The Urban Sketch Writer

Tag: Jane Jacobs

  • Cool streets, Trump and Walkability

    Cool streets, Trump and Walkability

    [This content first appeared on LinkedIn on 22 January 2025]

    In the news this week: Cool streets! Trump! Walkability! 

    What a difference a Monday in January makes. While President Trump has just withdrawn the US from the Paris Climate accord and intends to “drill, baby, drill”, there is still good news for environmentalists and those with a general interest in the ongoing survival of the human project from elsewhere in the world. 

    In Seoul, the Cheonggyecheon stream has been successfully released from its concrete prison beneath an elevated highway and turned into a highly loved and popular space for pedestrians and cyclists.

    While we aren’t likely to see anything like this occurring in the US anytime soon, the Cheonggyecheon project was one of the first to start a trend of cities turning car dominated spaces into oases for walkers and wheelers. See also New York’s High Line, Utrecht’s city moat and the Paris Plages on the banks of the Seine.

    As Jan Gehl has always said: you get what you invite. And these projects are certainly doing much to invite people on foot or bike back into the city centres.

    In addition, the Seoul Institute has reported that the area around the stream is now 3.6oc cooler than surrounding streets and nitrogen dioxide levels have fallen by 35%. The stream supports 174 animal species and 492 plant species. Further, the Cheonggyecheon has been designed to handle 200-year flood events.

    As Cheonggyecheon is seasonal, it unsurprisingly costs quite a bit of cheddar to keep it wet year-round. But the benefits to the environment, residents and visitors can’t be underestimated. You get what you invite.

    So, let’s stick with the walkability theme for a moment. 

    In what feels like 27 years ago, ARUP published their ‘Cities Alive – Towards a walking world’ report. At the time, the report was picked up by Fast Company, who published a handy synopsis of the ’50 Reasons Why Everyone Should Want More Walkable Streets’ on their website in 2016.

    My angle is street safety and the urbanism of Jane Jacobs – if people feel safe in a place, they’ll use it. Not all walkable environments achieve this, so let’s take a quick run through some of the benefits on offer if you can get it right:

    • Eyes on the street – which I’ve commented on before…
    • Crime reduction – e.g. 74% drop in one Kansas City neighbourhood when some streets went car-free on weekends…
    • Universally accessible – not everyone can or wants to drive, enabling everyone to visit can only be good for diversity and safety
    • Social interaction – trivial interaction with strangers creates a web of trust…
    • Public transit – a pleasant, safe walk to the transit stop will… wait for it… encourage people to use public transport

    These things are not complicated. This is Urban Design 101 for placemakers. We get what we invite.

    #placemaking #cheonggyecheon #walkability #janejacobs #jangehl #ARUP #urbanism

  • Toronto, housewives and Aldis lamps

    Toronto, housewives and Aldis lamps

    [This content first appeared on LinkedIn on 27 November 2024]

    This week, Doug Ford, Ontario’s premier, wants to remove three cycle lanes in downtown Toronto to ease traffic congestion. The rationale for this is apparently based on ‘anecdotal evidence’ – the best and most reliable kind, obviously – that the cycle lanes are exacerbating travel problems. 

    This in a city where six cyclists have been killed in the past year: five on streets with no cycling infrastructure, the sixth having been forced into vehicular traffic by a construction waste bin blocking a cycle lane.

    He also believes that traffic congestion could be mitigated by building more roads and wider streets. Hmm. And a road tunnel! Don’t forget the road tunnel! This is somewhere up there with Robert Moses’ plans for the Lower Manhattan Expressway. Thankfully, Bob’s plans were scuppered by a housewife with a penchant for cycling.

    Anyone with a modicum of sense intrinsically knows that building more roads just equals – *checks notes* – more cars. You simply cannot build your way out of this mess. Build it and they will drive. To think otherwise is insane – and stupidly expensive and disruptive.

    But hey, let’s give Doug the benefit of the doubt for a split second and assume that more and wider roads are indeed the answer the Toronto’s car-related woes.

