Urban Design
Streetsblog Basics
Meat Market Plaza is Open for Business
The interim redesign of Ninth Avenue and 14th Street is done. Tables, chairs, planters and some of those giant granite blocks from DOT's Bridges Division have been set out as multipurpose bollard-bench-tables atop a gravelly, earth-tone pavement surface.
September 27, 2007
Making the Case for Compact Development
From the people at Smart Growth America comes word of a new book, Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change, just out from the Urban Land Institute. In the book, researchers argue that more compact development (such as Atlantic Station, a mixed-use complex in Atlanta built on reclaimed industrial land, shown at right) must play a key role if this country is to reduce emissions:
September 21, 2007
NYC Gets Its First-Ever Physically-Separated Bike Path
The Department of Transportation revealed plans for New York City's first-ever physically-separated bike lane, or "cycle track," at a Manhattan Community Board 4 meeting last night. The new bike path will run southbound on Ninth Avenue from W. 23rd to W. 16th Street in Manhattan. Unlike the typical Class II on-street bike lane in which cyclists mix with motor vehicle traffic, this new design will create an exclusive path for bicycles between the sidewalk and parked cars.
September 20, 2007
German Town Chooses Human Interaction Over Traffic Signals
Driving (carefully) with Dutch "shared space" guru and traffic engineer Hans Monderman.
September 14, 2007
Does New York Need a ‘New Moses’?
Okay, so the question comprising the title of this post sounds naive enough to border on rhetorical. But in light of the city's current development climate, it takes a stronger resolve than mine to read "Power Broken," by NYU's Thomas Bender, without wondering which side of the fence to come down on.
September 13, 2007
A Gehl Dispatch From Down Under
We reported yesterday that noted Danish urbanist Jan Gehl will soon be surveying New York streets with an eye toward improving them for human use. Gehl has been working in Sydney, Australia as of late, and an essay he wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald offers insight into what he may be looking for here in the city.
September 13, 2007
Queens Pedestrian Safety Fixes Move Ahead Despite Opposition
Workers on a DOT truck reconfigured a traffic signal in front of P.S. 200 in Queens on Friday.
September 4, 2007
City Promises $5M in Ped Safety Improvements at Mural Opening
The mother and grandfather of James Rice.
August 31, 2007
Queens Leaders Fight Safety Fixes for Fatal School Crossing
DOT plans to simplify a dangerous Queens intersection where a school teacher was killed last December.
August 28, 2007