Pedestrian Patterns
Making small changes with think-tank SPUR
San Francisco’s not-for-profit urban-planning think-tank, SPUR, launched an initiative to reclaim the lost human element, turning cities into more welcoming spaces for pedestrians and ‘retrofitting’ suburban spaces with a more engaging and characterful built environment.
The ‘design for walkability’ initiative provides guidelines, case studies and inspiration for city planners looking to provide benefits to the community – not just improve traffic flow. SPUR offers a number of suggestions for changing patterns of thinking about urban layout, which take into account the effect of surroundings on human psychology.
Could, for example, changing the position of a car park result in a happier city? SPUR believes that a few simple alternatives could transform functional but impersonal urban spaces into thriving multi-use areas that people enjoy spending time in.
Such changes include concealing parking below ground or in discreet multi-level structures; orienting buildings towards public thoroughfares and open spaces as opposed to setting them back from the street with parking or private landscaped areas; creating ‘fine-grained pedestrian circulation’ (i.e. smaller blocks with more pedestrian intersections and walking route options); and combatting the effect of vast featureless buildings with landscaping and detail designed to a human scale.
We believe that the urban environment can be an endless source of pattern inspiration, and salute SPUR’s efforts to reclaim the streets for the human perspective.