Spotted: People, 1, Cars, -1

This post expands on one of my earlier posts. Since I came across the first "Pavement to Park", I can't stop noticing them everywhere across San Francisco...I absolutely love it! 

Mojo Cafe, Divisadero St

Pizzeria Delfina, California & Fillmore

Pizzeria Delfina, California & Fillmore

My goal is to capture each one I pass by and add it to this post!

Wow! According to this NY Times article 'When the Parking Space Becomes a Park,' there are 51 of these "parks" around San Francisco, as of January 2015. One restaurant owner in the North Beach neighborhood has seen his business quadruple after installing one outside, so I'm betting more of these have popped up since the beginning of this year. According to the article, the idea originated in San Francisco with an arts collective, in order to challenge the automobile-centered approach to urban planning and design. And now, an international day on behalf of this idea has sprung up, called Park(ing) Day. 

Interestingly enough, the parklet I originally photographed is featured in the NY Times article with the co-founders standing in front of the 1973 Citroën H van, once used during the Tour de France. A few of the co-founders now head the San Francisco Gehl Studios (more about Jan Gehl in an older post).

A final glorious detail from the article. The original experiment in 2005 was considered a success after igniting human connection; after wandering onto the temporary parking-spot-turned-park and deciding the space was worthy enough to feed the meter, two strangers engaged in a spontaneous conversation.

Connection is beautiful!

____
Source
The New York Times

Living Streets Part II

Among the dozens of pages I've bookmarked for conversations on my blog, I came across a page that has me thinking about Living Streets once again. I've been waiting to write about this topic for some time now, and since my most recent post, it keeps popping up; in my thoughts back to my own childhood (which I still plan to share), in the first few chapters of the Jane Jacobs classic The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and then stumbling upon this piece of research. So it was published almost 20 years ago, but in a journal entitled International Play... who doesn't think a research journal about playing is awesome?!

The research reinforces my personal feelings about residential streets loosing their function as social and play environments. It also, interestingly enough, mentions that Munich can be used as an existing model for reclaiming the streets for children, which I captured pictures of last fall. Not only that, but I spent my time in Munich as an Au Pair, taking care of 3 young girls aged 14 months to 6 years. Each day - weather permitting - we spent outside was spent doing some sort of activity in the street. I doubt there was a day that passed that I didn't see a group of kids playing in the "street," whether it was scootering and biking around or boys kicking a soccer ball (I bet this happened daily no matter what!). Even though our neighborhood was more suburban than urban, the streets played an important part in the way of life for people of all ages. It goes to show that "safer" streets with less or slower traffic are used for reasons other than driving or transport.

 From the publication:

"One should be able to play everywhere, easily, loosely, and not forced into a 'playground' or 'park'. The failure of an urban environment can be measured in direct proportion to the number of 'playgrounds.' 

Notwithstanding research which suggests that parks and playgrounds are highly valued by children (Homel and Burns, 1986, 109), perhaps this argument is not as absurd as it seems. It helps us to realise that the way we have been seeing 'children's spaces' is "culturally constructed". This quote is highlighting the possibility that parks and playgrounds are among the few places left for children in our cities. It is saying that a truly child friendly city should be one big playground. Cities in the developed world can hardly be described in such terms, mainly because of the way in which streets are seen as barriers for children, rather than as a useful resource for play.

No doubt circumstances are changing ever-more rapidly, with the automobile as the main culprit. Car dependency creates more dangerous streets, leading to more parental supervision for child safety, more formal/supervised play, less freedom and independence for children, and ultimately less ability for spontaneity and creativity in children. All of which can play a major role in the development, socialization, and sense of community for children.

This is where Living Streets come in. The publication reviews "traffic calming" in countries that have had success in reclaiming the streets as social space - not surprising that the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark are mentioned here. Munich is highlighted:

One European city which is developing a reputation for being a "playful city" is Munich. Since the early 1970s, the combined efforts of play organisations and city authorities has led to Munich evolving as a model playful city. The key aspect of the approach taken is the realisation that children need time and space for open, non structured play, and that such play is a crucial part of a child's positive development (Zacharias and Zacharias, 1993). It is argued that playing should be allowed and possible in all the everyday environments of the city, rather than simply in specific playgrounds. There should be a "playable city" where the entire environment is conducive to children's play. In many parts of Munich, the streets are seen as appropriate places for children to play (Moore, 1993).

To support the ability of children to play in the streets, a number of "verkehrsberuhigter Bereich" have been developed. Many of these are similar to woonerven, and they have a special sign that says: "children can play in this street". Cars must travel very slowly (5 -7 km/h) and they can only park in marked areas. Knecht (1995, pers. comm.) has recently conducted a project in Munich called "Play in the streets and yards". His observations were that children do in fact play in such verkehrsberuhigter Bereich where they cover a large area, as in an area of Munich called Moosach. In one street in Knecht's study, Hirschstrasse, children painted a mini golf course with chalk on the street. They made 20 stations with wooden material and toys and other material. A huge number of children from the neighbourhood streets (also verkehrsberihigt) come to Hirschstrasse to join the game. Children also play tennis, roller skate, play ball games and so on. One of the most important findings of Knecht's study was that if there are a lot of children playing in the street, the car drivers proceed very slowly. Sometimes they even turn around and look for another route. Thus, children have been able to successfully reclaim the street!

While I feel relief to know that my inclination is actually backed up by research, it's disheartening to see the place I knew as a playground growing up disappear. But progress is being made with like Living Streets and traffic calming. Such strategies can be thought of as a piece to the puzzle or possibly even a catalyst to transform streets away from exclusive automobile use and back to communities that actually bring value and life to the veins of a city. The authors of the research couldn't sum it up better:

Making provision for children's play throughout a city's public spaces, including its residential streets, will not only be of great benefit for children, it will create a physical and social environment of superior quality for all the city's residents. If we can encourage more people to use residential streets for walking, cycling, social interaction and playing, then cities will become more sociable, more livable places for all city residents. Cities will once again become places which facilitate exchanges between people of all ages.  

