St. Paul Central HS is getting Re-Vamped!

Less Road, More Space

I've driven past this park on Guerrero countless times, and I finally got the chance to stop and experience it on a beautiful day (along with a Mitchell's treat :) This mini-park is somewhat like a dream! Once "inside" I learned that this plaza is part of a bigger project, Pavement to Parks, made possible by a collaboration between the mayor's office, the SF Planning Department, SFMTA, and Public Works. This is the kind of stuff I hope to be able to design in the future. 

BEFORE

Today: Looking north

Looking south

Sunny space to lay

Or sit

San Jose & 28th

Public Art

Left side looking north up Guerrero; right side looking south

Design for Walkability

I stumbled across a SPUR Report from 2013 on how to strengthen San Jose's future through urban design. For my own notes, I would like to go over the first part of the report that introduces the importance of design in cities. 

What is Urban Design?

• "the physical organization of buildings, streets and open spaces into whole places that work for people."

What does Urban Design address?

• The placement, orientation and form of buildings
• Site planning, or the physical arrangement of buildings and uses within development projects
• Multiple scales, from the human body to the neighborhood or district
• Circulation and access for all travel modes
• Human experience, activity, social interaction and travel behavior
• The arrangement and design of streets and open spaces
• The connection of buildings to the public realm and to one another
• Above all: the integration of these things

The Case for Walkable Urbanism

• Sustainability
• Mobility and Access
• Prosperity and Economic Growth
• Public Life
• Public Health
• Social Equity

Design for Walkability: Seven Key Components

1. Create fine-grained pedestrian circulation
• frequent and densely interconnected pedestrian routes that shorten both actual and perceived distances 
• smaller city blocks are good examples
2. Orient buildings to streets and open space
• buildings should be placed right at the edges of streets and public spaces, not set back
3.  Organize uses to support public activity
•  active use of space, for example retail, should be along pedestrian routes, and private spaces should be tucked away
• residential entrances should provide a graceful transition from public to private
4. Place parking behind or below buildings 
• parking is an expensive, space-hungry, and unattractive use and should be located to support and enliven public spaces
5. Address the human scale with buildings and landscape details
• people experience the built environment at the scale of their own bodies in space, and buildings should meet and engage people at that scale
6. Provide clear, continuous pedestrian access
• sidewalks are the city's connective tissue and should include elements like trees, lighting, street furniture and public art
7. Build Complete Streets (from the National Complete Streets Coalition, Smart Growth America)
• "A Complete Street provides safe, comfortable, attractive, and convenient access and travel for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit users of all ages, abilities, and preferences. The design of a Complete Street considers both the public right-of-way and the land uses and design of the adjoining properties, including appropriate building heights and the planning of adjoining land uses that actively engage the public street realm."

 ____
This information is adapted from the 12/2013 SPUR Report, "Getting to Great Places: How better urban design can strengthen San Jose's future." 

Density in a Munich Suburb

This post continues a conversation started Tuesday, December 9, 2014 - Suburbs: Twin Cities vs Munich. The previous post gives an areal view. Here I will take you to the ground level of the suburb of Munich - Vaterstetten and Baldham - to showcase how dense, walkable, and transit friendly these neighborhoods are.


Housing

New housing next to the Baldham S-Bahn

New housing going up right next to the S-Bahn (train into downtown Munich) station in Baldham

You can find these blue signs (all the way to the right of the picture) everywhere - I will talk about them in another post

Attached houses

In the newer parts it's very common to see multiple attached units

Notice the garages underneath

You can always find traditional Bavarian style homes

Attached housing right on the edge of the limits

This is a pedestrian-way - no cars allowed

Attached housing allows for privacy, energy efficiency and density

A range of housing can be found here

Bavarian-style architecture is still incorporated in the buildings and housing

So many attached houses!

This is the largest backyard I've seen here - no joke

View from my bedroom window

Car Park

Little containers for smaller-sized cars

Underground parking at a main shopping center next to the S-Bahn

Underground parking for housing

Germans often drive nice cars - and they still like to park them in garages

But the concept of garage is very different

Many use the street as permanent parking spaces

Rows of garages - kind of ugly? But it meets a need in a high density manner

100+ car Walmart-style parking lots in the suburbs? Forget about it -- this is all you get

Parking places intermixed with the boulevards

An on-street parking in addition to that - slows cars down

A chance for greenery

Streets

Roundabout - keeps traffic moving

So green!

Split road with a chance for greenery in the middle

Skinny streets slow cars down

Not quite enough room for 2 side-by-side cars, so cars can drive onto the barrier or up onto the sidewalk to pass

Mirrors help cars see what's coming

Mirror down a perpendicular street

Leaving Baldham - entering Vaterstetten

There is ALWAYS a sidewalk

Be conscious of bikes

Be conscious of pedestrians

A main drag - bikes and peds are always seen here too

Even a main drag has one skinny lane

The sign reads: Speed down, please! Children

Main street perpendicular to the S-Bahn station - lots of shopping and housing here, and always lots of people

Grocery store, bakery, pharmacy, bank, etc., and plenty of housing

Roads are NEVER packed with cars

Just as many people - or more - as autos

Wide roads made skinnier with obstructions

Tiny little streets!

Wide streets made more interesting

You don't drive fast down such a street

Public Spaces

Courtyard with housing, next to shopping and the Baldham S-Bahn station

Green space and playground ares for kids, next to dense housing

3/4-story housing

Large park and green space located next to housing

Courtyard area with shops on the ground level and housing above

Soccer fields, of course

A playground is always walking distance

Small play places are EVERYWHERE

Car park, bike shelter, shops and restaurants, 100 ft from the S-Bahn station

More places for children to mingle

Intermixed in housing

Shops/businesses on ground level, space to mingle

Ways to Get Around, Through, and to Town

Sidewalk along the roundabout

Walking only -- grocer, restaurant, pharmacy, bookstore, clothing, etc -- small, local businesses

Bike park!!!

Bike and ped path, separated, under the S-Bahn, parallel to the street

View from the opposite side

Many pathways like this -- bike and ped only

Adding greenery to an intersection

Bike or drive

Bus stops on tiny suburb streets

This bus stop has flavor!

The "beginning" of a ped and bike-only pathway

Continued

Continued

Continued

Interrupted by small streets and slow-moving/rare traffic, but it keeps going!

Continued

Continued

The start from the opposite end

Amazingly -- this traffic signal exists to stop for pedestrians, only 

Bike/ped path splits a field

If it's there, they will come

Another part of town, another ped/bike-only pathway

Bikes and buses seen in these Bavarian suburbs all the time

Bike park!!

Mixed Use

Hotel, grocer, pharmacy, housing, etc., right next to the S-Bahn station

Ground level restaurants and shops, housing above

Ground level shopping, housing above

Ground level business, housing above

Shops and amenities along the main drag off the S-Bahn in Vaterstetten

Post office, ice cream, bakery, coffee,... housing above

Ground business/shops, housing above AND bike park!