Living street
[2] Conversely, the concept of a living street focuses on creating healthier, more walkable, and more livable places while optimizing environmental benefits.
Greening consists of improving the natural and built environment through reviving and developing community parks, gardens, and street trees.
[13] Implementing green streets helps to reduce stormwater runoff while increasing the water quality and supply to the urban environment.
This means communities may have fewer temperature-related illnesses, and the temperature of stormwater runoff reduces its impact on aquatic life in receiving waters.
Written by the Federal Housing Administration, the handbook provided a hierarchy of street types such as arterial, collector and minor access.
[21] In the 1950s and 1960s, extensive urban development projects concerning housing and highway construction brought increased volumes of traffic and improvements focused on the flow of the motorized vehicle.
[21] Colin Buchanan's Traffic in Towns published in 1963 in England introduced his American companions to the concept of "environmental areas", places where pedestrians are safe from motorized vehicles.
[4] At the national level, the Federal Highway Administration sponsored a study conducted by Donald Appleyard in the 1970s looking at the impacts of traffic on residential streets.
[23] From the study (which looked at 500 homes in the San Francisco area in comparison to other international street designs) they found that residents were deterred by the unsafe travel speeds of motorized vehicles.
Following this plan, San Francisco developed the Protected Residential Area Program (PRA) which allowed neighborhoods to petition for traffic management measures.
[25] The woonerf, home zone and Spielstraße require motorists to drive at walking speeds and yield to pedestrians, cyclists, and playing children who have the same rights in road use.
[26] These cities have implemented traffic calming measures, have dedicated auto-free zones for pedestrians and cyclists, enforce lower travel speeds, and have limited and more expensive parking compared to the United States.
[30] These cities have found that even though the United States has a history and culture associated with using motorized vehicles as a means of commuting, policies and infrastructure can influence people's actions and habits.
[32][33][34][35][36][37] The manifesto inspired other Spanish cities to publish their own version adapted to the local context: Granada,[38] Zaragoza,[39] Guadalajara,[40] the Basque Country and the initiative Ciudades Sostenibles.
[1] Environmental design elements in a living street provide strategies to mitigate stormwater runoff and reduce the urban heat island effect.
[3] Green infrastructure such as roadside plantings, rain gardens, and other strategies have a growing importance as stormwater runoff is a fast-growing source of pollution.
Swales consist of deep channels of native plants combined with engineered soil that allows them to handle large amounts of water.
[44] In addition, moving parking lots to the back of the store like found in European countries gives priority to pedestrians and cyclists near the entrance.
[44] Compact and mixed-use development is another strategy of the living street since how land is used will determine trip distances and preferred modes of transportation.
[44] Advocates suggest establishing strong neighborhood centers with local accessibility - instead of creating separate commercial and residential areas, which promote car use through increased trip lengths – that will lead to more sustainable and livable conditions.
[19] The design of living streets makes it easier for people to satisfy the need for daily physical activity since they can walk or cycle as a part of their commute.
In addition, walking and cycling can reduce the number of cars on the street, bringing a reduction in air, water and noise pollution as well as carbon emissions.
[47] The CLAN study conducted by Carver and Crawford in 2008 revealed that the built environment and street design can also play a role in the health and wellbeing of children.
[48] Government injury rate statistics from Californian cities and European countries show that higher numbers of cycling and walking may increase safety.
Public health consultants such as Peter Jacobsen suggest this is because there is a greater awareness of cyclist and pedestrian movements so motor vehicles are more prepared to react and avoid crashes.
This revitalization may include improved infrastructure that encourages people to sit, walk, and gather instead of being driven away by noisy traffic polluting the air.
[44] The concept of living streets also works to prevent alienation children may have with their surroundings by providing them spaces to play and develop in an outdoor environment.
The concept hopes to advance livability for the entire community by envisioning the street as providing multiple benefits for several types of users instead of simply a means for motorized traffic to get from one place to another.
In addition, current streets may have uninviting landscapes or be unsafe to walk or bike on, meaning driving a car is often the only safe or practical option.
to the living street believe that if more people opt for active transport alternatives as opposed to utilizing motor vehicles, travel time will increase significantly and will be inconvenient for commuters.
