Complete Streets Archives - Oxnard Placemaking, Civic Beauty & Urban Design

Defining the 15-minute city

ByRoy Prince February 8, 2021February 8, 2021

Defining the 15-minute city The “15-minute city” may be defined as an ideal geography where most human needs and many desires are located within a travel distance of 15 minutes. Here’s what that means. ANDRES DUANY, ROBERT STEUTEVILLE FEB. 8, 2021 The 15-minute city is gaining significant traction politically and in planning circles, but what does it…

Who Decides

ByRoy Prince January 4, 2021February 8, 2021

Your neighborhood is chock full of subtle clues about who makes the decisions and who holds the power. Interested in learning more? Watch Power & Health for free on the PBS App or on our website. #PowerAndHealth

To Save the Planet, Start with Sidewalks

ByRoy Prince December 20, 2020February 8, 2021

Why does social life matter so much for our sustainable future? And what does the future of our planet have to do with our sidewalks?

Imagine if the places where we live were shaped by our social lives, re-imagined to make it easy for us to gather, shop, have fun, eat together, and meet new people. With this mindset, we would fundamentally change our communities. Maybe this vision is closer than we think: Perhaps, all we have to do to bring this to life is start with the sidewalks.

Superblocks of Barcelona

ByRoy Prince November 23, 2020February 8, 2021

Over two years ago, Barcelona set the transportation world aflutter when it announced it would be attempting to reinvent parts of its city by developing a Superblock system by transforming targeted street grids to prioritize people over cars. On selected small street networks large parts of intersections and roadways would be taken back for parks and community gathering. Vehicles would not be banned, but it would redesign the grids so that fast thru-traffic was discouraged thru a series of driving direction changes, street narrowing and speed limits. Thus, almost all vehicles present would be either local residents or people with personal business on those streets.

Barcelona’s Superblocks: Change the Grid, Change your Neighborhood

ByRoy August 7, 2018August 7, 2018

From Vision to Policy, Making New Urbanism Work

ByRoy August 3, 2018

“Brilliant podcast on placemaking, public policy, planning departments and the public. I cannot recommend this podcast highly enough.” Editor. JULY 26, 2018 BY STRONG TOWNS This is our sixth dispatch from the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), which took place in Savannah, Georgia in May. Chuck Marohn attended CNU and hosted a series of in-depth podcast conversations…

The Copious Capacity of Street Grids

ByRoy July 31, 2018

The Commons in Downtown Ithaca. Wikimedia Commons Historic street grids can handle greater traffic of all kinds—so why aren’t we building more of them? ROBERT STEUTEVILLE JUN. 28, 2018 As far as I have been able to determine, no one has ever scientifically compared the capacity of historic street grids with modern road systems. If they…

Why Street Grids Have More Capacity

ByRoy July 31, 2018July 31, 2018

The greater choice offered by well-connected street networks leads to more capacity and efficiency, according to pioneering smart growth engineer Walter Kulash. ROBERT STEUTEVILLE JUL. 31, 2018 I recently posted “The copious capacity of street grids” making the case that traditional street networks are not just better for walking, biking, and livability, but also offer far greater…

Twelve Steps of Sprawl Recovery

ByRoy July 10, 2018July 10, 2018

Image courtesy of the Village of Providence Twelve steps of sprawl recovery In communities across America sprawl is giving way to more diverse places. Here are a dozen keys to that trend. STEVE MOUZON FEB. 13, 2018 The storm clouds of sprawl addiction had been gathering for years, but it took the Meltdown and the ensuing…

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American Speed Limits Are Based on 1950s Science

ByRoy May 23, 2018

Around 40,000 people still die on American roads every year, but technology and data could change that. Ankita Rao Oct 11 2017 Image: Garrett/Flickr Speed limits might make you feel safe, or incredibly frustrated, or both. But either way there’s a bigger issue at hand: they’re based on outdated data and science from the mid-20th century….