…Within the 400M Through Street Network, identify the zones between the principal streets — roughly 400M square — and treat them differently from the areas along the streets themselves, which include Street As Center. Away from these streets, incorporate Shared Space Lane for quieter, safer spaces around residences and businesses requiring slow-low-volume traffic.
__Problem-statement: Within the scale of a neighborhood, there is a need for a quieter zone where pedestrians dominate, and where vehicles are guests on their best behavior.__
Discussion: Vehicles are needed in daily life, to carry goods, to convey those who are unable to walk, to serve as transit, and for many other needs. Yet there are places in the city where vehicles are dangerous to pedestrians, especially children and the elderly.
The streets within a sanctuary can be quite irregular and “picturesque,” which helps to make walking more interesting and more pleasant than driving.
Vehicles do have the right of way on the principal street network of the city, which provides efficient mobility while also allowing pedestrians to navigate their sides. But away from these streets, pedestrians should have greater right of way, within “sanctuaries” that provide quieter, safer spaces, including streets. Post-war urbanism confused vehicular access (allowing very slow local traffic, and delivery and emergency vehicles to enter when needed) with optimization for vehicular circulation open to anybody. Each typology has a distinct place in the city, and follows distinct design and planning rules. But the two should no longer be lumped together as a simplistic “one solution fits all”.
__Therefore: Lay out the streets within the principal through streets as slower, narrower and more irregular lanes. Do not attempt to optimize for flow, but deliberately give the priority to pedestrians through design.__
Within the sanctuaries, create Neighborhood Park to provide for quieter recreation and gatherings. At the edges, create Neighborhood Square that are adjacent to more active commercial activities…
notes
¹ The classic description of sanctuaries was developed by Donald Appleyard. See for example Appleyard, D. (1980). Livable streets: protected neighborhoods? The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 451(1), 106-117.
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