GreenWayNeighborhoods.net presents a wholistic vision for the future, with reference to components of that vision that already exist today.
The website tells details about how communities of the future could function more effectively as wholistic systems, that support more fully the health and wellbeing of humans, other species, and the planet. To my knowledge, there is no place on earth yet that embodies all the components of the system described here. While research on various aspects of existing communities suggests that the whole system will function well, this has not been demonstrated yet. Some portions of this website were written before I fully understood that the whole system has never been built anywhere.
The first developer or community to embrace the whole system will be taking a radical and risky step. The success of the system will depend on proving the following hypothesis:
I believe that a cluster of walkable GIC (greenways interlaced with cul-de-sac) neighborhoods around a central commercial district, with great public transit service from this district to others like it, can be designed/retrofited and operated so that the total vehicle-miles-traveled and vehicle-related-casualties are dramatically decreased, in comparison to a typical suburb AND in comparison to a New Urban dense street grid.
Experientially, this will require that the main connectors and arterials of the GIC system must have vehicle traffic that is so sparse and slow and calm, as to feel like the residential streets of a dense street grid. The vehicles will travel 20 to 25 mph, not 35 mph. The roads will probably be 2 lane, not 4 lane. A significant portion of the total traffic on these arterials will be buses, streetcars, and bikes. Even though each trip by a motorized vehicle is longer (because the GIC design requires an indirect route for motorized vehicles), the total vehicle miles travelled will be less, because so many vehicle trips are replaced by walking, biking, and transit.
Most transportation planners do not share this belief, because most cul-de-sac neighborhoods generate more vehicle-miles and more traffic casualties. While the interiors of these neighborhoods are relatively safe, the extra traffic on connectors and arterials makes the whole system more dangerous overall. I am not aware of any cul-de-sac neighborhoods yet, where the levels of
- Pedestrian/bicycle network connectivity,
- Residential density,
- commercial/residential proximity,
- physical division into areas of 500 residents each,
- program support for alternative transportation
- fast, convenient, pleasant public transit service, and
- connector/arterial traffic calming,
are all so high, that the entire community travels fewer vehicle miles, more safely, compared to a new urban dense street grid. I believe it’s possible, but I can’t prove it yet.
Even Village Homes in Davis, CA, the original inspiration for this website, is one GIC neighborhood surrounded by typical sprawling suburbs. It demonstrates some components of this vision, but it is not extensive enough to demonstrate the complete regional system. For example, there is a large 2-lane connector on the east side of Village Homes, and a larger, very busy 4-lane arterial on the south side. For a bicyclist, there is a stark contrast between the pastoral, idyllic experience of bicycling around within the beautiful trail system of Village Homes itself, versus the adrenaline-pumping experience of crossing the adjacent, busy 4-lane highway with no traffic signal, to access the regional bikepath network. Even if a bike tunnel provided safe passage under the highway, the highway itself would still be dangerous for all travelling on it, walking beside it, or crossing it at other locations. With the future system that I envision, this busy 4-lane highway would be replaced by a 2-lane road of 25 mph traffic, with plenty of buses and/or streetcars. The road will not be overcrowded because people-powered trips are so incredibly convenient, economical, and pleasant.
In the US in 2009, the ideas described in this website could help a courageous developer or community transform a half-complete or half-dead cul-de-sac subdivision into a world-leading green innovation in wholistic community design. When Village Homes was built in the 1970’s, the street plan represented a radical innovation—even though it was based on a design that was almost 100 years old. Today, countless people have travelled from across the world to admire and experience Village Homes, and property values are significantly higher than in surrounding neighborhoods. While the investors did not flip the property quickly, they eventually created a good financial return and a great community.
As foreclosures continue and gasoline prices rise, suburban blight will spread. Any of the ideas in this website could be used individually, to improve incrementally the livability of existing suburbs. And, whoever implements the whole package completely, will see a profoundly positive transformation in the livability and sustainability of their community.
If you want to make an existing cul-de-sac community more livable and sustainable, many New Urban planners will suggest that you change the street grid in order to enhance connectivity. I suggest that there is a better solution—less expensive, and more effective at addressing a broader range of concerns. If you address each of the following items, more or less in order, then I believe (but can’t prove yet) that you will be delighted with the results.
