Photo: Woonerf in Copenhagen, Denmark

The New York Times reports on ten progressive street designs that are challenging the traditional "street-curb-sidewalk motif," which has defined so many streets in NYC and around the world by giving priority to automobiles. The ten designs are:

1. Woonerfs
2. Play Streets 
3. Bicycle Boulevards  
4. Pavement Hierarchy 
5. Green Grid 
6. Mental Speed Bumps
7. Swaled Streets
8. Lanescapes 
9. Gentle Congestion 
10. Urban Acupuncture

Ethan Kent, PPS Vice President, who has been involved with the NYC Streets Renaissance Campaign, remarks:

"Let's go to the next level to create great streets that really draw the life of the communities they are meant to serve."

Some of the transportation reforms, like the conversion of a parking lot to a public plaza in DUMBO, have been met with overwhelming community support, while other proposals stir mixed reactions.   

More On Great Streets:
APA Great Streets in America
Book by Alan Jacobs
Greatstreets.org

Montreal is a city with an interesting mix of old colonial squares and new corporate plazas. A new approach to creating vibrant public places seems to be brewing. The focus is on simple and flexible designs that facilitate human activity rather than merely display great architectural achievements.

Gavin Affleck, a partner in the Montreal-based firm Affleck + de la Riva Architects and contributing editor for the monthly magazine Canadian Architect, writes:

"What public space is about is human activity; what it is not about is architectural objects. The great urban spaces of European cities are precisely that: spaces. What fills them is the ebb and flow of life–events, experiences, activities.

Rather than aesthetic, formal or visual concerns, the measure of success of a public space is the degree of vitality it achieves as a support for human activity." 

Despite the large number of Americans now living in cities, urban issues have been astonishingly absent from the U.S. presidential debates. PPS did a spoof article for Faking Places, the annual April Fool's Newsletter, in which Hillary, McCain and Obama make promises for more livable neighborhoods. The glaring omission of urban issues from the national discourse is actually no laughing matter.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

"There are three times as many urbanites in America as country folk, yet you wouldn't know it listening to the three main presidential candidates, or perusing their Web sites. Instead, you might come away thinking the United States is a collection of Norman Rockwell small towns surrounded by picture-book farms."

Related Stories: 
The Candidates and the City [Gotham Gazette]
Urban Issues Get Short Shrift [Politico]
Candidates Largely Ignore Urban Issues [City Mayors]

The ambitious bicycle sharing program in Paris is a model for smart transportation policy. It is revolutionizing the city's street culture while also tackling rising energy costs and global climate change.

Renting stations are quickly becoming places to meet friends and strangers. Jay Walljasper, PPS  Senior Fellow and blogger for National Geographic's The Ecopolitan, writes:

"Borrowing a bright idea from Lyon, France, the city is developing what amounts to a two-wheeled version of the metro. You can pick up a bike at one of 1500 Velib (roughly, "free bike") stations around the city and ride it where you need to go for free or a nominal fee. Since last summer 15,000 bikes have been put on the streets, with another 5,000 to be added by the end of the year. The next step is adding more bike lanes and other improvements that make it easier and more fun to cycle around Paris."

Related Articles:
Paris Wins the ITDP Sustainable Transport Award [Streetsblog]
Paris Joins 2-Wheel Trend In Europe [New York Times]
European-style Bike Sharing Programs Head to US [AFP]

 

The Western Distributor in Sydney wouldn't be the first urban freeway to be dismantled so a community could access the waterfront. The Embarcadero Freeway in SF was demolished after an earthquake in 1989. The Miller Freeway in NYC has become a successful waterfront park and recreation area. And, tearing down the Central Artery in Boston created the possibility of reconnecting the rest of the city center to Rowe's Wharf, which now boasts unobstructed views of the Boston Harbor.

From the Press Release:
"Imagine a new green space almost the size of Hyde Park at Darling Harbour and the Western Distributor buried so the city is reconnected to our harbour.

This is just one of the visionary project ideas put forward as part of the City of Sydney's Sustainable Sydney 2030 vision."