    Let’s accommodate those cars to the max! Let’s put on our sincere faces and accept the destruction of buildings, severance of communities, noise and pollution and potentially fatal danger to anyone outside a vehicle as being an unfortunate necessity to give drivers on University Avenue the increased freedom to back up a few inches.

    Well, I don’t know about you, but I have yet to meet anyone who’s just come back from a holiday anywhere in the world waxing lyrical about the high volume of fast-moving or idling traffic in the city centre and how wonderful, relaxing and safe it felt to be close to the cars at all times, shouting to be heard and choking in the smog.

    Conversely, some travellers recall the intimate, walkable street network, the astonishing baroque architecture, an unexpected hidden square with a cute pavement café selling the best cakes in town or the peace and quiet of a car-free environment where you can actually have a conversation with the person next to you without needing to resort to semaphore or Aldis lamps to communicate because the din of the cars and juggernauts is so loud.

    So the cure to Toronto’s car addiction problems is not more roads or wider roads or tunnels. It’s actually more cycle lanes, better public transport and viable, convenient sustainable travel choices for everyone. I can assure you that no-one will be visiting Toronto to breathe in the increasingly polluted air or marvel at the number of traffic lanes that can be squeezed onto Bloor Street. 

    It’s time for the housewives of Toronto to get on their bikes and unite, just give me ‘two tings’ if you agree.

    #urbandesign #placemaking #streets #streetdesign #cycling #cyclelanes #janejacobs #toronto #twotings

  • Safety, public transport and the fabulous Jane Jacobs

    Safety, public transport and the fabulous Jane Jacobs

    [This content first appeared on LinkedIn on 13 November 2024]

    Ha! Who knew? I haven’t just been talking off the top of my head for two weeks! An Urban Update from the UDG (Urban Design Group) referenced an article from Cities entitled: ‘Women’s perceived safety in public places and public transport: A narrative review of contributing factors and measurement methods’.

    I couldn’t make it up – certainly not a title that dry. But there we have it – women’s safety and public transport covered in one hit! And a call for tree-lined, actively peopled streets into the bargain!

    According to the UDG’s summary of the report (see bullets below), the key findings will quite frankly be of no surprise whatsoever to anyone who works as a placemaker with a duty of care to the public:

    • Street Lighting and Crime Fear: Many studies focus on how lighting affects safety, especially for women at night. Brighter lighting often lowers fear of crime and increases confidence in using public spaces, but lighting alone doesn’t fully address the underlying anxieties people may have about safety.
    • Visibility and Openness: High visibility in public areas allows people to see their surroundings more clearly, which can reduce fear. Open areas without concealed spots make streets feel safer. By contrast, poorly lit areas with hidden spaces increase feelings of vulnerability, especially for women walking alone at night.
    • Role of Surveillance: CCTV cameras are common, but studies show they don’t directly improve feelings of safety. Women tend to prefer visible police patrols over video surveillance for a greater sense of security.
    • Complexity of Safety Perception: Personal safety feelings result from various factors, including physical environment, social context, and individual characteristics. Personal experiences and anxiety levels also influence how safe a person feels in different settings.
    • Impact of the Walking Environment: Walking through clean, tree-lined streets with active shops and people generally feels safer. Conversely, litter, graffiti, and low activity areas lower perceived safety. Familiarity also matters—women feel safer in areas they know well, especially if they are well-lit and well-maintained.

    I’ve been droning on about these things ad nauseam for years: sorry not sorry.

    On the subject of the walking environment, which covers all the preceding bullets, we can do so. much. more.

    I demand a return to the street-based urbanism of Jane Jacobs – short blocks, mixed use, eyes on the street etc. Simple stuff… but sooo effective. And beneficial to all – not just women.

    To deter anti-social behaviour we must have streets that encourage more people to be out and about. 

    More people out and about = streets that become self-policing.

    Self-policing streets = streets that are safer for all.

    A virtuous circle.

    But until these self-policing streets become the default design norm, keep your phones and keys at the ready, ladies.

    Amirite?

    #urbandesign #placemaking #UDG #urbandesigngroup #streets #streetdesign #janejacobs #amirite