Urban Design

Here's an idea to file away for PARK(ing) Day 2008. In this video (which starts to pick up after the :45 mark), Paris Deputy Mayor Denis Baupin narrates Operation "Carré Vert" ("Green Square"), an intervention in which activists re-allocate road space on the Périphérique -- the highway that encircles the city -- in a matter of minutes. 

The view of Gansevoort Plaza looking west. The area to the right of the construction barrels will be set aside for pedestrian use.

Sacramento sends cyclists a clear sign that it's okay to hitch your bike to a parking meter.

In a piece from the March issue of Outside Magazine that seems especially relevant today, Tim Sohn writes about public space reform in New York City. His article is accompanied by an illustration of what the future of our city could look like: complete streets with dedicated bus and bike lanes, traffic calming gardens, and sidewalks wide enough to accommodate window shoppers without slowing pedestrian traffic -- none of which would depend on Albany for approval.

Congestion pricing may be dead for the moment, but livable streets advocates can't afford to let that sap our strength or motivation. There are plenty of changes to be made that need grassroots support -- and not one iota of approval from Albany -- to reach fruition. One of those measures will face a crucial test later today.

As a candidate for a livable streets makeover, Columbus Avenue is a no-brainer. A block from Central Park, it is home to the American Museum of Natural History and sports a string of active ground floor businesses, but the street itself is a classically car-oriented corridor: three moving lanes sandwiched between two parking lanes. The Columbus Avenue BID has been working with Project for Public Spaces to make the street itself more of a destination -- to create a walkable, transit-oriented "spine" running from the museum to Lincoln Center on Broadway.

The days of the U- and wave-racks are numbered

StreetFilms' Elizabeth Press traveled to Istanbul, Turkey recently, and put together this vid of horrendous traffic conditions and initiatives to take back the streets. Featured in the film is Kevser Üstündag, professor of architecture and World Carfree Network advisor, who discusses transit and car-free Sundays.

A rendering in section of NYU's proposal for a pedestrian-only Washington Place, between Washington Square Park and Broadway.