Not so long ago, the future of American cities looked like a Jetsons cartoon, with moving sidewalks and “25-lane” highway conglomerations, according to urban planner John Fregonese. In that Space Age vision, people were ferried door-to-door from suburban home to urban workplaces or shopping centers on preprogrammed shuttles, allowing almost no human contact on the route. “You could be just kind of a brain on a plate,” he told attendees at today’s Baton Rouge Growth Coalition lunch. “Things have really changed.”
The Portland, Ore.-based planner worked on the West Feliciana Parish comprehensive plan and is involved in the Loop project. Fregonese addressed some broad issues in the parish’s competitive future, including that one- to two-person households are clearly on the rise and that a historic labor shortage is on the horizon. To make the region appeal to skilled workers, he says ramping up the “digital economy” should be a priority, as well as presenting the area as welcoming of a multiethnic population in order to attract economic development.
Fregonese also discussed the importance of involving the whole community in discussions on growth, pointing to the example of Tulsa, Okla., where 2,000 people gave input on redevelopment plans his firm worked up. In a couple of days, he says a Web site, www.futureebr.com, will detail some of his strategy for the parish’s comprehensive master plan and a five- to seven-year strategic plan to implement it. The planning is set to kick off at 5:30 p.m., Jan. 26, at the Louisiana State Museum. For the full version of this story, click here.—Todd R. Brown