- Monitor results over time, in terms of total vehicle miles travelled by residents
- The suggestions below represent radical innovations when compared to standard American practice. Any community that successfully implements most or all of these innovations, will be a world leader among livable communities. To secure full bragging rights for later, team up now with a local university or planning department, to track your progress over time, starting with a baseline before improvements.
- Increase pedestrian/bicycle network connectivity
- Much easier and less expensive than building new roads
- Addresses traffic congestion as well as many other concerns such as safety, health, global warming, sense of community, etc.
- Increase residential density
- In America, public bus systems work well with densities of 12 or more residents per acre. Local shops can rely on foot traffic with densities above 40 residents per acre, while intermediate densities can support local shops with bicycle traffic.
- Many existing American suburbs could meet these requirements with the addition of a few Accessory Dwelling Units (“ADU’s” or “granny flats”) on every block. Regulations should support and manage this increased density, rather than making ADU’s illegal and hidden.
- Increase commercial/residential proximity
- People will walk more, when they have more destinations to walk to.
- Realistically, this means allowing coffee shops, dentist offices, daycare centers, convenience stores, beauty shops, etc. within existing residential districts. This brings up issues of noise, traffic and safety, which should be addressed locally in terms of fundamental values and desired performance, rather than a simple ban on all nonresidential uses.
- Use a combination of “Form based” and “Performance based” zoning code to support this.
- Modify commercial parking requirements to account for ped/bike/transit customers, and to support commercial uses without the need to demolish adjacent buildings for parking.
- “Form based” zoning code provides an incremental improvement over the “Euclidean” or “Use based” zoning code that has been almost universally adopted in the US since the 1950’s. Form based codes were used throughout America in the early 1900’s to create the beautiful downtown areas that many people enjoy today. While Form based codes are generally better than Euclidean codes, one must be very careful to permit the greenbuilding innovations that will be essential in order for our society to become sustainable and regenerative.
- Physical division into areas of 500 residents each
- There are many sociological and anthropological studies to support this
- As one recent example, California has begun to separate large high schools such as American Canyon High School into subdivisions of ~500 students each. Students and teachers within each division have a clear sense of community, and 4 or 5 divisions are physically clustered together to share common spaces such as the library, culinary arts lab, theater, and shop. This is very similar to several GIC neighborhoods of 500 residents each, clustered around a common commercial district.
- Program support for alternative transportation
- Most Americans are in the habit of driving. Programmatic support with ongoing promotions and education is essential, to help residents change habits.
- Simple programs can make a surprisingly large difference, such as organizing volunteers to accompany new bus riders on their first few trips, and hosting periodic free bike tune-ups and safety lessons.
- Fast, convenient, pleasant public transit service
- This presents a “chicken-and-egg” problem in existing neighborhoods. How many neighborhoods along a bus route must become more walkable, before the transit authority increases the level of bus service? A streetcar track provides a level of permanence and confidence, to encourage development along its route.
- Bicycles can help with this transition, so that more people have non-motorized acces to each transit stop. This requires comprehensive planning, with bike lockers at transit stops, or bike racks on buses, or even a bikeshare program.
- Connector/arterial traffic calming
- This comes last, after all the other measures have reduced the traffic levels.
- This can be a regional challenge, if an arterial is used for through-traffic from distant neighborhoods. Ideally, those distant neighborhoods would also implement all the measures above, so then they would create lower volumes of through-traffic in your neighborhood. This suggests a role for evangelism, to share the news about successful implementation of the previous measures.
- Interim solutions may involve pedestrian signal lights, overpasses and tunnels, to provide safe passage across busy streets. Davis, CA has built many examples of these measures. Building a pedestrian bridge or tunnel is more expensive than a crosswalk, but it’s a lot less expensive than building a new road—and, strategically placed, it might serve as many people as an entire new road.
These basic ideas can be applied at various densities. The most obvious application is in existing, low-density, cul-de-sac neighborhoods. But much denser applications are possible, which I’ll discuss in a later post…
Tags: linkedin
