Street Design : The Secret to Great Cities and Towns

"The best streets in the world's villages, towns, and cities—whether modest or grand—continually remind one that simplicity is part of the recipe for success in this art. The advice of Victor Dover and John Massengale, their historic examples and their own designs, reflect that simplicity." —From the Foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales "Street Design is a lucid, practical and altogether indispensable guide for envisioning and creating vibrant 21st century towns and cities. It should be required reading for every local political leader, planner, architect, real estate developer and engaged urban citizen in America." —Kurt Andersen, host of Studio 360 and author of True Believers "We are going to start walking around the places we live again, and as that occurs and becomes normal, we will rapidly redevelop a demand for higher quality in building at the human scale." —From the Afterword by James Howard Kunstler "Your charrette traveling library must include the important Street Design book by Victor Dover and John Massengale." —Bill Lennertz, Executive Director, National Charrette Institute "What an amazing resource! For those who wish that my book, Walkable City, had pictures, this is the book for you. If either your work or your play includes the making of places, you will find Street Design to be an invaluable tool." — Jeff Speck, AICP, CNU-A, LEED-AP, Hon. ASLA Written by two accomplished architects and urban designers, this user-friendly street design manual shows both how to design new streets and enhance existing ones. It offers step-by-step instruction and shares examples of excellent streets, examining the elements that make them successful as well as how they were designed and created. Topics also include strategies for shaping space in the public right-of-way through correct building height to street width ratios, terminated vistas, landscaping, and street geometry. This book is a valuable resource for urban designers, planners, architects, and engineers. With guest essays from: Kaid Benfield, David Brussat, Javier Cenicacelaya, Hank Dittmar, Andres Duany, Douglas Duany, Emily Glavey, Chip Kaufman, Ethan Kent, Marieanne Khoury-Vogt, Léon Krier, Gianni Longo, Thomas Low, Laura Lyon, Chuck Marohn, Paul Murrain, John Norquist, Stefanos Polyzoides, Gabriele Tagliaventi and Erik Vogt. Street Design 3 CONTENTS 9 FOREWORD 11 PREFACE 13 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 15 CHAPTER One Introduction 17 The Traditional Street 19 THE GRID 22 The Formal, the Picturesque, and the Hybrid 26 The Formal 27 The Picturesque 29 The Hybrid 30 East 70th Street: A Beautiful New York Block 32 The Lot and the Block 37 A Brave New World 40 Functional Classification 42 Contemporary Challenges to Placemaking 45 Work of Many Hands 47 Walkability 51 Principles of Walkability 52 Shaped 52 Comfortable 52 Safe 53 Connected 53 Interesting, Memorable 53 Placemaking’s Potential for Return on Investment 54 Two Case Studies 54 Complete Streets and the Environment 57 Environmental Benefits of Complete Streets/Emily Glavey 58 Green Streets 59 Notes 62 CHAPTER Two Historic Streets 65 Beyond Functional Classification: A Reintroduction to Eleven Essential Street Types 65 Avenues & Boulevards 68 Multiway Avenues & Boulevards 71 Avenue Montaigne, Paris, France 71 Avenue d’Iena: The Most Beautiful Parking Lot Isn’t a Parking Lot . . . it’s a street 73 Avenue d’lena, Paris, France 73 Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, Barcelona, Spain 76 Passeig de Gràcia, Barcelona, Spain 77 Avinguda Diagonal, Barcelona, Spain 79 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York 80 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, New York 83 Avenues & Boulevards 85 Park Avenue, New York, New York 85 Monument Avenue, Richmond, Virginia 87 Queens Road West, Charlotte, North Carolina 89 Promenades & Ramblas 92 Promenade Streets 92 The RAMBLA TYPE/Stefanos Polyzoides 94 LES RAMBLES, BARCELONA, SPAIN/Stefanos Polyzoides 95 Promenade Street 95 RAMBLA CATALUNYA, BARCELONA, SPAIN/Stefanos Polyzoides 98 PASEO DEL PRADO, HAVANA, CUBA/Andrés Duany 100 Boulevard de Rochechouart, Paris, France 102 Commonwealth Avenue, in Boston and Newton, Massachusetts 104 Main Streets 105 Main Street, Nantucket, Massachusetts 109 Main