The Loma Prietan
March/April 2006
Great Streets (and Alleys), Great Neighborhoods,
Density, and More Open Space
By Alison Hicks
As sustainable land use advocates, we aim
to protect our natural environment by creating
more livable urban communities; communities
that will attract people to urban
living instead of ever more sprawling suburbs.
But how exactly does one create more livable,
attractive urban communities?
Few people can answer this question better
than Allan Jacobs, architect, author, professor,
and former San Francisco planning director.
Jacobs spoke at the October 2005 Redwood
City Forum on his highly acclaimed books,
Great Streets and the Boulevard Book. His
focus is on creating great public places, rather
than isolated private realms—and he says the
vast majority of spaces with the potential to
become community-building public places are
our city streets.
Jacobs advocates dense city living, but in
a different way than most people envision
density. He promotes frequent use of two- to
four-story buildings, more closely knit, with
much less street, sidewalk, and landscaping
setback between them than is common today.
He supports the use of narrow alleys as well.
In this way, he says, you achieve density on a
human scale—truly pleasant places to spend
time. Jacobs is not opposed to taller buildings,
especially in the blocks behind lower,
more pedestrian-oriented streets. He just
wants people to be aware that there are other
and possibly more compelling ways to achieve
dense and sustainable development.
He advocates cities dominated by small
parcels, small-scale ownership, and small businesses.
Small parcels and diverse ownership
promote diversity, visual interest, more alleys,
more intersections, more outdoor human
activity and interaction, more respect for the
history, uniqueness, and character of a city.
Large parcel agglomeration promotes destruction
of smaller historic buildings, construction
of monolithic structures, more isolated interior
activity, fewer, larger, and more auto-oriented
intersections, as well as visual monotony and
avoidance of the public/community realm.
Allan Jacob advocates good design, liberal
use of street trees, and pedestrian-focused
development.
Some quotes from Jacob's books:
"If we can develop and design streets so
that they are wonderful, fulfilling places to
be—community-building places, attractive
for all people—then we will have successfully
designed about one-third of the city directly
and will have had an immense impact on the
rest."
"It's no big mystery. The best streets are
comfortable to walk along with leisure and
safety. They are streets for both pedestrians
and drivers. They have definition, a sense of
enclosure with their buildings...usually with
trees. Trees, while not required, can do more
than anything else and provide the biggest
bang for the buck if you do them right."
"For at least 60 years, city engineers have
been anti-urban, anti-pedestrian and anti-mixed
use. As a philosophy, they moved to segregate
uses and then they moved to segregate people
and cars under the guise of safety, with an
emphasis on size-wider, larger—and this is antipedestrian.
Existing standards are not even based
on research...We're told by traffic engineers that
intersections where pedestrians and drivers get
along together are dangerous...But this is the
exact opposite of what real research and observation
of existing great intersections tell us."
"As well as to see, the street is a place to be
seen. Sociability is a large part of why cities
exist and streets are a major if not the only
public place for that sociability to develop.
At the same time, the street is a place to be
alone, to be private...It is a place for the mind
to wander...a place to walk while whatever is
inside unfolds..."
This article was generated by the work of the
Sustainable Land Use (SLU) Committee. Our
mission is to "promote sustainable land use...by
engaging our members in creating more livable
communities." Join us: we meet monthly. For
more information, see lomaprieta.sierraclub.org/SLU,
or watch "upcoming events" on
the chapter's home page.
In our quest to create more livable communities,
SLU members often attend the Forum,
held the first Wednesday of every month at
"The Little Fox" in downtown Redwood City.
The Forum brings nationally known speakers
and presenters to downtown Redwood City
for stunning presentations on city design and
livable communities, followed by Q & A.
See:
www.redwoodcity.org/misc/morehottopics/forum.html