![]() ![]() Since then, two more have been completed, five are under construction, and another ten are in the planning stages. That year, the city developed an Urban Mobility Plan, designed to give the city back to people, which called for the implementation of 500 Superblocks across the city. While the first Superblock was built in 1993 and the next two in 2003, they have gained momentum since 2014. In Barcelona, the pace of the redesign has been much more ambitious. They added bike lanes and bike crossings – using space freed up by the elimination of parking – near intersections to create a city renowned for a human-scale transportation environment. They paired this with reducing the number of cars in the city by eliminating parking spaces at a rate of 2-3% per year. They gradually added more pedestrian-only streets and linked them to pedestrian-priority streets, where walkers and cyclists have right-of-way but cars are allowed at low speeds. Systematically categorizing streets by function creates a logic that is easy to follow both for the planners redesigning the streets on a large scale and for the pedestrian navigating at street level.Ĭopenhagen’s redesign of its street grid started with one pedestrianized street, Stroget, in 1962. Given the inherent difference between designing streets that are good for large, fast-moving vehicles and those that are good for small, slow people that means we have too many streets that are ill-suited for people and life. ![]() We have many more streets than are realistically needed for those automobile uses and too few streets for people and street life. Superblocks, Street Matrices, and Street Hierarchies-like Truck Routes before them-all recognize that there is a role for streets that accommodate vehicles-deliveries, cargo, even heavy equipment-but that does not mean all streets have to be designed for these uses. ![]() Travel streets “provide critical transportation links and allow for movement, while also serving as destinations in their own right for commercial, cultural and institutional activities.” Community Streets are less critical for through traffic and serve more as “Town Centers ” their primary purpose is to “improve the environment for pedestrians, cyclists, business owners and their customers, while facilitating some through traffic.” The city has also piloted “shared streets”- of the kind found on the interior of Superblocks - on Broadway in the Flatiron District and has plans to create one on Bowling Green in the Financial District. To study the properties of different street grids, I needed some data to work with.In New York City, DOT created a Street Hierarchy in which streets are designated as Travel Streets, Community Streets, and Living Streets for the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Study. I have used it to generate the statistics and diagrams in this post. You can input a street width, block size and it will generate some simple statistics about the land usage and walkability of a particular grid. To help me in my analysis of the street grid, I developed a simple Street Area Calculator tool. But, just how much of an effect do these variables have in affecting the walkability and efficient land usage of a city? Within the basic street grid, you have some flexibility, namely, in the size of the blocks and the widths of the streets. But, I have chosen to focus on the street grid, as it is not the worst street layout there is, and it is very easy to mathematically model and study. Particularly, it can become repetitive and uniform (a strict grid usually does not offer much variation in block sizes and street widths), and it does not accommodate diagonal travel very well. It is very hard to get lost in (especially if you number your streets like in Manhattan.).It is highly connected (there are no dead ends.).It is incredibly easy to plan out and survey (everything is an aligned rectangle.).But you have to admire its simplicity, and it certainly does have some merit Some people love it, some people hate it. ![]()
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