Streets – Making Great Neighborhoods Great Places

A movement has started in cities and neighborhoods around the country. It recognizes that streets are the public living rooms of our communities. The activity that occurs in the buildings that line the sidewalks; the sidewalks that line the street; and the people on the street determine our perception of the quality of life in a community and its character.

Unfortunately for years the values that drove roadway engineering and construction resulted in what we see - and hate - going out sections of Colerain and Beechmont Avenues. Places built for cars, not for people. 

When we see congested streets filled with auto-oriented strip malls in the suburbs, they are the direct result of post WWII road construction predicated on a few main arterials connecting cul-de-saced suburban neighborhoods. Residents have to drive everywhere - for groceries, to school, to work, to the gym. They also are the result of treating the right-of-way as only the pavement on which cars travel, and not the entire area that includes the buildings, the sidewalks and the streets that create the places where people meet and engage and create community.

[Download the presentation by Michael Moore, Interim Director of Cincinnati's Department of Transportation and Engineering, to get a great introduction to the basic of redesigning streets for people and place. ]

When we walk down the main street in neighborhoods like Westwood, College Hill, Oakley, Hyde Park, Mt. Washington, Clifton, Northside, Pleasant Ridge, O'Bryonville - or remember the once-vibrant neighborhoods of Madisonville, Kennedy Heights, or Avondale - the streets are filled with people.

We know that streets can be more than just thoroughfares for cars. Main business district streets can be redesigned into grand boulevards that accommodate walking and bicycling, and allow faster through trafffic and slower-moving local traffic.

As neighborhoods work to transform their streets into great spaces that enhance the quality of life instead of just moving cars, here are some basic questions to ask.

• Does the street accommodate multiple types of travel including bicycles, buses, walking?
• Are the sidewalks broad enough to allow two people to walk side-by-side? If the sidewalks are in a retail area, does it accommodate outdoor activities such as cafes?
• Has as much attention been paid to the needs of pedestrians, public transportation, and bicyclists as to cars?
• Is this a street that respects and enhances the quality of the neighborhood by supporting mixed-use, compact, and walkable development?

The Project for Public Spaces has outlined the following simple rules to guide the transformation of streets into great spaces.

1. Stop planning for speed.

Speed kills a sense of place, turning business districts into raceways instead of destinations. Business districts need foot traffic to support commerce, so we need to make access for people, not cars, the priority - not by banning cars, but by removing all the design biases that favor cars over pedestrians.

2. Start planning for public outcomes.

Right-sizing road projects in cities and suburbs can help increase developable land, create open space, and reconnect communities to their neighbors, a park, a waterfront. Public benefits can include reducing car dependence by making pedestrian- and bike-friendly improvements, connecting commercial districts to downtowns, and supporting healthier lifestyles by increasing the potential for walking and cycling.

3. Think of transportation as public space, shared by pedestrians, bikes, transit and cars.

The road, the parking lot, the transit terminal - these places can serve more than one mode (car) and more than one purpose (movement). Sidewalks are the urban arterials of cities, and should be wide, well-lit, stylish, and accommodate benches, cafes, and outdoor art. Roads should be shared spaces with bike lanes and on-street parking; parking lots can be public markets on evenings and weekends. Major arterials can be retrofitted to provide dedicated bus lanes, well-designed bus stops that serve as gathering places, and multi-modal facilities for buses and streetcars.

Click on this link below to see what cities around the world are doing to make streets for people and places and not just cars.

Download the presentation by Michael Moore, Interim Director of Cincinnati's Department of Transportation and Engineering, to get a great introduction to the basic of redesigning streets for people and place.