Back to the Future Great Streets for America

1. Back to the FutureGreat Streets for America Norman W. Garrick University of Connecticut

2. Great Streets!

3. Great Streets: Ocean Springs

4. Great Streets: Connecticut Ave

5. Great Streets: Hauptbahnhof Strasse

6. Great Streets: Kings Street

7. What is a Great Street? This question is really embedded in a larger context

8. What is transportation for? Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City

9. Transportationis for creating and sustainingStrong, Vibrant, Healthy Communities

10. Great streets create great cities- Re-urbanism

11. To be able to more about easily and confidently, to be able to linger, to be able to take pleasure in spaces and city life, and to be able to meet and get together with other people these are fundamental to good cities today, as in the past Jan Gehl, Life between Buildings

12. Broadway, Chicago

13. Six Rules for Good Streets • Good streets function as part of a complete network • Good street networks are made up of different types of streets that serves different functions • Good streets are multifaceted integrators • Good streets are safe and comfortable for all users • Good streets are places • Good streets know that they are there to serve the city: not the other way around

14. 1. The Network

15. Connecticut Ave Pierre L’Enfant’sWashington, DC Dupont Circle

16. James Oglethorpe’sSavannah, GA

17. Anywhere America Atlanta, GA

18. The street network serves as the bones of the city The framework on which everything else depends

19. Who is in charge of creating the street network for today’s cities? Today there is nobody professionally charged with determining what the street network should look like We have abandoned this important task to the happenstance of where the highways are routed and the whim of individual developers

20. The Evolving Street Network 1900 1950 1970 1400 Adapted from Stephen Marshall, Street Patterns

21. Dead-worm SubdivisionLong, winding roads that go nowhere.Delores Hayden, Field Guide to Sprawl

22. ZoomburgA place growing even faster than a boomburg.Delores Hayden, Field Guide to Sprawl(Jim Wark, Ariel Photos)

23. One advantage to this type of street layout is that there is negligible traffic on local streets But this benefit comes at a huge cost to the community as a whole The same effect can be achieved from a properly designed street network

24. Paying the Piper Inefficient traffic flow Fractured, formless urban fabric Monochromatic places and economic arrangements Walking, biking, transit rendered ineffectual as transportation

25. Street Network Type and Congestion Severe Congestion Urban Network Pre-1950’s Post-1950’s Adapted from Stephen Marshall, Street Patterns

26. Expanding the City in Davis, CA 2000s Covell Village 1970s South Davis 1900s Downtown

27. 2. Different Streets Types: Different Function

28. The Old Way of Network Design The old style street networks worked well because each street was carefully designed for a specific function Primarily residential streets were designed so that they would get relatively little traffic Streets differed not only in terms of their cross-section, but also by their location in the network and their continuity

29. The Streets of Prenzlauer Berg Schoenhauser Allee The main street Prenzlauer Allee The second main street Pappelallee A neighborhood shopping street Raumerstrasse A neighborhood “living room” street Goehrener Strasse A residential street

30. Schoenhauser AlleeThe main street

31. Schoenhauser AlleeThe main street

32. Schoenhauser AlleeThe main street

33. Schoenhauser AlleeThe main street

34. Prenzlauer AlleeThe second main street

35. PappelalleeA neighborhood shopping street

36. RaumerstrasseA neighborhood ‘living room’ street

37. Goehrener StrasseA residential street

38. Greigenhagener StrasseA residential street

39. 3. Street are Multifaceted Integrators

40. The Function of a Street Streets are integrators: they bring together people, places and things First and foremost, they must pamper and serve people on foot They work best when they integrate rather than segregate different modes of travel They must tie the city together: they must never be separator

41. Great Streets: Connecticut Ave

42. 4. Streets Must be Safe and Comfortable for All

43. Not all Street users are created equal There is a strong argument giving priority to non-motorized travelers Why? They are cheaper to serve They much more efficient They don’t pollute They don’t deplete resources They don’t take up so much space They are not armored They tire more easily They bring life, energy and vitality to cities

44. Speed is Critical

45. 5. Streets are Places

46. Streets are Places It is not enough that streets be context sensitive Streets must be fully integrated into the context: their design must be context based The most memorable streets are ones that convey a complete sense of their location

47. 6. Good Streets serve the goals of the city

48. This gets back to the question of ..What is transportation for? • Good streets support • Economic vitality • Social interaction • Desirable quality of life • Health • More access for less mobility

49. Lingering on Broadway

50. What next?