Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Urban Design

Weiner Invokes Jane Jacobs, Endorses “Alternative Modes”

By Ben Fried | Jul 23, 2008 | 6 Comments

Move over Weinermobile. Queens Congressman and 2009 mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner released a manifesto of sorts yesterday. "Keys to the City" lays out his plan, in broad strokes, to "keep New York the capital of the middle class." Toward the end, Weiner touches on transportation policy. While he remains opposed to congestion pricing, he comes […]

T.A. Offers Reward for Park Slope “Post-Automobile Street” Designs

By Brad Aaron | Jul 7, 2008 | 10 Comments

9th St. and 4th Ave.: "A dangerous crossing that divides surrounding neighborhoods and inhibits street life." Transportation Alternatives is seeking proposals to reinvent the intersection of 9th Street and 4th Avenue in Park Slope. "Designing the 21st Century Street," a competition open to the general public, will reward the three most promising submissions with up […]

Plan B: Reallocating Street Space To Buses, Bikes & Peds

By Jason Varone | Apr 8, 2008 | 7 Comments

In a piece from the March issue of Outside Magazine that seems especially relevant today, Tim Sohn writes about public space reform in New York City. His article is accompanied by an illustration of what the future of our city could look like: complete streets with dedicated bus and bike lanes, traffic calming gardens, and […]

Pint-Sized Parks Make Safer Streets and Cleaner Rivers

By Ben Fried | Feb 14, 2008 | 16 Comments

The Greenstreet at 110th and Amsterdam helps keep sewage out of city rivers and features a beefed-up, traffic-calming "blockbuster." It rained yesterday, sending stormwater streaming down New York City streets and through sewer grates. The runoff mixed with wastewater in the system and overloaded treatment facilities, causing raw sewage to spill into the city’s waterways. […]

Times Square: Too Many People, or Just Too Many Cars?

By Brad Aaron | Jan 10, 2008 | 14 Comments

Why is Times Square so crowded? An article in yesterday’s New York Times considered that question, asking real estate brokers if businesses might be shying away from the area due to packed streets and sidewalks. According to a survey cited in the article, 68 percent of Times Square office workers say congestion is the top […]

Rocky Road

By Alex Marshall | Dec 19, 2007 | 26 Comments

Cycling intimately acquaints you with every bump, slice, crease, divot, ledge, ripple and of course pothole in a street, because not noticing means you might get thrown off your steed into bone-breaking and life ending car traffic. While riding along Lafayette Street in Manhattan, or Bergen Street in Brooklyn, or essentially anywhere in New York […]

Show More Stories