New Pedestrianism

[WishYouWasMe]

what do you guys think about new pedestrianism? I think it works for small neighborhoods...or maybe even mid-size to large neighborhoods. But it wouldnt work for commercial centers.....new urbanism would though...

Aye...why CANT ppl implement new pedestrianism I see no drawback to it.

All garages and cars and streets face the rear of the house(think alleys) and in the front of the house are pedestrian streets(think brick) and bike lanes(think paved surface). Everything converges onto a public center...and neighborhoods are connected thru natural greenways. Venice, California is kinda where the idea got started at...although I think they mighta ran with it a little more. Rosemary Beach, Florida was the first city created under this standard.

http://www.pedestrianvillages.com/pics/24_new.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/022306-CelebrationFL11.jpg/800px-022306-CelebrationFL11.jpg

[gerv]

In James Howard Kunstler's Home from Nowhere http://www.kunstler.com/books.html, he describes ideal neighbourhoods established around commercial centres so that you could walk to the grocery store since it was less than 1/2 mile from your house.

However, this doesn't work for the layout of even the most friendly neighbourhoods in North America. For example, if I try walking from my house, the grocery store is a little over 1/2 mile, but hardware, clothing, health food, library are all a little beyond that range. This makes walking -- in some cases -- a major excursion.

That's why the bicycle works much better in my case. A 4 mile trip for clothes is about a 2 hour venture. A 1-mile trip to the library and health food store takes less than 1 hour, including shopping time. Of course, when there's a foot of snow on the ground, it's more difficult by bike, but in general the ranges are more bike-friendly than foot-friendly.

[bragi]

I think it's a great idea, but I'm still holding out for an entirely car-free community. :)

[lyeinyoureye]

Move east!
http://www.rlrouse.com/pic-of-the-day/berlin-oh-amish.jpg

[Roody]

In James Howard Kunstler's Home from Nowhere http://www.kunstler.com/books.html, he describes ideal neighbourhoods established around commercial centres so that you could walk to the grocery store since it was less than 1/2 mile from your house.

However, this doesn't work for the layout of even the most friendly neighbourhoods in North America. For example, if I try walking from my house, the grocery store is a little over 1/2 mile, but hardware, clothing, health food, library are all a little beyond that range. This makes walking -- in some cases -- a major excursion.

That's why the bicycle works much better in my case. A 4 mile trip for clothes is about a 2 hour venture. A 1-mile trip to the library and health food store takes less than 1 hour, including shopping time. Of course, when there's a foot of snow on the ground, it's more difficult by bike, but in general the ranges are more bike-friendly than foot-friendly.

Well I think the idea is to have commercial centers where the grocery, pharmacy, bakery, bank, hardware, etc. are all neighbors, and placed within walking distance of (hypothetically) 5,000 to 10,000 residents. Less frequently needed establishments like department stores, main bank branches and specialty stores belong in the downtown area, a short bus ride or bike ride away from (again hypothetically) 50,000 to 100,000 residents.

This is definitely not a "new" idea from Venice CA. All cities were set up this way until about 50 years ago. It made sense then and it will again make sense in the carfree cities of the near future.

[Platy]

I don't like the walled-off community in the drawing shown by the OP. Streets will be unsafe for pedestrians if they are out of view.

I see the photo of the plaza as safer and more inviting. A network of interconnected plazas would be a nice way to lay out a carfree city. Plazas are natural transfer points for public transit. That's the traditional Mexican city layout. I don't know how well it would scale up for a city of millions.

[bragi]

Move east!
http://www.rlrouse.com/pic-of-the-day/berlin-oh-amish.jpg

I said car-free, not fun-free....

[Wogsterca]

[QUOTE=WishYouWasMe]what do you guys think about new pedestrianism? I think it works for small neighborhoods...or maybe even mid-size to large neighborhoods. But it wouldnt work for commercial centers.....new urbanism would though...

Aye...why CANT ppl implement new pedestrianism I see no drawback to it.

All garages and cars and streets face the rear of the house(think alleys) and in the front of the house are pedestrian streets(think brick) and bike lanes(think paved surface). Everything converges onto a public center...and neighborhoods are connected thru natural greenways. Venice, California is kinda where the idea got started at...although I think they mighta ran with it a little more. Rosemary Beach, Florida was the first city created under this standard.

That drawback is that you still have cars and garages, effectively your eliminating small streets between major arterials, however you still have heavy traffic on those arterials. So the pedestrian or cyclist must use other means to get from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, that means you need an excellent transit system.

This isn't actually a new design, I know of at least three townhouse condominium complexes that are built this way, parking is underground, with only foot paths between units, one was built in the 1970's, one in the 1980's and the third would have been built in the 1990's except a major fire near the end of the construction delayed it, so it didn't actually see occupants until after 2000. They would be about the size of the drawing, which is actually way too small.

J.H.Crawford wrote a book about car free city design, the book Car Free Cities, builds upon this, to eliminate the cars and garages completely. Check out the book at your library, or visit the
website (http://www.carfree.com).

The book isn't that old (2002), but I think Mr Crawford says it better then I can.

[lyeinyoureye]

I said car-free, not fun-free....
Beggars can't be choosers! :p

[Dahon.Steve]

You stole my thunder about Car Free cities. That's exactly what I was thinking.

The New Pedestrianism is not just a book but a growing movement that's spreading across Europe and cities all over. People are getting sick of traffic and are looking at alternatives to the motorcar blight.

[Platy]

People are getting sick of traffic and are looking at alternatives to the motorcar blight.
Count me in on that one.

[Wogsterca]

You stole my thunder about Car Free cities. That's exactly what I was thinking.

The New Pedestrianism is not just a book but a growing movement that's spreading across Europe and cities all over. People are getting sick of traffic and are looking at alternatives to the motorcar blight.

Sorry about stealing your thunder, perhaps you can steal it back another time. Hey when it comes to hating traffic, and the motorcar blight, I think the best solution is the subway, in a radially spoked wheel formation. It's fast and efficient for longer trips...

[kickflipjr]

I have been reading "suburban nation" right now. If you are interested in making cities pedestrian friendly then that is a good book to read.

or you could watch these videos here:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=NuHerbAndIzm

[Roody]

You stole my thunder about Car Free cities. That's exactly what I was thinking.

The New Pedestrianism is not just a book but a growing movement that's spreading across Europe and cities all over. People are getting sick of traffic and are looking at alternatives to the motorcar blight.
I love Crawford's book/website. But his designs are pretty radical--maybe better suited to new cities and not easily adapted to existing cities.

For the typiclal American city, a return to the old grid street pattern might be sufficient for carfree living.

Most older cities have several commercial centers scattered around at convenient intervals. Even strip shopping centers in older suburbs would qualify.

Most of these old commercial centers have pawn shops, strip clubs, and liquor stores as the current tenants. More upscale areas tend to have nice clubs, restaurants and tourist-oriented shops. Neither is suitable for "real" people living in the area. What's needed are groceries, pharmacies, banks, hardware stores, pubs, etc. Real stores for real people.

[makeinu]

But if the cars are in the alleys then where are the crack heads and prostitutes going to go?

[gwd]

But if the cars are in the alleys then where are the crack heads and prostitutes going to go?
I live in a neighborhood where the single family homes have their garages behind the houses with access from the alleys. The crackheads and prostitutes aren't noticeable in the neighborhood. Since the cars only use the alleys to access the garages or parking spots or short cut there is still room. Some people turn the rear garages into living space and rent it out as affordable housing. This is another advantage to car free living. If you own one of those houses you save money by not having a car and make even more money renting the garage space in one form or another.