Jon Talton says Metro Phoenix Should Focus on Building High-Quality Density. Here’s Why

Article originally posted on HERE on August 8, 2024

Growth in the Phoenix area is not a new concept — but over the past several years, there’s been a renewed focus on increasing density in some Valley cities. Building cranes in downtowns across the region would seem to bear that out.

Jon Talton is a fourth-generation Arizonan who now lives in Seattle. He’s watched the metro area grow out, and now up. Talton is an Arizona historian; he writes a blog on the subject called Rogue Columnist.

He’s also a former columnist for the Arizona Republic and now writes for the Seattle Times. The Show spoke with him — starting with how many of the changes Talton has seen over the years here does he think would have happened anyway, and how much of it is due to the wants of residents, as opposed to needs.

How many of the changes you have seen over the years do you think would have happened anyway? How much of it is due to the wants of residents as opposed to needs?

JON TALTON: I think it’s entirely regarding want. If we never would have won the Central Arizona Project (CAP) — of which my mother was a part of that effort to win it — we never would have had 4 million people in the Phoenix Metropolitan area. And we never would have lost what was called American Eden, which was the Salt River Valley that exported prime and very coveted grapefruits, oranges, lemons, dates — everything would grow here. And it was sent in refrigerated railroad box cars as far east as New York City.

How big of a surprise is it that Phoenix has — at least parts of it — has turned into a place where that is possible for people to walk to work or walk to a restaurant or walk to entertainment? Whereas, in earlier years, that would have been almost unthinkable.

TALTON: That has been a long time coming. The people who wanted this were mostly the real estate interests, the developers and all of the associations and people who benefit from real estate development. We built a huge freeway system, which made land that was otherwise not very valuable, very valuable to build tract house subdivisions for miles and miles and miles and miles. None of this would have been possible without the CAP. And now we’re in a situation where we’re probably unsustainable.

Now, as far as density goes, as I say, it’s long been a long time coming. Thanks to light rail, there’s been a lot of filling in, along Central Avenue and in downtown, midtown — where I have a condo — and uptown. There’s been more density in Tempe, and there’s been more density in what is now old Scottsdale, which used to just be Scottsdale.

You mentioned the word sustainable. Does having more density makes this area a little more sustainable, as an antidote to some of the sprawl that so many people have been complaining about for years?

TALTON: Well, my theory is that Phoenix’s survival will depend on pulling back into the footprint of the Salt River Project and having very high quality, high density served by abundant transit. Instead of building out at Douglas Ranch and beyond the White Tanks and all of these other real estate hustles that are going on.

If you are to build in the original footprint of of the Salt River Project and in the original footprint of what the city is, that would almost necessitate more density. You need to be able to build up and not out in those areas because there just isn’t as much open space.

TALTON: Well, that’s why I say high-quality density. Paris has very high-quality density. London has very high-quality density. Seattle has very high-quality density.

What would high-quality density look like to you in Phoenix?

TALTON: Well, it would mean preserving the historic districts and preserving their shade trees and oleander hedges and grass, because that keeps the area cool. It would mean in the center part of the city, maintaining … and planting … more shade trees. And I don’t mean palo verdes — real shade trees. And then abundant, condos and apartments, and preserving areas such as Arcadia.

Nobody has to fear this. It doesn’t have to be some kind of scam to make people be dependent on transit and take away their ability to drive. But they need to have options. And so along the light rail lines, we can have abundant high density, and people don’t have to drive if they choose not to.