Street, Galena, Illinois 118 ORVIETO, ITALY/Douglas Duany 122 Quinta Avenida, La Antigua, Guatemala 130 GINZA DORI, TOKYO, JAPAN/Gianni Longo 131 Regent Street, London, Great Britain 136 Downtown Streets 140 Railroad Street, Great Barrington, Massachusetts 140 Aviles Street, St. Augustine, Florida 143 Formosa Street, London, Great Britain 144 TWEEDE TUINDWARSSTRAAT, AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS /Ethan Kent 146 Neighborhood Streets 148 Sidney Place, Brooklyn, New York 148 Alta Vista Terrace, Chicago, Illinois 150 BENEFIT STREET, PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND/David Brussat 158 CANYON ROAD, SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO/Stefanos Polyzoides and John Massengale 162 Santa Maria Street, Coral Gables, Florida 165 La Alameda de Santa Rosa, Antigua, Guatemala 167 Pedestrian Passages and Step Streets 170 The Ninety-Nine Steps, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands 170 Longitude Lane, Charleston, South Carolina 171 Parkways 173 Notes 178 CHAPTER Three Street Systems and Networks 181 The Streets of Charleston and Savannah 181 Architecture in Charleston and Savannah 184 Civic Art and Street Design in Charleston 187 Civic Art in the Plan of Savannah 189 Bull Street and Broughton Street 193 Rue de Rivoli and Rue de Castiglione, Paris, France/Javier Cenicacelaya 199 Rue de Rivoli 199 Rue de Castiglione 199 The Arcades of Bologna/Gabriele Tagliaventi 203 Seven Dials, London, England/Hank Dittmar 205 Big Boulevards and Tiny Laneways in Melbourne, Australia/Chip Kaufman 212 Corridor Transformations in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 215 The Cap at Union Station, Columbus, Ohio 219 FREEWAY TEARDOWNS/John Norquist 222 Rethinking Freeways 224 The Spui, Amsterdam, the Netherlands 228 Notes 231 CHAPTER Four Retrofitted Streets 233 Avenues & Boulevards 234 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 234 Lancaster Boulevard, Lancaster, California/Kaid Benfield 238 Fairfax Boulevard, Fairfax, Virginia 243 Boundary Street, Beaufort, South Carolina 246 Mesa Street, El Paso, Texas 250 Main Streets 252 Kensington High Street, London, England 252 Applying the K.I.S.S. Rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid) 253 Worth Avenue and Hibiscus Place, Palm Beach, Florida 259 Park Avenue, Winter Park, Florida 263 Columbia Pike, Arlington, Virginia 266 Main Street, Great Barrington, Massachusetts 268 Stone Avenue, Greenville, South Carolina 276 Downtown Streets 283 Madison Square, New York, New York 283 Giralda Avenue, Coral Gables, Florida 290 Dorn Avenue, South Miami, Florida 292 Promenades 296 Yorkville Promenade (Second Avenue), New York, New York 296 Pedestrian and Shared Space 302 Exhibition Road, London, England 302 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, Florida 304 Española Way, Miami Beach, Florida 307 The Alley, Montgomery, Alabama 309 Stone Street, New York, New York 310 Winslow Homer Walk, New York, New York 312 Notes 316 CHAPTER Five New Streets 319 Main Streets 323 Main Street, Rosemary Beach, Florida 323 Northgate Street, El Paso, Texas 324 Central Brandevoort, the Netherlands/Paul Murrain 326 Longmoor Street, Poundbury, England/Léon Krier 333 Market Street, Habersham, Beaufort, South Caro lina/Thomas Low 341 Neighborhood Streets 345 Grace Park Way, Habersham, Beaufort, South Carolina 345 Crystal Lake Drive, Hammond’s Ferry, North Augusta, South Carolina 347 Newpoint Road, Newpoint, Lady’s Island, South Carolina 351 Bartram Street & Brasfield Square, Glenwood Park, Atlanta, Georgia 352 Galt House Drive, The New Town at St. Charles, Missouri/Laura Lyon 356 Tupelo and West Grove Streets, Seaside, Florida 358 Boathouse Close, I’On, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina 361 Swift Street, Buena Vista, Colorado 366 Twain Avenue, Davidson, North Carolina 369 SEA GARDEN WALK, ALYS BEACH, FLORIDA/Marieanne Khoury-Vogt and Erik Vogt 373 Notes 377 CHAPTER Six Conclusion 379 Putting the Problem in Context 380 Slow Down—Speed Kills 381 Completer Streets 384 Completer Streets with Bicycle Lanes 386 Options (A Street Is A Terrible Thing To Waste) 390 Experimentation and Design 392 Human Habitat Diversity 396 Streets Matter 398 If You Know It Is Useful, and Feel It Is Beautiful, Repeat It. 399 Notes 401 AFTERWORD 407 INDEX 409 Advert 418 Supplemental Images 419

