City Streets: Liveable or Killable

Post on 12-May-2015

526 views 0 download

Tags:

description

Livability is a concept that has enjoyed tremendous popularity in recent years. The Federal Highway Administration established a formal “Livability Initiative” and in 2010, published a guidebook to educate transportation planning and design professionals. So how are we doing? Are we improving the health and safety of the traveling public? Even with the enormous amount of data showing direct and tangible connections between street design and public health and safety (i.e. livability), bad design continues to show itself on a regular basis on our street networks. If good design promotes livability, then bad design must promote the opposite of livability…killability. We can do better! Help put an end to dangerous design and save some lives! This presentation was originally delivered during the 2014 National Planning Conference in Atlanta, GA.

transcript

livable or

city streets

killable

livable or

city streets

killable #livable

designed for people to live long and prosper

#killable most of the streets you see around you

know the

story

Illustrations: public domain

Illustrations: public domain

We’ve known that high-speed motoring conflicted with livable streets for 100+ years.

And we weren’t ashamed to point out the obvious!

20

40

Liva

ble

K

illab

le

mp

h

mp

h

20

40

Liva

ble

K

illab

le

mp

h

mp

h

High-speed city streets are killable.

20

40

Liva

ble

K

illab

le

mp

h

mp

h

by accident

The obvious solution…

Engineering News-Record, 1922

…lies only in a radical revision of our conception of what a city street is for.

The obvious solution…

Engineering News-Record, 1922

…lies only in a radical revision of our conception of what a city street is for.

In other words, the experts changed the consensus

propaganda

the

of Futurama seductive story

the

of Futurama seductive story

More than a simple model, the marketing campaign promised

happiness safety

beauty

of modern streets.

Behold

Professionals call these conditions Level of Service A.

Who would argue with an A?! Common sense has been outsmarted…regulated away.

When walking, wear headlights and a car

as protection.

tell a new story

Seth Godin, All Marketers Are Liars

You cannot succeed if you try to tell

the competition’s story better than they can.

planners are marketers marketers are storytellers

Don’t be trapped by

credit: public domain

of other storytellers

Image Comics, copyrights, and you.

Image Comics, copyrights, and you.

Image formed to give artists freedom to tell any story with the

characters they created.

Follow their lead – tell your own stories!

preserves life, celebrates creativity,

and restores freedom.

Take a picture of your friends.

Use it to tell a story. E

xam

ple Bike commuters coexisting

with motorized traffic, thanks to good street design.

Think about the influence of Jane Jacobs. Did she use science to inspire?

No.

She told compelling stories

Don’t settle for reciting facts about calories burned and other perks of bike riding…

…use the data to tell an interesting story.

about real people.

Professionals spend

building consensus.

Consensus is often built around the status quo.

considerable time

Is the consensus wrong?

Change it.

“I want to the status quo.

Where should I begin?”

Your expertise as a can be translated into characters and plot

of a compelling story.

Blog about it.

Redemption

Redemption Create protected bike lanes.

Build some roundabouts. Put your streets on a diet.

Save some lives working with engineers!

question everything Not every rule is bad…

…but many of them are.

Civil disobedience is a context sensitive solution.

How will you reclaim your streets? What stories will you tell?

Reclaim your streets. Tell stories.

Let the engineers have their high-tech measures of effectiveness.

You can’t interact with people speeding by at 45 mph.

flirtability factor

be disruptive