A reporter for the Contra Costa Times spends a week without a car in the San Francisco Bay Area, weighing the pros and cons of public transport.

Chicago DOT announced that this spring, traffic officers will pose as pedestrians, as part of an effort to crack down on drivers who endanger pedestrians. 

Also as a part of Mayor Daley's Safe Streets for Chicago plan, the city will be installing various safety measures, such as bulb-outs, elevated crosswalks, and pedestrian refuges in hazardous intersections. 

Highways are unwelcome, noisy, polluting neighbors to people who live near them. They're so imposing that it's hard to imagine making one disappear. But that's exactly what Oak Park, IL, might do.  A group is proposing to turn 1 1/2 miles of an expressway into a tunnel, with a 60 acre park on top.

A newly formed non-profit group is focusing on developing a network of pedestrian-friendly routes in downtown Minneapolis.

Outdoor holiday markets are a boon for artisans who sell their wares, as well as for the downtowns that host the markets.  Organizers of holiday fairs in cities around the country have seen them grow in recent years. "They're just sort of being rediscovered as a no-brainer for downtowns," says Ethan Kent, vice president of the Project for Public Space, an international nonprofit organization based in New York that promote activities like holiday markets.

"With the Wall Street Journal weighing in on transit-oriented development, has the movement that ties intensive, mixed land uses to transportation activity nodes finally reached the mainstream?" Asks Planetizen.

"Chicago can be stiflingly hot during the summer and rain-chilled in the spring, and its wind-whipped winters are the stuff of legend. So when the subject is “bicycle commuting,” Chicago is not the first city that springs to mind. But it’s becoming a hot bike-to-work town. In the next decade, it plans to expand its network of bike trails to 500 miles, and has set a goal of putting a bike path of some sort within half a mile of every city resident."

 

"Atlanta's newest park is planted in quite a place: 17 feet above Downtown Connector motorists.

There is nothing else like it in the state, say Georgia Department of Transportation officials. The Fifth Street Bridge, officially finished today, has more than tripled in size as it spans I-75/I-85 downtown, giving the feel of a garden rather than a bridge, and adding no additional car lanes.

Instead, a department that has often been accused of favoring road capacity over all other projects spent $10.3 million building the foundation for a sort of mini campus quad, connecting Georgia Tech's main campus to its new buildings at Technology Square, providing a new main entrance to the university, and serving the mixed-use revival that has exploded on the east side."

 

This image (c) Joey Ivansco/Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff

The experience of the new trade center will succeed or fail in how welcoming it is to pedestrians.

"By 2043, we're being told, there won't just be 300 million of us -- there will be 400 million. With the roadways around our metropolitan regions increasingly clogged, how will we ever stay mobile?
    
Depending on the tea leaves you choose, some vividly contrasting futures emerge."

A commentary by Neal Peirce.
 

"Bob Chorney wants to put farmers back in farmers' markets.

The executive director of Farmers' Markets Ontario is tired of so-called "hucksters" who simply resell produce they've purchased wholesale and then pass it off as their own at markets — often undercutting the prices of career farmers.

So Chorney is pitching a certified market for Toronto next year that would be open only to farmers who grow their own goods, the first of its kind in Canada."

St. Pancras Station in London tops a list of the 6 most beautiful train stations in the world, chosen by Jonathan Glancey, Architecture Critic for The Guardian.

 

This image of St. Pancras (c) David Sillitoe, Guradian Unlimited 

"What is the measure of a great city or urban region? Its education systems? Its arts? Its business inventiveness? All of the above. But the most overlooked measure is a city's dedication to the public space."

With a few changes, suburbs could be good places to live and interesting places to explore, writes Lawrence Cheek for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

"It boasts hot porridge doused in whisky, fresh ostrich meat, organic beers and hunks of wild boar, and it nestles under the battlements of one of the country's most imposing castles. Welcome to the farmers' market in Edinburgh, officially crowned as the best in Britain.

Now six years old, the Edinburgh market is one of the few in Britain to open every weekend. Its award from Country Life, to be handed over by the magazine's editor, Mark Hedges, tomorrow, is the latest accolade. It has also been judged the UK's best by the Farmers Retail and Markets Association (Farma), the national industry body."     

Rockville's new mixed-use downtown aims to avoid the 'Anyplace U.S.A.' look.

Community groups and politicians are creating new strategies to bring fresh foods into low-income neighborhoods.

There was a golden age of motoring when the multi-storey car park was considered a symbol of pride and progress. But car parks are fast becoming symbols of our congested cities, our heavy carbon footprint, our dependency on oil; a civilisation that once embraced the motor car as an agent of liberation now feels a little sheepish about the whole affair.

"The shape of downtown Los Angeles is still in our hands because we are a young city and have room to grow, even at the core. At the same time, the city has an unmatched record of missing opportunities to become its own place.

