Narrow Isn't Enough (Kill the Curb!)

(this is how to do it)

In this addition to his Traditional City series, Nathan Lewis elaborates on how simply having a narrow street isn't enough to create a successful place designed for people. The existence of significant curbs on many narrow streets around the world delegates a separate place for cars and a separate place for people, even inadvertently. Read on!

Narrow Streets for People 4: Organizing the Street

New from Nathan Lewis

Life Without Cars 2014

Once a year, we take a little time to imagine Life Without Cars. Many people live without cars today, and also without bicycles (at least for daily transport use), mostly in urban areas with good public transportation. In the developing world also, most people don't own cars, and live in urban areas with good public transportation. Before 1900, nobody used cars. ...

Continue reading at the link!

Recommended reading: The "narrow" street: narrow for whom?

This is a fantastic post over at Urban kchoze that goes deep into the topic of optimal street width. I especially liked this little bit:

"... [a] human being is about half a meter wide ... a car on the other hand is on average 1,8-meter wide. Compacts are a bit narrower and SUVs are larger.  So when we call [these types of streets] a "narrow" street, we still judge the street from the point of view of car drivers, not of pedestrians. So I think we ought to find a better name for them: a right-sized street, or an human-scale street, or some other term."

Let's think of some ideas for a better way to describe a human-centric street!

Article: "How the car industry outlawed crossing the road"

Very informative piece from the BBC! Here are some teasers...

How did America's anti-'jay'walking atmosphere get its start?

[C]ar lobby groups ... started taking over school safety education, stressing that "streets are for cars and children need to stay out of them". Anti-jaywalking laws were adopted in many cities in the late 1920s, and became the norm by the 1930s. 

[T]he cultural ascendancy of the car was secured as the auto industry promoted "America's love affair with the automobile". Car makers portrayed them as the ultimate expression of personal freedom, an essential element of the "American dream".

Some interesting statistics:

The UK is among those countries where jaywalking is not an offence. But the rate of pedestrian deaths is half that of the US, at 0.736 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2011 compared to 1.422 per 100,000 in America.

Read this article to get a good understanding of at least some of the background to the U.S.'s, *ahem*, uncomfortable walking environment...

Transportation disaster in Atlanta: how the region's car-centric urbanism is at fault

As a winter storm moves across the South (including here in normally sunny North Carolina) the worst-case-scenario gridlock event that is unfolding in Atlanta this evening shows off a major problem of Atlanta's sprawly urban form. Reports are pouring in of commuters stuck on the icy highways without a place to go, many of them miles upon miles from home. Some have resorted to walking for many hours just to get off the highway.

(Note: Although car-centric cities always have difficulty with adjusting to major winter events, the fact that this is taking place in the deep South adds to the craziness: Atlanta just isn't used to these types of events.)

Now, would Atlanta be having this same level of commuter chaos if the metro area was designed in a more organic, people-focused way? Would this amount of gridlock even take place if the Atlanta region had an effective rail and transit system? (MARTA ain't enough, folks).

I mean, really. Should a couple of inches of snow really be enough to shut down a metropolitan area of 6 million people, and even place some poor souls into life-threatening situations? No, it shouldn't. And yes, I definitely believe that the DOT down there has done a particularly awful job at handling this storm... but I think it's stupid to deny that Atlanta's sprawltacular "urban" form plays a key role in all of this.

Hundreds of thousands of people commute to and from work by the Atlanta highway system. Most of these commutes are at least 30 minutes without traffic. Of course this isn't breaking news; people across the country live far from work (at distances that would be unimaginable before the advent of the automobile). This isn't inherently wrong, either. But the Atlanta area is so car-centric that people are literally stranded without it. Tonight is just more proof of that.

The city from the air

Some modern city planners have been jokingly criticized for designing urban spaces in a way that the city is visually appealing from an airplane.

Okay, maybe only half-jokingly. Heck, Brasília was planned to look like an airplane from an airplane;

True sustainability

UniverCity is a sustainable-development community located at the top of Burnaby Mountain (adjacent to Simon Fraser University) outside of Vancouver. Here is what the area looks like from above:


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Two things are apparent from the satellite view: an abundance of green space, and an abundance of parking space.

The German town that scrapped all traffic lights and signs

Excellent little story (complete with pictures) on the success of "shared space" in Bohmte, Germany. 

Here's a snippet:

"Four weeks ago, Bohmte banned traffic lights and warning signs, including those instructing drivers to give way or stop.
Only two rules remain – drivers cannot go above 30 mph, the German speed limit for city driving, and everyone has to yield to the right, regardless of whether it is a car, a bike or a mother with a pushchair.
Officials revealed there have been no shunts, bumps or pedestrian injuries in the month since the scheme started.
Previously, there was at least one serious crash every week and scores of lesser 'fender-benders'."
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1028740/Accident-free-zone-The-German-town-scrapped-traffic-lights-road-signs.html#ixzz2l33llJaD 

Taxco, Guerrero

The relatively hidden gem of Taxco lies approximately 100 miles southwest of Mexico City. The town is known for its silver trade and irregular, winding streets.

The beautiful church of Santa Prisca is in the center of town. And, for the record, you are looking at pretty much the widest stretch of pavement in the city.


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