Ryan Gravel: How an old loop of railroads is changing the face of a city
Ryan Gravel: Comment une vieille voie ferrée peut modifier l'aspect d'une ville
Ryan Gravel is an architect and urban planner who played a key role in developing the Atlanta BeltLine. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
in college in the mid-'90s.
à l'université au milieu des années 90.
like a French anarchist --
à un anarchiste français.
I'd lost 15 pounds
j'avais perdu 6 kilos.
by highways and automobiles
par les autoroutes et les voitures,
as a poster child for sprawl,
the way I understood
ma manière de percevoir
dont le monde qui m'entoure est construit.
pour le rôle de l'infrastructure :
of infrastructure --
from point A to point B,
des personnes d'un point A à un point B,
or sewage or energy,
et usées ou l'énergie,
and for our culture,
et de notre culture,
to the way that we live.
dans notre manière de vivre.
I was instantly frustrated,
j'étais frustré,
the top end of our perimeter highway.
sur notre périphérique.
je ne bougeais pas d'un pouce,
that were hurtling past me,
qui me dépassaient à toute vitesse,
and their music blaring.
et la musique à fond.
an inevitable outcome,
this condition in Atlanta
ces conditions de vie à Atlanta
that I wanted to live in?
et de développement urbain,
in architecture and city planning,
cet intérêt pour l'infrastructure
of old railroad circling downtown
voie ferrée en ville
for urban revitalization.
pour la revitalisation urbaine.
we would actually build it.
que nous la construirions vraiment.
dans un cabinet d'architectes
at an architecture firm,
à mes collègues.
to my coworkers about it,
to more people about it,
voulaient en entendre parler.
avec Cathy Woolard,
city council president.
du conseil municipal.
around this idea:
à l'échelle de la ville :
une boucle de 35 kilomètres
et de transformation.
for two and a half years,
par semaine pendant deux ans et demi,
and a handful of volunteers.
et quelques bénévoles.
of people and ideas.
ce superbe mouvement de gens et d'idées.
habitués à se battre contre des projets,
who were used to fighting against things,
as something that they could fight for;
pour l'Atlanta BeltLine,
of new growth in the city;
croissance de la ville,
who saw their mission
qui estimaient que leur mission
by the shared vision.
par cette vision commune.
aren't at the same table
ne sont pas d'accord
and it was kind of weird,
et c'était étrange,
sont tombés sous le charme d'une vision
fell in love with a vision
through their car windshields,
dans le pare-brise de leur voiture.
ce projet n'existerait pas.
be building it otherwise.
our coalition was diverse.
notre coalition était diversifiée.
were part of our story.
nous ont rejoints.
of the economic spectrum loved it, too.
ont également adhéré au projet.
they weren't going to be able to be there
de ne pas pouvoir être présents
that they'd be priced out.
d'être exclus du marché.
that kind of story before, right?
ce genre d'histoires, pas vrai ?
the Atlanta BeltLine would be different,
que l'Atlanta BeltLine serait différente
than anything we ever imagined
au-delà de ce que l'on imaginait
subsidies for housing,
pour les logements,
a list that continues to grow.
un arboretum…
that were required to make it happen.
nécessaires à sa réalisation.
of implementation, and it's working.
de l'implémentation et cela fonctionne.
of trail was opened in 2012,
de la piste a été ouverte en 2012.
over three billion dollars
plus de trois milliards de dollars
the physical form of the city,
la forme physique de la ville,
we think about the city,
dont nous pensons la ville
for living there.
envers le lieu où nous vivons.
to the grocery store
to get in the car.
how ridiculous that is,
à quel point c'est ridicule,
that their expectations for Atlanta
que leurs attentes envers Atlanta
is exactly like sprawl
correspond à l'expansion urbaine
in highways and automobiles
pour les autoroutes et les voitures
la vie américaine.
within it, of course.
des complots internes.
making millions of decisions
prenant des millions de décisions
not only the way that we build cities,
notre manière de construire les villes,
for urban sprawl.
de l'expansion urbaine.
and strip malls and cul-de-sacs we wanted.
centres commerciaux et culs-de-sac.
des endroits où nous vivons
of the places we live
are happening at that time.
qui ont lieu en même temps.
was breaking down barriers,
se débarrassait des carcans
began its march
s'est mis en marche
of our nation's promise.
business -- everything was changing,
les voyages, le travail : tout changeait.
and private sectors were colluding
et privés s'associaient
before there were highways.
avant la création des autoroutes.
comprendre et reconnaître
to understand and acknowledge
to some groups of people
certains groupes de personnes
culturelle équitable.