On Friday, the state announced Hargreaves Associates as the winner of a design competition for a park at the Cornfield — 32 acres of land north of Chinatown. The proposal is thoughtful and interesting, though constrained by the rules of the competition.

But what the Cornfield competition really points out is how infrequently we are choosing from the best available options, some of which may lie outside the limits of a narrowly conceived exercise."

Eau Gallie organizers initially hoped to attract 200 people to their first farmers market. Their estimates were a bit off, and between !,400 - 2,000 people attended the opening day.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels announced a citywide emphasis on pedestrian safety and stepped-up traffic enforcement after three pedestrians were struck crossing streets in two days, including the fatality of a city council deputy.

"Seattle police will crack down on drivers speeding or ignoring other laws at intersections. Officers also will be stopping jaywalkers and pedestrians who cross against traffic lights."

Enrique Penalosa famed urban environmentalist and former mayor of Bogota, Colombia who is widely credited for setting that city of 7 million on a course of sustainable development, came Downtown Los Angeles to speak to a rapt audience of politicians, planners and employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority at the agency's Downtown boardroom.

Making cities more livable, he told the crowd, requires a shared vision among city leaders that extends beyond bus routes.

"It is not for traffic engineers to decide how we are going to solve transportation problems, it is a political decision," Penalosa said. "How do we want our city to be? How do we want to live?"  

Photo by Gary Leonard, Los Angeles Downtown News

In an attempt to reduce accidents by easing tense muscles of stressed-out drivers, the Malaysian government is opening drive-in massage parlors on the country's main highway.

 

Communications scholars began studying personal space and people’s perception of it decades ago, in a field known as proxemics.  Proxemics helps developers and urban planners understand how people move through public spaces, how they shop, and even what types of restaurants they find most comfortable.

For almost fifty years, the promise of Philadelphia's waterfront has gone unfulfilled. Now, however, there is a glimmer of hope for the waterfront.

On October 12, Mayor John Street signed an executive order authorizing Penn Praxis, under the guidance of Harris Steinberg, to work with Philadelphians to create comprehensive planning for a seven-mile stretch of the Delaware River waterfront running from Oregon Avenue in the south to Allegheny Avenue in the north.

Two Bus Rapid Transit lines are expected to be in service in the Bay Area by 2010.  The area is already served by three lines that are minimalist versions of BRT, which have fewer stops,  and special traffic signal devices that allow them to cut travel times. 

BRT is gaining popularity nationally, as it is efficient, and costs less than rail.

The hunt for new ways of creating moderately priced housing in places with immoderate land prices has led housing experts in New York City to an unconventional thought: Why not tear down obsolete branch libraries and replace them with libraries that not only are bigger and better, but also have apartments built on top?

 

Detroit's downtown -- a cold, empty symbol of urban decay for decades -- is on its way to a warmer, livelier, more entertaining future. Campus Martius, the new downtown square that PPS helped create the vision for, played a role in sparking the revitalization.

"No one wants to stroll Calgary's downtown. The streets are lifeless and the buildings too boring. But things are beginning to change."

Spacing, a quarterly magazine that focuses on the improvement and preservation of, and affection for, Toronto's public realm, is run by a creative community of activists and urbanists.  Over the course of its three years, the magazine has become more and more influential, and has developed major clout at City Hall.

 

"Atlantans hardly need a group of researchers to tell them that traffic in the region is a mess. But a recently released study of transportation patterns shows just how bad it is.

Our average commute time is 31.2 minutes, five minutes longer than in 1990, the highest increase in the country. We have three of the worst bottlenecks in the country. Less than 4 percent of Atlantans take transit to work.

So, not only does Atlanta have some of the worst traffic in the country, but also our attempts to build our way out of congestion are failing."

 

"In a town built on make-believe, Hollywood leaders are hoping to pull off the greatest feat yet: creating a public park out of thin air.

Civic and business organizers want to turn a half-mile portion of the Hollywood Freeway into a tunnel and construct a 24-acre greenbelt swath from Bronson Avenue to Wilton Place on top."

 

"At the base of Alabama 59, several lots once boasting beach houses, restaurants, bars, shops and small amusement parks sit empty, growing weeds as they have since Hurricane Ivan blew through in September 2004.

Though there have been delays...there is a plan in place to transform this central beach area from an intersection of two four-lane highways into a dense, pedestrian-friendly downtown of high-rises, sidewalk cafes, ground-floor retailers, hidden parking lots and wide public spaces."
 

"As they battle sprawl, Washington area leaders say they face a stubborn foe, and it's not greedy developers or the tyranny of the automobile or the desire for big houses. It is the United States government.

In scattering employees to the region's outer edges, local officials and planners say, the federal government has undermined efforts to concentrate growth near public transit and the area's urban core -- the strategy local officials see as key to reducing traffic and conserving resources in a booming region."

