Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Public Space

London’s Cycling Design Standards: A Model for NYC?

By Aaron Naparstek | Nov 13, 2006 | 11 Comments

As New York City begins fulfilling its commitment to build 200 miles of new bicycle lanes over the next three years, the question will increasingly arise: What kind of bike lane should go where? Currently, DOT seems not to have any set of guidelines to answer that question. So, take a look at how the City of London does it. Transportation […]

Gridlock Sam Tells the Story of NYC’s First Bike Lanes

By Aaron Naparstek | Nov 13, 2006 | 18 Comments

Last weekend, former DOT Deputy Commissioner "Gridlock" Sam Schwartz wrote an op-ed in the New York Times urging the city to start creating bike lanes that physically separate cyclists from motor vehicle traffic at some locations. This weekend, as DOT laid down a brand new "shared lane" design on Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn, a letter to the editor […]

Birth of a Class III Bike Route

By Aaron Naparstek | Nov 13, 2006 | 15 Comments

Department of Transportation contractors put down the long-awaited Class III "Shared Lane" bicycle stencils on Brooklyn’s Fifth Avenue this weekend. As I understand them, the markings are meant to do two things: Inform cyclists that Fifth Avenue is a preferred bike route. The more people who bike on Fifth Avenue, the safer Fifth Avenue will be for biking. […]

T is for Transit-Oriented Development

By Alec | Nov 10, 2006 | 61 Comments

Planning a city around transit doesn’t mean you have to cluster everything inside the core business district. Copenhagen, whose thoughtful bike network we’ve explored elsewhere, recently commissioned Chelsea-based architect Steven Holl to design T-Husene, a place for living and working outside the core city. The architect’s renderings, released November 2, fit into a town that […]

DOT to Neighborhood: Your School’s in the Way of Our Highway

By Charles Komanoff | Nov 9, 2006 | 7 Comments

There is a palpable schizophrenia in the Bloomberg Administration these days when it comes to Livable Streets issues. On the one hand, the Administration is developing some 200 miles of new bike lanes, initiating a long-term sustainability project and, for the first time, talking openly about reducing automobile use. On the other hand, very little […]

Car-Free Manhattan: Just Wait 100 Years

By Aaron Naparstek | Nov 8, 2006 | 1 Comment

I just caught up with this article in the Times on Saturday about a competition for engineers and architects to envision New York City in 2106. Check out one of the winning design concepts: After the judges’ hasty deliberations, Daniel L. Doctoroff, the city’s deputy mayor for economic development, presented the prizes. He said his office […]

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