urban condition photos
pedestrian realm Archive
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Healthy Travel Modes: Correlations, Causality and Caution
Posted on January 22, 2012 | No CommentsHealth and wellbeing are affected by a host of factors acting together, separately or cumulatively. Picking one, such as the mode of travel, and assigning it a prime role using statistics can be misleading and can slant priorities for corrective measures. The article cautions about such a misaplication and calls for more research to determine the true weight of each factor. -
Can Money Grow on Trees?
Posted on November 30, 2011 | No CommentsWhen calculating the cost-effectiveness of any operation economists talk about externalities. Mostly they mean the costs or damages to others either downstream or in the future that are excluded from... -
Bumpy rides a thing of the past, again.
Posted on November 30, 2011 | No CommentsDoes a driver exist who actually likes speed bumps and humps? If not, what are these road skin inflammations doing at mid-block or at intersections? It seems ironic that... -
Green them and they will walk – How to get people on a healthy path
Posted on November 30, 2011 | No CommentsTo entice walking, streets must give priority to pedestrians either by limiting or by excluding traffic. Adding landscapig makes them even more alluring. -
A Street you can call your own
Posted on November 30, 2011 | No CommentsThere are two languages in currency that we use to talk about streets: one used by people who live on them and another favoured by transportation engineers. The first... -
European Urbanism: Lessons from a City without Suburbs
Posted on March 22, 2011 | No CommentsAthens has all the recommended incredients of Smart Growth and New Urbanism. It should be the an ideal prototype to understand and emulate. A closer look reveals that the application of the accepted design recipies deliver an upallatable outcome both for its residents and for the environment. What happened? -
Learning from the Laureates
Posted on January 4, 2011 | No CommentsThe new suburb of Freiburg, Vauban, takes five bold planning steps to become a world leader in car-free, pedestrian-friendly community. The fused grid of streets is a key element in the design. -
Closer for coziness, fun, safety and profit.
Posted on November 12, 2010 | No CommentsComing back from a cottage vacation, visions of places with the alluring attributes of a cottage emerge: A large lot, fronting a quiet, densely planted street and backing on to... -
How to Please Nature and Delight Residents
Posted on May 4, 2010 | 1 CommentBuilding a new neighbourhood always brings change to the natural landscape that it replaces. And the biggest change that goes unnoticed is what happens to the rainwater that falls on... -
The True Public Realm
Posted on April 16, 2010 | No CommentsSame city(Montreal), two streets and two strikingly different approaches to the public realm. Both streets are intensely public and encompass a range of uses but are predominantly gathering and socializing spaces....