Gil Penalosa—former Parks Commissioner in Bogota, Colombia, and now president of the 8-80 Cities think tank—has traveled to more than 150 communities around the world over the past eight years scouting the best ideas for making great places. He toured the Twin Cities last week speaking at 17 events from the East Side to Wayzata as part of the Third Annual Placemaking Residency—a celebration of urban possibilities convened by the Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation in partnership with more than two-dozen local organizations, including the Musicant Group and The Line.  

At the end of the week, Penalosa presented his checklist for how St. Paul and Minneapolis can join the ranks of Paris, Vancouver, and Melbourne, Australia as one of the world’s top cities at the Great River Gathering in Union Depot:

14.  Make Your City Great for 8 and 80 Year-olds
The young and the old—along with the poor—are the “indicator species” in an urban environment. Redesign our city to keep them safe, healthy and happy, and we’ll have a place that works well for everyone.

13.  Develop a Sense of Urgency to Make Things Better
One of the Twin Cities’ biggest problems, Penalosa pointed out, is that things have been pretty good here for a long time. That spawns complacency, which is a serious hindrance in a highly competitive age where change happens fast.

12.  Put Pedestrians First
“Walking adds the spice to a city, and we don’t like a spice-less city any more than we like pasta without sauce.” Everybody walks and every trip starts on foot.

11. Make Biking and Walking Utterly Normal
“We need to think of walking and biking as a basic human right,” which should be safe, easy and pleasurable for everyone. Start by lowering traffic speeds, giving walkers/bikers a five-second head start at traffic lights and building crosswalks with “safety islands” in the middle of the street.

10. No Traffic Deaths by 2025
“In the U.S., 100,000 people are hit by cars every year and 4,000 die.” For too long traffic deaths of all kinds have been accepted as inevitable, but now Chicago and New York are leading the push for zero deaths by taking serious steps to make streets safer.

9. Remember That Planning for Transportation and Land Use Are the Same Thing
“Plan a city around cars and you get more cars. Plan a city around people and you get more health and happiness.”

8. Focus on Making Minneapolis-St. Paul Great in Everything We Do
The world’s leading authorities on the Twin Cities are the people who live here—local leaders should draw upon their expertise about how to make our cities great. “But remember if you wait for 100 percent approval, you’ll never get anything done.”

7. Embrace Winter
But don’t use it an excuse for why things can’t be better. “You have 15 horrible days a year and another 30 that are pretty bad. But you have 200 good days. Plan to make the most of those days and the bad days won’t be so bad.”

6. Become More Inclusive
Penalosa admitted that after a number of visits to the Twin Cities, he sometimes thinks he’s in Scandinavia. “Every one is blonde and blue-eyed at some of the meetings. Then I go to Central High School or the Lake Street light rail station and I see many blacks and other visible minorities.” It’s crucial these people are involved in the conversation about making a better future, he says.
 
5. Attract the Millennial Generation
Penalosa warned that our future is in peril because more Millennials are leaving the Twin Cities than are coming here. “A great city needs to attract and keep the best young people—the best doctors, the best carpenters, the best musicians, the best in all fields.  You should wake up every day thinking up ways to do that.” He noted that building more highways and shopping malls will not do the job. This generation is far less likely to have drivers’ licenses or own cars than previous ones.
 
4. Keep Baby Boomers Here
Older adults today are healthier, wealthier and better educated than any time in history, and have much to offer our communities. But we must take their needs into account in designing our cities. “Not everyone is 30 and athletic.”

3. Shift Your Aspirations from “Good Enough” to Great
The cities that will lead the world in the future are not making small plans today.  “Copenhagen has 38 percent bicyclists but are aiming for 50 percent. Seoul, Korea covered up a river to build a double-deck freeway but then tore it down to create a park.  Vancouver vows to the be world’s most sustainable city—not the best in Canada, or in North America, but in the world.”

2. Compare Yourself to the World’s Best
It’s not outlandish that St. Paul and Minneapolis could be seen as two of the great cities around the globe. “Transformation often happens very fast. Thirty years ago no one would have ranked Melbourne, Australia as one of the top 400 cities in the world. Even the local newspaper described its downtown as an ‘empty, useless city center.’ Now many of us think it’s one of the top four or five cities.”  What happened? A concerted effort across the community to enliven the downtown, add more parks and more public spaces.  

1. Tackle a Big Goal
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman is taking Penalosa’s advice to heart. For too long we’ve thought of ourselves as “pretty darn good here,” Coleman says. It’s time to make a bolder statement about who we are and where we are going.   

Jay Walljasper writes, speaks and consults about creating better communities. His website: www.JayWalljasper.com