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Tempe, Arizona is a rapidly growing city within the greater Phoenix metropolitan area with a unique challenge: there is no available land to expand because Tempe is completely surrounded by other cities and communities. Due to Phoenix’s development and location in the extreme environment of the Sonoran Desert, Tempe residents face issues of urban heat, monsoon flooding, and water insecurity. These issues are exacerbated by a changing climate, making resiliency and sustainable development a priority. As a response to these challenges, Tempe has voted to uphold these priorities in the General Plan 2050 “Tempe Tomorrow”. The General Plan is a guideline, but does not contain actionable design solutions to achieve the mixed use, affordable, shade equitable, and accessible city it strives for. To achieve goals established in the General Plan, Tempe designated sections of the city as Innovation Hubs, adding benefits and controls on new development. Tempe has proposed that these centralized and large-scale developments, which act as regional attractors, will drive urban growth. While this strategy works towards some of Tempe’s goals, it does not prioritize necessary densification, which would be better achieved through a system of smaller scale, distributed, and connected sites. Distributed, small-scale sites more easily encourage development, are more accessible, and provide a framework to address other challenges Tempe faces in an equitable way. This research proposes an isotropic approach to redevelopment within the city. Small nodes of density can be concentrated around the existing intersections in the urban fabric (based off the historic Jeffersonian Grid), so new affordable housing, public amenities, and other services can be equitably distributed and accessible to all. These intersections are frequently already occupied by abandoned or failing light commercial uses. When these aging strip malls inevitably redevelop, it offers an opportunity to incrementally change those sites into ones that better fit the 2050 General Plan goals. This research involved a combination of research analysis and design. During research analysis, urban conditions and existing services were mapped to analyze location, accessibility, and distribution of programs such as schools, greenspaces, grocery stores, and healthcare. Photo documentation of street conditions was also done. This analysis supported the research design where a system of nodes was proposed as a method to provide housing and achieve Tempe’s 2050 goals.

Volume Editors
Reed Kroloff & Francisco J. Rodríguez-Suárez

ISBN
978-1-944214-52-4