Pedestrianization - Before & After

Check out this awesome gallery collaboration from archdaily.com and urb-i of 30 different streets successfully redesigned with people in mind. Here's an example, Ford Street, from Auckland:

(much much better, isn't it?)

h/t to @thisbigcity and @SteveDombek for tweeting

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.

Just a quick post to kick off the New Year

This model of ancient Rome is a perfect example of how a traditional city looks from above;

• Maximum building coverage coupled w/ really narrow (i.e. people scaled) streets
• Little to no pointless "green space," but plenty of interior courtyards and gardens
• Numerous plazas, markets, and other public spaces

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;

Continental differences in street pattern

Dave Munson over at Munson's City recently did a cool study comparing the most common street grids from continent to continent. He used three common categories: Grid, Organic, and Loose Grid. Munson writes:

"When I was two years old, my family moved from the Bay Area to Northampton, Massachusetts. My earliest memories are from there and it is one of the three or four places I usually claim as my hometown.
My family loved Northampton, and even after moving away, we would make regular pilgrimages back every few summers or so. I really wasn’t sure what I liked so much about it until I went to urban design school, but now I know part of it was the organic street grid. Each block feels distinct, and the slight curves of the streets create outdoor rooms, while the density of the street network allows multiple ways to get to your destination.
Unfortunately, the organic street system, common in other parts of the world, is a rare thing in the US and Canada. I decided to take a look at the major cities of Anglo-America and see where I could find organic cities. But first, here are the general characteristics of the street patterns I found..."

Check it out!