The BRICKLINE  | ST. LOUIS, MO

The Brickline Greenway is a planning and landscape architecture project that aims to connect neighborhoods across St. Louis, fostering healthier lifestyles, connectivity, economic growth, and civic engagement. Part of the work for the project involves establishing metrics and indicators that help define what the project should be, which then inform the planning and implementation. 

Background

Planning means different things to different people. The public often thinks of urban planning in terms of a drawing, a picture - a design of what a place might look like in the future. However, physical planning is not the only kind of planning, and drawings are not the only tools available. While images have the power to inspire (which is important), they can also oversimplify.  Its unreasonable to expect them to summarize all the changes that public projects are expected to bring, and they can’t explain why or how change might happen.

Learning from the Past

The history of the urban planning profession is full of failed plans. These range from reports that sat on shelves, never implemented – to others that were implemented, but never should have been (eg. urban renewal). In some cases such plans focused on physical design while ignoring other factors, but in other cases they were simply failures in terms of defining problems/solutions, securing public support, or addressing funding/feasibility. While wasteful and in some cases tragic, there has been considerable advancement in finding new methods to avoid these mistakes.

The profession now tends to take a more strategic/tactical approach, with a process and a product (not just the built result, but also a report narrative) that takes a more comprehensive approach to answering big questions: what changes are warranted (including things that can’t be drawn), why, and how, as well as implementation by whom, and when.

Public Engagement

Any large project, particularly one that affects the public realm over a wide area, involves changes to the city’s infrastructure, and requires significant expenditures of public money should be examined in detail. The public should be consulted. Having said that, the community has a variety of different perspectives and the process of engaging stakeholders can be complex, whether it is for collecting ideas, submitting proposals for review and feedback, getting support through approvals/funding, or ensuring continued involvement during implementation. While public engagement will take place, many of the decisions will be made - by necessity - by professionals. Projects will be more successful if the public understands and accepts the decisions being made on their behalf. 

Process

Prior and ongoing efforts for the Brickline project can be summarized as follows. A design competition was held; a winner was chosen. Ideas were generated and continue to evolve. Some of this work remains in the physical realm: pathway alignments and configuration, level changes, property lines, rights of way. While it is an oversimplification, these can be considered questions of technical feasibility – aka “can it be done?” The city is also exploring issues related to development and operations: costs, budgets, funding, feasibility – “how would we pay for it?” – as well as governance and policy – “how would we manage it?”  

At the same time, the city has taken a step back to examine related issues, such as potential social, economic, and environmental impacts, and the opportunity to use the project to effect positive change. It is no longer a question of whether we can or should do something, but also “in what ways can we do this… to maximize and fairly distribute the value the project can bring, and reduce/mitigate any negative impacts?” Showing that these issues have been considered is important.

Performance Planning

The city is working to establish a set of performance indicators that would help guide how project decisions should be made. This will ensure that progress will be made on a range of issues that are of importance to the community.

Dedicating time to the establishment of goals, strategies, and tactics ensures that we have properly defined the issues, problems, and solutions. It also gives creative and technical professionals the direction they need. In addition, the use of indicators and targets to monitor implementation and assess impacts leads to a focus on results and a process for continuous improvement. In many cases, technology (sensors) can now provide regular and systematic monitoring of progress; it also facilitates the publishing and distribution of results (eg. dashboards on websites). This leads to more open and objective decision-making, which can lead to increased public support.

The “indicators” or "metrics" movement is based on the idea that society should agree about what needs improving before acting to improve it; also, that it should be possible to decide what "improvement" might actually mean. Lastly, it should be possible to measure the improvement.  

While total agreement is obviously impossible, building consensus around how to define a problem and find solutions is important not just for what results. Benefits also arise when people engage each other to make those decisions. If the process creates trust, this can lead to greater support (in terms of approvals, tax revenues, private funding, volunteerism, etc.), which can often make the difference in terms of implementation and success.

Establishing indicators helps us understand complex issues and make decisions in a structured manner. While there is a focus on performance and data (“if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it”), there are also ways to acknowledge less tangible factors so that they too can be considered.

Initial Goals and Associated Metrics:

• Exceptional Experience: The Brickline’s public spaces can be tracked for their variety and adaptability, with data gathered on visitor traffic and length of stay. Social media engagement and direct community feedback would further confirm if the Brickline is viewed as welcoming, inclusive, and memorable for both locals and tourists.

• Civic Well-Being: Transparent planning, regular opportunities for public input, and technology-driven feedback loops can help ensure community priorities shape the Greenway. Civic pride and stewardship can be measured through reduced vandalism and increased volunteerism, with active reporting to the public.

• Connectivity: The Brickline offers both physical and social connections between people and places—metrics could track whether neighborhood visitation cross-pollinates, if alternative transit modes are increasing, and if digital infrastructure is used to enhance wayfinding and engagement.

• Economic Growth: The Greenway can support small businesses, attract new investment, and encourage job creation. Tracking the number and diversity of businesses, property improvements, visitor spending, and event attendance will demonstrate its economic impact, while equity-focused metrics ensure benefits are widely shared.

• Environmental Leadership: Brickline’s landscape can reinforce sustainable urban principles—measuring improvements in habitat restoration, green infrastructure, biodiversity, and active transport will illustrate its leadership. Community education and participation opportunities further support stewardship and resilience.

• Healthy Lifestyles: Health metrics will reveal if the design of the project supports walking, biking, and recreation, and if travel patterns shift toward more healthy and sustainable options. Improvements in public health markers, reduced pollution, and perception surveys would confirm progress towards wellness.

Once a set of metrics is adopted and mechanisms to measure and report on them are established, the Brickline will be able to demonstrate meaningful progress toward its mission—creating a vibrant, inclusive, connected, and resilient urban corridor that benefits all of St. Louis.