Voters in the City of Austin will decide whether to approve a bond issue to build a new central public library downtown.

"Like in other cities, we now have chance in Austin to reinvent the central library," says Loriene Roy, professor of library and information science at the University of Texas and president-elect of the American Library Association. "It can be a point of community pride, a dynamic downtown place everybody can use every day and yet still be something really terrific we leave for the next generation."

Facing a need to either renovate their crumbling transportation infrastructure or remove it, public officials in Seattle are considering a few options. The city could rebuild the highway, or it could invest a little more money to move a new highway underground, leaving the surface available for a waterfront park. A third idea, backed by a citizens’ group, the People’s Waterfront Coalition, is to tear down the old highway, build a waterfront park and smaller boulevard, increase transit service and modernize existing streets.

Image (c) Stuart Isett for the New York Times 

"The “in” thing in real estate used to be sprawling suburban homes with one-acre lots, picket fences and plenty of lawn to mow. But these days, many young professionals, empty-nesters and retirees across the country are either downsizing or looking for a more chic and affordable lifestyle. And they’re finding it downtown.

The number of downtown residents in the nation’s largest cities is expected to grow by 2010, according to a survey by The Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy and The Fannie Mae Foundation. The movement also is being seen in New Hampshire. In Nashua alone, there are 10 projects ranging from high-end condos to elderly apartments either under way or in the planning stages."

CT Governor Jodi Rell issued an executive order creating a state office to control sprawl and promote more sensible and sustainable growth.

The Hartford Courant cheered the move, with some caveats, in this editorial.

PPS Senior Associate Toni Gold also asks whether the move is a meaningful one in her commentary, "Smart Growth or a Fig Leaf?"

"One of the lures of the outer suburbs is more house -- maybe even one with a big yard -- for less money. But a new study shows that the savings are illusory: The costs of longer commutes are so high that they can outweigh the cheaper mortgage payments.

A study of Washington and 27 other metropolitan areas by the Center for Housing Policy found that the costs of one-way commutes of as little as 12 to 15 miles -- roughly the distance between Gaithersburg and Bethesda -- cancel any savings on lower-priced outer-suburban homes."

"Where schools are built can have a major impact on the character and growth of a community. With a push from state education officials, communities are consolidating small schools and building new ones near town centers. This is a welcome change."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that while Fashion Week events have outgrown Bryant Park, more time is needed to find another home. The Mayor stepped in and reserved the Park for Fashion Week in February, 2007, rather than allowing a public ice skating rink to remain open throughout the winter months.

The farmers market in Carlisle (MA) is an example of how markets can become an incubator for creative products and marketing ideas hatched by youths.

Because farmers markets are less bureaucratic and less strictly regulated than other sales venues, they provide an ideal venue for young people to try out their sales and marketing skills.
 

"The Street Vendor Project released a report that demonstrates that NYC vendors are tax-paying entrepreneurs who, despite their hard work, struggle below the poverty line due to harassment and over-regulation. As everyone knows, some of the biggest businesses in NYC got their start as pushcarts on the Lower East Side. Sadly, those kinds of success stories are virtually unimaginable today. The report, "Peddling Uphill," lists policy recommendations that would improve economic opportunity for our city's smallest of small businesses: for example, revoking the $1,000 fines for minor violations, opening up more space for vendors, and providing language access at the court where vending tickets are heard."

A farmers market in Petershead, in the UK, is sponsoring a cycle safety initiative.  Road safety advisors will check bicycles for safety, and will distribute leaflets to kids.

 

"City biking can be more than bus fumes and potholes; in some metropolitan centers, urban cyclists can enjoy clean bay air, lighted paved routes and even shower stations to rinse off the bike sweat."

Adventure Cycling Association and Bicycling Magazine give the Washington Post their suggestions on the most bike-friendly cities in the country.

 

In four years, city officials plan to start building an 81-foot-wide thoroughfare that will slice Shimokitazawa, Tokyo's answer to Greenwich Village, in two.

The road has set off a rare battle for preservation in a country where big construction projects have long been welcomed as progress and used to grease the wheels of politics.

CALL FOR ENTRIES
2007 RUDY BRUNER AWARD

About the Rudy Bruner Award:

The Rudy Bruner Award is given to urban places that demonstrate the successful integration of effective process, meaningful values and good design. RBA winners are distinguished by their social, economic and contextual contributions to the urban environment, and often provide innovative solutions to our cities’ most challenging problems.

The RBA awards one Gold Medal of $50,000 and four Silver Medals of $10,000 each.

Case studies of winners are published on line at www.brunerfoundation.org and in a book distributed by the Bruner Foundation.

