Police budgets, wastewater treatment, pothole repair, snow removal—areas overseen by a suburban mayor—are not always spectacular, but Carmel, Ind., Mayor James Brainard takes a longer-term view of his work.
印第安纳州卡梅尔市市长詹姆斯·布雷纳德（James Brainard）的视野是对自1940年代和1950年代以来一直很普遍的郊区设计的拒绝。
“We’re the generation that gets to plan and design our city for the next thousand years,” he says.
Brainard郊区的监督立即在印第安纳波利斯北部。它是美国最富裕的郊区社区之一，自1996年布雷纳德（Brainard）首次上任以来，大约70,000人的人口增加了一倍以上。自1970年代居民决定从城镇地位合法地升级到城市以来，卡梅尔（Carmel）已增长了近十倍。
Such rapid growth and change have presented Brainard and his city with the opportunity to literally construct their own future, and what they’ve chosen to build has been so impressive that Carmel has been named Midwest Construction’s Owner of the Year for 2010.
The city has orchestrated about $300 million worth of infrastructure projects in the past five years or so, along with hundreds of millions of dollars in brick-and-mortar projects of all types.
Carmel is building a new downtown and nearby arts district, but it’s striving for an urban center that will look like it has been around for years—and will remain for generations to come. The city also is building its own expressway, converting an often-gridlocked thoroughfare that bisected the community into an efficient parkway marked not by stoplights but by roundabouts, Carmel’s new intersections of choice.
布雷纳德（Brainard）的视野是自1940年代和1950年代以来一直很普遍的郊区设计的拒绝，这种设计集中在汽车的需求和方向盘后面的人的需求上。郊区的设计一直以散布在零售中心和办公室公园为主导，这是通过大型停车场从街上返回的。
Brainard says such buildings have often been glorified boxes intended to last a few decades at most before they’re torn down and replaced by something else.
“We’re trying to do better than that,” he says. “We’re focused on architecture and creating a walkable city. We’re returning to the way that cities were designed prior to the 1940s, making it possible to live, work and play in the same area.”
没有什么比在城市中部更明显的地方了。十二年前，这座城市收购了80英亩的土地，并开始宣传一个可以融合零售，办公室，住宅和娱乐用途的市区。一个主要的焦点是耗资1.5亿美元的表演艺术中心，其中包括1,600个座位的最先进的音乐厅，称为钯金；500个座位的舞台剧院；200个座位的工作室剧院；还有户外露天剧场。
The Palladium opens its doors in January.
“We’re focused on architecture and creating a walkable city. We’re returning to the way that cities were designed prior to the 1940s, making it possible to live, work and play in the same area.”
— Mayor James Brainard
The Center for the Performing Arts sits amid the massive Carmel City Center project developed in partnership with the city by Pedcor Cos. of Carmel, with the first phase set to open this summer.
Bruce Cordingley, Pedcor’s president, says it’s basically a city within a city, with green spaces, piazzas, water features and multiple buildings that incorporate residential as well as retail and office uses.
Strikingly missing from most of the project are cars—for the most part, they’re tucked neatly and unobtrusively below the buildings.
Like any urban space, the buildings vary in design, but they’re all traditionally styled. Height varies as well but tends to be mid-rise, up to seven stories.
“我们关注传统的设计原则,focal points, longevity, décor of the buildings,” Brainard says. The construction is close to the street, with walkable...
