Nov

11

More traffic means less friends

Filed Under Great City TV, Streets For People, Transportation | 3 Comments

Did you ever wonder where the term Liveable Streets comes from? It wasn’t a Madison Avenue meme, but rather it is a term that came from the UC Berkeley academic Donald Appleyard who studied the effects that traffic have on the social performance of a street: how well people understand their environments, how safe they feel, and how connected they are to one another.

In this Streetfilms reexamination of Appleyard’s work, we’re reminded that mobility isn’t just about getting around. The externalities of our transportation system also profoundly impact the broader world around us, including our sense of place.

Revisiting Donald Appleyard’s Livable Streets from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Nov

10

Good urban design is good for your health

Filed Under Health, Streets For People, Transportation | Leave a Comment

More data supporting something we passionately believe – cities can be good for us.

From About.com:

Good Design = Weight Loss?

Enough of counting calories. For the past two years, AIA architects and government officials in New York City have been looking at ways architecture can promote healthy lifestyles. They’ve compiled their ideas in a 135-page booklet, Active Design Guidelines: Promoting Physical Activity and Health in Design.

And, from Infrastructurist, why suburban sprawl is so bad for us:

The Morning Dig: Why Suburban Sprawl is Bad for America

• Jeff Speck and Andres Duany, the authors of Suburban Nation, argue that sprawl is a root cause of many problems that America faces, from health to environmental issues. (WashPost)

• Speck also has a blog post and slideshow on the 10 worst things about suburban sprawl. (HuffPost)  More…

Nov

10

Obsessing Over Donald Shoup, Part 3,201

Filed Under Great City TV, Streets For People, Transportation | Leave a Comment

Illustrating Parking Reform with Dr. Shoup from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Nov

5

More connectivity commentary from Grist

Filed Under Streets For People, Transportation, What's Wrong With This Picture? | 1 Comment

What’s wrong with this picture?

Ask someone who lives there.

Oct

25

Hoboken’s new “20 Is Plenty” campaign

Filed Under Streets For People, Sustainability, Transportation | Leave a Comment

Last week we introduced you to some of the reasons why a 20 mile per hour speed limit might be a more healthy speed for city streets. This week, we introduce you to the good people of Hoboken, NJ who are embarking on the “20 Is Plenty” campaign to encourage residents to slow down.

This week, Hoboken is announcing its version of a highly successful awareness campaign practiced throughout Europe and, more directly translatable, the UK. In the UK, the campaign is called “20′s Plenty for Us”, and in cities that adopt this policy, a 20mph speed limit area is established and signs are posted requiring drivers to obey the lower speed limit. While such a policy sends a strong message that residential and downtown areas should be synonymous to slow driving, illustrated in this production by streetfilms, implementation stateside is not nearly so easy. In Hoboken’s version, “Twenty is Plenty”, we are campaigning that drivers “consider driving” 5mph slower than the posted 25mph speed limit because this small change in speed has a major impact on the chances of fatality in a pedestrian-vehicle collision. We’d love to enact a lower city-wide speed limit, but we are bound to traffic engineering guidelines that were established when driving a car fast was all that mattered. If drivers agree with the message and choose to slow down, changing the speed limit may eventually come within reach.

more here

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