2007 Selection Committee:

• Mayor Manny Diaz, Miami, FL
• Reese Fayde, CEO, Living Cities: National Community Development Initiative, NY
• Reed Kroloff, Dean of Architecture, Tulane University, New Orleans
• David Perry, CEO, Great Cities Institute, Chicago
• Josephine Ramirez, Director of Planning, The Music Center, Los Angeles
• Robert Kroin, Chief Architect, Boston Redevelopment Authority, Boston

For more information or to receive an application, contact:

Bruner Foundation
130 Prospect Street
Cambridge, MA  02139
Ph. 617-492-8401, Ext. 184
Fax 617-876-4002
Email: application@brunerfoundation.org
Download the application: www.brunerfoundation.org

The application deadline is December 18, 2006.

Please provide your name, title, company or organization, full address and daytime phone and/or fax number on all application requests. Please let us know how you learned about the Award.

Yesterday members of Transportation Alternatives staged a parking squat - a "quasi-legal reclamation of urban street space in which a metered, curbside parking spaces are transformed into urban parkland complete with sod, benches, trees and human beings." 

These events always evoke strong reactions - as evident in the comments posted to StreetsBlog.

By bringing music to public spaces, composers are reaching audiences as diverse as the locales.

"Key stakeholders in the City of Detroit are busy crafting a market-driven redevelopment plan for downtown Detroit. Central to the plan is fostering walkability in Detroit; an element many believe is a cornerstone to the city's revitalization."

"Just five years ago, fruit farmers William Schober Sons Inc. sold all their apples, peaches and nectarines on the wholesale market and dealt with the low prices they often got for the produce.

This season, the Monroeville farm only sold about 40 percent of the farm's crop to wholesalers. Next season, it could be even less.

So where's the farm's fruit going?

"We have a roadside market and we go to farmers' markets in Collingswood, West Cape May and Woodbury," said John Hurff, who heads the fourth-generation family farm astride the Elk-Franklin boundary."

"Bryant Park, which has been home to the massive spring and fall fashion shows, is pulling out the welcome mat." - New York Business.com

Last year, Bryant Park installed an ice skating rink that was free to the public - and much more popular than the exclusive private fashion shows. This February Bryant Park may choose in favor of extending the ice rink, rather than closing the park off for Fashion Week.

After writing about the dangers of privatization of Bryant Park for years, PPS enthusiastically applauds this decision.

After years of grumbling, this much-maligned public space in at the heart of Phoenix is on the verge of a makeover.  But the proposed design has ignited controversy with people who either want the park saved as is or who want it redeveloped, but not in the way that is on the table.

The non-profit Design Trust for Public Space has launched Taxi 07, a program of public events and publications to improve New York City cab design and the entire taxi system. The Taxi 07 Master Plan, to be published April 2007 in partnership with the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC), will outline the next decade of improvement priorities for New York cabs.

Shape the Future of the New York City Taxicab

Make your voice heard: cab riders -- New Yorkers and visitors alike -- are sharing their taxi experiences. Take the Taxi 07 survey at www.taxi07.org and tell:

- When and why you do (or don't) take cabs

- How and where you can (or can't) find one

- Your wishlist of cab improvements, inside and out

- What you think of cabs as a mass transit option in the city

The survey is up for two weeks only, from September 15 to September 30, 2006.

Every respondent also has a chance to win exclusive tickets to a gala cocktail event at Rafael Vinoly Architects.

"There are a few simple steps New York should take. The city has too many cars, and not enough streets and roadways to put them on. There needs to be fewer cars and more cyclists, pedestrians, and mass-transit riders."

"The strategic location of a library at one end of a heritage block, and a smart wine shop at the other, can lead to an empty block becoming home to a coffee shop, a bakery, a cheese shop and a bookstore.

Public institutions like the Post Office, the library, and the liquor store have been gathering places in communities for generations. Strategically used to leverage economic renewal, they not only restore a street but begin to rebuild a community's tax base."

The New York City Council has approved a plan to build one of the largest film and television production centers on the east coast, a 2.7-million-square-foot studio, office, and residential facility in Long Island City, Queens.

 

Congestion and gas prices are creating a boom for light rail and buses across the nation. Cities are using technology and imaginative enticements to counter Americans' reluctance to abandon their cars.

The City of Atlanta and a host of nonprofit groups have begun what urban planners say is a singularly ambitious municipal undertaking, transforming a ring of mostly unused railroad track into a 22-mile loop for hikers and bikers; a mass transit route; and a green corridor that strings together many of the city’s parks and serves as a framework for new ones.

After spurring $1.5 billion in development in Phoenix, the Metro light-rail system is moving eastward. The system is making big progress in Tempe, bringing the first proposed rail-related project to the area and driving a fury of property deals..

"Two blocks of well-loved green space next to New York's main library should get Minneapolis thinking: Why not transform one or more of the surface parking lots next to its central library into an urban oasis?"  Bryant Park pro