in wonder and disgust, maybe,
avec émerveillement ou dégoût, peut-être,
par l'héritage de cette inégalité ?
of that inequity?
traffic hellscape?
dystopique de la circulation ?
urban displacement,
par le déplacement urbain généralisé,
dans un isolement social
and permanent outcomes?
inévitables et permanents ?
de décisions culturelles collectives
of our collective cultural decisions
from our experience in Atlanta
de notre expérience à Atlanta
are playing out everywhere,
ont lieu un peu partout,
not only old railroads,
d'anciens chemins de fer,
and obsolete roadways,
dégradés et des chaussées obsolètes,
are reclaiming and reinventing
reconquièrent et réinventent
of all catalyst infrastructure projects,
de tous les projets moteurs,
for which similarly started
qui a également commencé
en une transition culturelle
of being transformed
aux premières étapes de sa transformation
infrastructure again,
porteuse d'un message de vie,
and fishing and boating
des endroits pour la pêche et les bateaux
and flood control.
et la prévention des inondations.
the lives of people.
the rest of us think about Los Angeles.
dont nous autres percevons Los Angeles.
local food, urban agriculture,
l'agriculture urbaine,
early indicators of a really radical shift
des indicateurs d'un changement radical
with these catalyst projects today,
de ces projets moteurs aujourd'hui,
don't usually benefit everyone.
ne profitent généralement pas à tous.
by this cultural momentum
par cette transition culturelle
prices and rents.
des impôts, des prix et des loyers.
nous devons nous affirmer
to not improve communities.
de ne pas améliorer les communautés,
and transit and grocery stores.
ni de transports, ni de supermarchés.
to hold communities down
de laisser des communautés à part
and address the financial realities
et envisager les réalités financières
happen on its own.
to this goal in Atlanta,
et je m'engage à Atlanta
who made it possible in the first place.
qui ont rendu le projet possible.
parler de réussite.
commitments to all those years
je me suis engagé ces années
par ma thèse de fin d'études
as my graduate thesis
with thousands of people
avec des milliers de gens
the BeltLine is being built for
la BeltLine a été construite
as whether it's built at all.
que sa construction en elle-même.
whose lives we are changing,
dont les vies changent
ne sont pas des fatalités.
we just need to speak up.
nous devons prendre la parole.
comes on our terms.
pour le changement.
in the process of shaping change.
au processus de création du changement.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ryan Gravel - Urban planner, designer, authorRyan Gravel is an architect and urban planner who played a key role in developing the Atlanta BeltLine.
Why you should listen
Ryan Gravel is an urban planner, designer and author working on site design, infrastructure, concept development and public policy as the founding principal at Sixpitch. His Master's thesis in 1999 was the original vision for the Atlanta Beltline, a 22-mile transit greenway that, with fifteen years of progress, is changing both the physical form of his city and the decisions people make about living there. Now a $4 billion public-private investment in the early stages of implementation, the project's health and economic benefits are already evident through record-breaking use of its first section of mainline trail and $3.1 billion of private-sector investment since 2005.
Alongside project work at Sixpitch and research on similar "catalyst infrastructure" projects around the world, Gravel's new book makes a compelling case about what these unexpected assets mean for our lives and why they matter. In Where We Want to Live – Reclaiming Infrastructure for a New Generation of Cities (St. Martin's Press, 2016), he summons the streets of Paris, the spirit of Detroit, the unruly Los Angeles River and dozens of other examples to illustrate how a new cultural momentum is illuminating a brighter path forward for cities. Through insightful narrative, Gravel articulates how projects like the Atlantas Beltline, New York's High Line and Houston's Buffalo Bayou are part of this movement and how they will ultimately transform our way of life with the same magnitude that automobiles and highways did in the last century. More than discrete projects, he argues, they represent a shared vision for our future that will require us to forget tired arguments about traffic, pollution, blight and sprawl -- and instead leverage those conditions as assets in the creation of something far more interesting than anything we’ve seen so far.
Gravel's early work as a volunteer and later across the nonprofit, public and private sectors has brought his long-term commitment to sustainable city building full circle -- from vision, to advocacy, to planning, design and implementation. He speaks internationally and has received numerous awards for his work on the project.
Gravel's latest pipedream is a nonprofit idea studio called Generator, to be funded in part by a bar. While juggling two kids, amazing projects like the Atlanta City Design and requests for help navigating impacts from the Atlanta Beltline, he's also taking time to look up and enjoy the city he wants to live in.
Ryan Gravel | Speaker | TED.com