Sources: 
http://www.ecoplan.org/children/general/tranter.htm
http://www.ncsu.edu/www/ncsu/design/sod5/phd/resources/Streets_as_Playgrounds.pdf

The "Living Street"

The following pictures were taken in Baldham and Vaterstetten, small suburbs of Munich, Germany:

I was familiar with these blue signs, likely from the year I spent living in Germany as a younger girl, but never really took a moment to think about what they actually meant, legal implications and all. After walking through a part of my neighborhood I'd never walked before and seeing a number of these signs, I decided to dig deeper. I was happy to find an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to the "Living Street." The German legislation is as follows: "Vehicles should not travel faster than a pedestrian speed. If not same grade then street usable by pedestrians. Parking is only allowed in marked places. Pedestrians, including children, may use the entire street and children are permitted to play in the street."  

I grew up on what would definitely be considered a "living street." And not because a sign was posted determining a maximum car speed, but because the 80-some kids on my block made it a living street. So, I have a very personal perception of the function of a street, or what its function should be. Importantly, I believe - because I've witnessed it - the way people think about and act around streets has drastically changed in my lifetime and even since I was schoolkid.

This concept of a designated multi-functional street is relatively new, being introduced in the 1970s in the Netherlands and spreading to over a dozen countries since. And while I feel a very personal and direct connection to the idea of the living street, I nonetheless think these signs accompanied by laws are a fantastic idea! I grew up with our street as a play place, and the fact that streets (especially city streets) have become car-dominated and dangerous is quite frankly saddening to me. 

My wish would be to create more "living streets" in cities and bring back the street as a fun and safe social place and multi-use playground.

More pictures of multi-use streets in full effect in the downtown area of Passau, Germany:

It's starting to happen:
Copenhagen has done it (what city is leading, as always ;)
New York City is doing it (click on the "Renderings" image!)





More on this topic to come...

You Can't Park Here, But Please, Sit

This is a way of saying "this street/parking space is for PEOPLE!" To eat, drink, chat, hang out, lounge, relax! True creativity at its best.

Location: Cow Hollow, San Francisco, California

Street Design Shapes Lifestyle

Picture this:

You live in the neighborhood on the left where the streets were designed with the passive approach. You have errands to run so you get in your car, driving from store to store, even though each store is located just a few hundred feet from each other. You get into your car, likely just to drive across the street and park in another massive and identical looking parking lot. Get out of your car, get back into your car, spend 5-10 minutes to travel .02 miles. Your errands take 2 or 3 hours out of your Saturday.

Or picture this:

You live in a "proactively-designed-streets" neighborhood, and you spend 5-20 minutes a day, stopping for your errands down the block as you walk home from work/school/etc.

What lifestyle sounds more appealing? Which is better for health, happiness, and what is easier on our natural resources?

________

Image adapted from the National Association of Transportation Officials Urban Street Design Guide

TED Talk: Jeff Speck, Walkable Cities

Highlights

• Invest in walkability: Portland as a great example
• Has fundamentally changed how Portlanders live
• Portlanders drive 20% less than the average American, they are saving 3% of their GDP, and are able to spend that on recreation
• Educated, young people are moving there in droves; it's a place people want to be because it offers a quality of life that people want
• 2004: Urban Sprawl and Public Health
• The suburbs are killing us and the cities can save us
• Obesity, diabetes, etc.
• Urban/Suburban lifestyle relates to diet, but it seems to correlate even more with inactivity
• The American health care crisis is really an urban design crisis, with walkability at the heart of the cure
• The correlation between sustainability of communities and quality of life
• Does "being sustainable" make our quality of life better? No. The things that make us sustainable make our lives better. That thing is living in a walkable community
• How to get people to walk? Requirements:
• A reason to walk (balance of uses)
• A safe walk (reality and perception)
• A comfortable walk (space and orientation)
• An interesting walk (signs of humanity)

More from Jeff Speck

The Bikeable Suburbs of Copenhagen and Munich

Suburbs in Munich and Copenhagen are designed around and for diverse means of transportation. In contrast to this, the trend in American suburbs has been design around and for automobiles; travel by car is the only means of transportation built into the infrastructure, creating dependency on cars, unsafe roadways and traffic. 

Since I have a strange obsession with urban cores and like to focus my attention away from suburbs (especially American suburbs, simply because I think they are characterless and ugly - wide, spread out lots and streets with cookie-cutter houses give me anxiety), I can't help but to notice how differently the suburbs in Europe evolved in terms of planning, design, and function.

A few pictures will help. 

Brøndby, Denmark (suburb of Copenhagen)

Peds, Bikes, Cars/Buses

Barrier between bike lane and street for added safety

Street obstacles force cars to slow down

Slower traffic increases safety to encourage bikers

One-car-at-a-time

Vaterstetten and Baldham, Germany (suburb of Munich) 

CLICK ME

Paths for Sunday afternoon walks

Roadway incorporates greenery

Smaller streets = slower traffic

Mirrors help see around corners

Designated "Play Street" - more on this later

Mixed streets, varying priority for people/bikes and cars

Several non-car "secret passage ways"

Watch for bikes

Watch for peds

Sidewalk for peds, street for bikes and cars

Cars never drive fast down these roads

This stoplights only purpose is to stop traffic for peds

Open for all kinds of traveling

Similar road blocks in the street as Denmark

Not many pictures are needed of American suburbs since they all pretty much look alike (images from Google).

How does one walk or bike around in this mess???