community education, cycle routes, regional connections to other communities through bus and rail service, an in-town 4 http://www.totnesonthemove.org.uk/ A street corner in Totnes In Focus Reports from the Urban and Regional Policy Program Urban Current 5 physical infrastructure changes are needed. Tese restraints will lead to relatively modest physical interventions that will have to be paired with policy and other initiatives to change travel behavior. Te case of Totnes should be good fscal news for bicycle and transportation planners in small communities. For communities of Totnes size, and perhaps for every place lacking signifcant public transit in the United States, such as Maine, there is a fair amount of resignation that small communities must be car dependent, as if this is the inevi- table price of living amidst natural beauty. Te example of Totnes bucks U.S. assumptions of what a village is for. Afer all, our New England villages and towns were quite literally built for walking, with core structures and dimensions that predate the arrival of the automo- bile. Te ambitious example of Totnes highlights how our villages have yet to really defne their own sustainable transport paradigm. Spirited and comprehensive models, like those that Totnes ofers, are sorely in need for small communities. Conclusions Domestically, York and other communities in New England are engaged in bicycle planning, ofen to support specifc goals, such as to implement Complete Streets policies or for Safe Routes to School events. For all of this progress, there remain critical gaps between transportation and land use planning, and the overall mobility vision of these places. Creating a policy framework where safe, complete streets are assumed a necessity is itself a valuable change, but it leaves of the question of what destinations those streets lead to, and what cross section of the population feels comfortable using them. As long as the predominant pattern for new development is comprised of single, isolated uses (as in York, where the majority of commercial growth takes place along U.S. Route 1 rather than in its village centers), a decisive shif in mobility is unlikely to occur. Tus, though many commu- nities in Maine are now proposing retrofts of existing streets and signifcant investments to improve pedestrian and bicycling infrastruc- ture, the dominance of decades of low-density development will present long-term challenges to success. Ferrara and Totnes each have their own remarkable momentum on the subject of mobility planning, and it will be useful to follow how they each manage ambitious sustainable transport goals. Despite their diferences in scale, Totnes and Ferrara share elements of their respec- tive successes, and each of these case studies are applicable to Maines planning environment. Each characterizes their historic patterns as advantages to work with rather than as problems to eradicate. Both places have sought to engender a cultural shif and a local identity around transport and sustainability that includes the entire community. Both also show that small cities are well poised to connect with their nearby countryside and become a destination and node in a regional network of cycling initiatives. Perhaps most critically, the examples of Totnes and Ferrara are useful for highlighting how the components neces- sary to make modes such as cycling viable for a large cross section of the population implicate places as a whole, raising the broader question of how to build sustainable communi- ties in the 21 st century. As Maines communities take up the charge of planning for increased bicycle use and overarching sustainability plan- ning, these two visions, interlocked with their respective Bike Path connecting Totnes with the surrounding countryside In Focus Reports from the Urban and Regional Policy Program Urban Current 6 About the Author Christine Grimando was the planner for York, Maine, at the time of her fellowship, and is now a senior planner for the city of Portland, Maine, responsible for both development review and a variety of long-range and comprehensive planning projects. She holds a masters degree in urban planning from Columbia University, a masters from Clark University, and a bachelors from the University of Wisconsin- Madison. About The Urban and Regional Policy Program GMFs Urban and Regional Policy Program facilitates a sustainable network of globally aware and locally engaged leaders by promoting the transatlantic exchange of knowledge and the incubation of innova- tive solutions for current urban and regional challenges. About GMF Te German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) strengthens transatlantic cooperation on regional, national, and global chal- lenges and opportunities in the spirit of the Marshall Plan. GMF does this by supporting individuals and institutions working in the transatlantic sphere, by convening leaders and members of the policy and business communities, by contributing research and analysis on transatlantic topics, and by providing exchange opportunities to foster renewed commitment to the transatlantic relationship.In addi- tion, GMF supports a number of initiatives to strengthen democra- cies. Founded in 1972 as a non-partisan, non-proft organization through a gif from Germany as a permanent memorial to Marshall Plan assistance, GMF maintains a strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to its headquarters in Washington, DC, GMF has ofces in Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Belgrade, Ankara, Bucha- rest, and Warsaw. GMF also has smaller representations in Bratislava, Turin, and Stockholm. tightly knit urban fabric, ofer helpful models for a more integrated transportation paradigm. Taking planning for non-vehicular modes such as bicycling seriously can only help Maine confront sprawling land use patterns, and hope- fully will generate needed dialogue on what sustainable transport might look like outside of our major cities and across the landscape of northern New England.