Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Urban Design

New Video Series Tells the Story of Sprawl

By Brad Aaron | Apr 21, 2009 | 1 Comment

As livable streets advocates work to make headway in breaking the cycle of American auto dependence, the folks at Planetizen have put together a video narrative that explains how we got here. "The Story of Sprawl," a double DVD set produced by Managing Editor Tim Halbur, is a compilation of historical films dating from 1939 […]

Streetfilms: London’s Campaign for People-First Public Spaces

By Ben Fried | Apr 13, 2009 | 2 Comments

In 2002, then-mayor of London Ken Livingstone launched the 100 Public Spaces Programme, a campaign to better realize the potential of the city’s public realm. With guidance from Jan Gehl, the initiative emphasized reclaiming space for pedestrians and enhancing street life. Soon after Boris Johnson defeated Livingstone in last year’s election, the new mayor shook […]

DOT Shows Off Grand Concourse Improvements

By Ben Fried | Dec 23, 2008 | 25 Comments

Lou Gehrig Plaza: No longer a parking lot for Bronx County Courthouse employees. Bronx electeds joined DOT commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan yesterday to mark a completed round of ped-bike enhancements to the Grand Concourse and 161st Street. The package includes the newly ped-friendly Lou Gehrig Plaza (in front of the Bronx County Courthouse), and wider medians […]

Wiki Wednesday: San Francisco’s Better Streets Plan

By Ben Fried | Dec 17, 2008 | 1 Comment

This week’s StreetsWiki entry highlights an intriguing storyline that our colleagues at Streetsblog San Francisco will be covering in the months ahead. The Better Streets Plan aims to establish a citywide template for street improvements: The Plan describes a set of policies for the City and County of San Francisco to follow to achieve a […]

San Francisco Mayor to NYC: “Eat Your Heart Out.”

By Matthew Roth | Dec 11, 2008 | 25 Comments

A rendering of the Transbay Transit Center with a 5.4 acre park on its roof. At a groundbreaking ceremony for the long-awaited Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco yesterday, Mayor Gavin Newsom asserted the project will be "so much more extraordinary than Grand Central Station." Pointing to the renderings on a projection screen behind him, […]

Pedestrians, Bus Riders, and Cyclists Get a Better Bronx Hub

By Ben Fried | Dec 1, 2008 | 9 Comments

These DOT photos [PDF] show off the revamped Bronx Hub — the shopping district and transit nexus in Melrose that just received a slew of livable streets improvements. Planters, surfacing, and a few strategically placed concrete islands demarcate pretty substantial new swaths of pedestrian space, including a block-long plaza (shown above and in bird’s eye […]

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