"The best streets in the world's villages, towns, and cities—whether modest or grand—continually remind one that simplicity is part of the recipe for success in this art. The advice of Victor Dover and John Massengale, their historic examples and their own designs, reflect that simplicity."
—From the Foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales

"Street Design is a lucid, practical and altogetherindispensableguide for envisioning and creating vibrant 21st century towns and cities. It should be required reading for every local political leader, planner, architect, real estate developer and engaged urban citizen in America."
—Kurt Andersen,host of Studio 360 and author of True Believers

"We are going to start walking around the places we live again, and as that occurs and becomes normal, we will rapidly redevelop a demand for higher quality in building at the human scale."
—From the Afterword by James Howard Kunstler

"Your charrette traveling library must include the important Street Design book by Victor Dover and John Massengale." —Bill Lennertz,Executive Director, National Charrette Institute

"What an amazing resource! For those who wish that my book, Walkable City, had pictures, this is the book for you. If either your work or your play includes the making of places, you will find Street Design to be an invaluable tool." — Jeff Speck, AICP, CNU-A, LEED-AP, Hon. ASLA

Written by two accomplished architects and urban designers, this user-friendly street design manual shows both how to design new streets and enhance existing ones. It offers step-by-step instruction and shares examples of excellent streets, examining the elements that make them successful as well as how they were designed and created. Topics also include strategies for shaping space in the public right-of-way through correct building height to street width ratios, terminated vistas, landscaping, and street geometry. This book is a valuable resource for urban designers, planners, architects, and engineers.

With guest essays from: Kaid Benfield, David Brussat, Javier Cenicacelaya, Hank Dittmar, Andres Duany, Douglas Duany, Emily Glavey, Chip Kaufman, Ethan Kent, Marieanne Khoury-Vogt, Léon Krier, Gianni Longo, Thomas Low, Laura Lyon, Chuck Marohn, Paul Murrain, John Norquist, Stefanos Polyzoides, Gabriele Tagliaventi and Erik Vogt.

Written by two accomplished architects and urban designers, this user-friendly street design manual shows both how to design new streets and enhance existing ones. It offers step-by-step instruction and shares examples of excellent streets, examining the elements that make them successful as well as how they were designed and created. Topics also include strategies for shaping space in the public right-of-way through correct building height to street width ratios, terminated vistas, landscaping, and street geometry. This book is a valuable resource for urban designers, planners, architects, and engineers. With guest essays from: Kaid Benfield, David Brussat, Javier Cenicacelaya, Hank Dittmar, Andres Duany, Douglas Duany, Emily Glavey, Chip Kaufman, Ethan Kent, Marieanne Khoury-Vogt, Léon Krier, Gianni Longo, Thomas Low, Laura Lyon, Chuck Marohn, Paul Murrain, John Norquist, Stefanos Polyzoides, Gabriele Tagliaventi and Erik Vogt. (Книга представляет собой ценный ресурс для городских дизайнеров, проектировщиков, архитекторов и инженеров.) The Best Streets In The World's Villages, Towns, And Cities?whether Modest Or Grand?continually Remind One That Simplicity Is Part Of The Recipe For Success In This Art. The Advice Of Victor Dover And John Massengale, Their Historic Examples And Their Own Designs, Reflect That Simplicity.--from The Foreword By Hrh The Prince Of Wales. Streets Matter -- Historic Streets -- Street Systems And Networks -- Retrofitted Streets -- New Streets. John Massengale And Victor Dover ; [foreword By Hrh The Prince Of Wales ; Afterword By James Howard Kuntsler]. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Written by two accomplished architects and urban designers, this is a user-friendly design manual for urban designers, planners, architects and engineers. It will examine both exemplary streets as well as examples of what not to do, and will offer techniques for fixing streets with urban context, geography, culture, and budget in mind.