Ok, so it’s not the sexiest title for an article, but the newly introduced NYC Street Design Manual is pretty darn significant, and will lead to a myriad of pedestrian-oriented places that elicit enjoyment and enthusiasm. Created by one of the most innovative government agencies anywhere, the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), it’s one of the most comprehensive, well-illustrated, user-friendly guides to building pedestrian-oriented streets and plazas in the U.S. Janette
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Government Policy Innovation |
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On May 27, 2009 a group of people committed to crowdsourced placemaking held the first crowdsourced placemaking chat to see how the participants could work together nationally and internationally to help one another bring to reality the kinds of places we’d like to see built. See the word cloud of the chat above (click on it for larger image), and check out the transcript of the chat.
Some of the chat participants included:
Daren Brabham, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Utah, heading
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Crowdsourcing |
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Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the literary phenomenon Eat, Pray, Love, provided some insight in her presentation at TED on “the pressure that’s been killing off our artists for the past 500 years” (and threatening her mental well being as well), summed up in the question… “My greatest work is behind me. How do I continue?“
As is well known in the music industry and carried over in many other genres, creatives hit their peak in their younger years, rarely being able to match the euphoria of the
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Creatives |
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Less than five months after announcing a plan to transform a San Francisco street into a pedestrian-only plaza, voila! The 7800 s.f. at 17th and Castro Streets, officially known as the 17th Street Plaza, opened on May 13, 2009 and as you can see has already been a success. There’s even a 17th Street Plaza Facebook group.
It’s the first of Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Pavement to Parks Initiative to create car-free pedestrian plazas, “There are many challenges to providing residents with open spaces
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Pedestrian Only/Carfree |
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A few pictures are worth more than a thousand bus stops.
Check out where these bus stops are from at Toxel’s 15 Unusual and Creative Bus Stops blog post.
Stay tuned to be introduced to the first crowdsourced placemaking bus stop program, and the first federally funded crowdsourced placemaking program to boot. Yes, we are nearing the tipping …
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Mobility |
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Real estate developer Bart Blatstein definitely has Rome on the brain. While the new Piazza at Schmidt’s in Northern Liberties, Philadelphia is inspired by the ancient city’s Piazza Navona, that was only after Blatstein was thwarted in his proposal to re-create the Spanish Steps as part of the Philadelphia waterfront.
However, the car-free character of his developments are no coincidence. Says Blatstein, “My grandfather had a pushcart at 2nd and Laurel Streets in the 1930s, so I’ve always
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PlaceMaking |
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The 6 Myths Of Creativity from a work perspective, via Fast Company magazine…
1. Creativity Comes From Creative Types - This is probably the biggest myth of all, and very evident in crowdsourcing. It’s often one simple idea that transforms, and that can come from any one person at any time. The key is to be ready to accommodate that epiphany when it comes, thus is the genius of social content sites like YouTube. Creativity comes from being accommodated.
2. Money Is a Creativity Motivator -
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While it’s plenty viable in just about any other country, what’s the viability of communities going car-free in the U.S.? Some experts way in via the NY Times’ Car-Free in America? article, and here’s their bottom lines. In summary, transportation and planning experts agree going car-free in the suburbs isn’t really a viable option, but car-free districts, at least streets, in dense cities is.
- Witold Rybczynski, noted author and professor of urbanism at the School of Design at the
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Pedestrian Only/Carfree |
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Over two years ago we covered how a community of progressive people took it upon themselves to plan their own community in the outskirts of Freiburg, Germany, Beta community designs a neighborhood their way in Germany. Here’s an update on the 5500 resident neighborhood, known as Vauban.
One of the striking characteristics in Vauban is the focus on pedestrians and de-emphasis on cars. 70% of Vauban’s families do not own cars, and 57% sold a car to move here. Streets are predominantly car
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Pedestrian Only/Carfree |
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The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) held a video contest to communicate the organization’s commitment to new urbanism, “advancing walkable, bikable, neighborhood-based development as an alternative to sprawl.“ The winning video (above) will be prominently featured at the CNU’s annual conference along with free admission for its producers.
Produced by First + Main and Paget Films, it’s one of the best 3-minute films out there explaining the value of placemaking, so you may want to keep it
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