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Aspen, Colorado, a mountain resort [:own <br />with the type of urban growth problems <br />many would envy; and <br />Irvine, California, a large, mature, suburban <br />planned community. <br /> <br />MILWAUKEE <br />The tirst-time visitor is struck by the elegance, <br />rich appointments, and compelling beauty of <br />the city's development center when she <br />arrives For a permit application. This is very <br />different from her previous experience in the <br />city she moved from, where the offices were <br />din~y, the architecture uninspiring, and the <br />maze of hallways, counters, and please-take- <br />a-number lines overwhelming'. The first person <br /> <br /> City officials confidently <br /> <br />describe one of the <br />key e[ements in §ettin§ to <br /> <br /> this point: a client- <br /> <br />centered development <br />review process that makes <br /> <br /> it easiest to achieve <br /> creative solutions rather <br /> than typical off-the-shelf <br /> <br /> . mediocrity. <br /> <br />of Milwaukee's former mayor, John Norquist, <br />and former plannin§ director, Peter Park, <br />Greenstreet describes what is happenin~ in <br />Milwaukee from an architectural and plan- <br />ning perspective as a "radicalized view of <br />architecture' that reflects higher public <br />expectations. Certainly, some of this can be <br />attributed to the "Calatrava effect"-the <br />raised consciousness result[nb' from <br /> <br />Milwaukee's stunning new art museum with <br />soaring movin§ parts by the renowned <br />Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. <br />Oiscussions with Martha brown, de. puty <br />commissioner of city development, and <br />John Hyslop, assistant planning director, <br />make clear that the change is best <br />explained in the breathtal~ing sweep of <br />remarkable projects, ran§in~ from the <br />redesign ofmodet front porches ~o the big <br />box ingeniously planted into the traditional <br />pedestrian-oriented fabric, and the disman- <br />din~ o~"'an u~ly and divisive elevated free- <br />way downtown. <br /> Erase From the mind any images of <br />Milwaukee from its §rimy industrial past. <br />Milwaukee today is trendier-a sparklin~ <br />city of 6oo,ooo on the shores of Lake <br />Michigan. City officials confidently describe <br />one of the key elements [n ~ettin~' to this <br />point: a client-centered development review <br />process that makes it easiest to achieve cre- <br />ative solutions rather than typical off-the- <br />shelf mediocrity. <br /> At the center of the change is the <br />Milwaukee Oepartrnent of City Oevelopment, <br />the agency responsible for business and real <br />estate development, planning, permittin§, <br />and public housing. "We try to understand <br />what the developers need--their way of view. <br />lng the world," says Brown, "while being <br />respectful of protectin~ the public interest." It <br />is a balancing ofworldviews. <br /> Clear expectations enEender trus'~ in the <br />development review process. The new zoning' <br />code was designed to communicate the rules <br /> <br />she approaches is the right person with the <br />right answers. This individual spells out clearly <br />for her what she has to do. This establishes <br />clear expectations and a definite dmetine for <br />completion of the process and approval. <br /> This remarkable experience is the hall- <br />mark and beginnin~ point of a development <br />review process and or§anizational culture <br />that were years in the making. "It has taken <br />a sea change in city government to achieve <br />better development Faster," says Robert <br />Greenstreet, the Former chair of the city's <br />planning commission. Building on the legacy <br /> <br />130 ZONINGPRACTIC ' <br /> AM£RICAN PLANNfNG AS$OCIAI'ION ( pa~e 4 <br /> <br /> <br />