Post on 11-Feb-2017
New ideas:Streetcar City as crucial to sustainability
Canada and US comparisons prove falsehoods
Integrating green infrastructure is possible at high density
We can cut carbon by over 50% just by land use changes alone.
, 1975
We forgot that:
Every City over 5,000 people had Streetcars.
We forgot that: Most homes in the streetcar city were single family homes.
Restore the Streetcar City
“Tax Lots” were economic place holders.
In Vancouver it took 80 years to realize planned density on streetcar arterials.
Restore the Streetcar City
The walking distance city and the streetcar city.
Housing form changes from townhouse to bungalow
Interurban to Bloomsbury Park, Raleigh North Carolina
1913
Restore the Streetcar City
Restore the Streetcar City
We forgot that: Interconnected streets provide many alternative routes if congested
Only two types of streets:
Residential streets
Streetcar arterials
Restore the Streetcar City
The agricultural landscape of 40 acre squares is cut up into 8 equal 5 acre blocks.
Streetcar arterials every 4 blocks or 10 minute walk apart.
Design an Interconnected Street System
US and Canadian cities identical during streetcar city period.
Grid is most common form of interconnected street system. 640 x 320 feet.
VANCOUVER B.C.VANCOUVER B.C.
SEATTLE WA.SEATTLE WA.
Design an Interconnected Street System
Intersection density much higher in Streetcar City form
No alternative routes and highly loaded main intersections in sprawl form
Design an Interconnected Street System
Intersections impossible to cross on foot.
Big Box magnets at overloaded intersections.
400% more traffic through intersection.
60% more pedestrian fatalities.
Restore the Streetcar City
Ideas from the 1960’s pollute our thinking. We think the region is made of nodes. But for most southern, midwestern, and western cities it is really made of corridors left over from the streetcar and interurban era. We value speed over everything. We value access not at all.
Locate Good Jobs Close to Home
Transit systems continue to be built as hub and spoke systems, even though jobs are no longer in the center.
Restore the Streetcar City
Ideas from the
We forgot that:
Five minute walking distance is a key feature of the streetcar city.
In the streetcar city the five minute walk merges into continuously accessible corridors.
Larc 581Sustainable Cities A five minute walking distance to commercial services and transit
J.
Larc 581Sustainable Cities A five minute walking distance to commercial services and transit
J.
.3 Mile
A five minute walking distance to commercial services and transit
.3 Mile
We forgot that:
The Streetcar city concept allows for many jobs close to corridors.
Locate Good Jobs Close to Home
Jobs do fit into block stucture.
Locate Good Jobs Close to Home
Speeds on congested freeways now approaching jogging pace.
The quest for speed is hopeless.
Locate Good Jobs Close to Home
Speeds on congested freeways now approaching jogging pace.
The quest for speed is hopeless.
Locate Good Jobs Close to Home
Speeds on congested freeways now approaching jogging pace.
The quest for speed is hopeless.
Locate Good Jobs Close to Home
Streetcar arterial in Oklahoma City.
Capable of absorbing many thousand new jobs.
Locate Good Jobs Close to Home
Plan from the Damascus Area Design Workshop.
Jobs areas grouped within the block and arterial structure
We accept that:
For slower transit to make sense affordable housing must be more evenly distributed in regions.
Different house types all on the
same street close to transit.
Different Dwelling Types on the Same Street.
Density doesn’t need to look dense.
Vancouver architects have re learned this lesson.
3306 West 5th Ave.
Freestanding house is less than 15’ wide.
Different Dwelling Types on the Same Street.
Density doesn’t need to look dense.
Hidden secondary suites
Different Dwelling Types on the Same Street.
Density doesn’t need to look dense.
Secondary suites
Over 50,000 secondary suites. 25,000 of them “illegal”
Different Dwelling Types on the Same Street.
Density doesn’t need to look dense.
Intensifying the arterials.
Different Dwelling Types on the Same Street.
Density doesn’t need to look dense.
Intensifying the arterials.
Different Dwelling Types on the Same Street.
Density doesn’t need to look dense.
Intensifying the arterials.
Different Dwelling Types on the Same Street.
Density doesn’t need to look dense.
Doubling the frontage.
Laneway housing.
Different Dwelling Types on the Same Street.
Density doesn’t need to look dense.
Doubling the frontage.
Laneway housing.
Different Dwelling Types on the Same Street.
Density doesn’t need to look dense.
Vancouver architects have re learned this lesson.
5458 Larch Street
Project is 28 DU per acre. One level of underground parking.
Different Dwelling Types on the Same Street.
Density doesn’t need to look dense.
Vancouver architects have re learned this lesson.
5458 Larch Street
Project is 28 DU per acre. One level of underground parking.
Different Dwelling Types on the Same Street.
Suburban housing using most energy per sq. foot and per capita.
15,000 KWh/year
High rise is better.
8,000 KWh/year
Midrise is best.
5,500 KWh/year
Different Dwelling Types on the Same Street.
We know that:
Preserved Nature provides a natural interface to the streetcar city grid
Why?For zero impact
For access to nature
To bound and protect neighborhoods
Larc 581Sustainable Cities A Linked System of Natural Areas and Parks
Infrastructure that works with not against natural systems.
Larc 581Sustainable Cities A Linked System of Natural Areas and Parks
Infrastructure that works with not against natural systems.
Plan from the Damascus Area Design Workshop.
An armature of linked natural areas and parks.
We forgot that:
We spend too much on infrastructure.
Every dollar’s worth of pavement produces a dollars' worth of environmental damage.
Work with natural systems not against them.
Lighter Greener Cheaper Smarter Infrastructure
Natural Forest
Zero runoff, 45 percent evapotranspiration.
Lighter Greener Cheaper Smarter Infrastructure
Urbanized situations, runoff added.
Velocity increases by 100
Amounts increase
Temperature increases
Lighter Greener Cheaper Smarter Infrastructure
Green infrastructure condition.
1” a day or 1 mm per hour infiltration across the site.
Larc 581Sustainable Cities Lighter Greener Cheaper Smarter Infrastructure
THANK YOU!p.m.condon@gmail.com
Streetcar CityA City of: Linked Centres, A Green Grid, Green
Jobs, and Linked Riparian Zones
http://www.urbanstudio.sala.ubc.ca/2010/book%20templates.html
Streetcar CityA City of: Linked Centres, A Green Grid, Green
Jobs, and Linked Riparian Zones
http://www.urbanstudio.sala.ubc.ca/2010/book%20templates.html
Streetcar CityA City of: Linked Centres, A Green Grid, Green
Jobs, and Linked Riparian Zones
http://www.urbanstudio.sala.ubc.ca/2010/book%20templates.html