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How Cul-de-Sacs Are Killing Your Community



About the Maps

These images compare a one-kilometer walk in the Seattle suburb of Woodinville with one in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. The former is limited by a disconnected street network and few destinations within walking distance, while the latter offers easy access to parks and shops.
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Though suburban cul-de-sacs have long been attractive as quiet, safe places for families, their disadvantages are becoming clear. One of the biggest problems is interference with motor- and foot-traffic flow. Research by Lawrence Frank, Bombardier Chair in Sustainable Transportation at the University of British Columbia, looks at neighborhoods in King County, Washington: Residents in areas with the most interconnected streets travel 26% fewer vehicle miles than those in areas with many cul-de-sacs. Recent studies by Frank and others show that as a neighborhood’s overall walkability increases, so does the amount of walking and biking—while, per capita, air pollution and body mass index decrease.

This is a composite article from two related sources. Here and here.

Notice how short the range of a cul-de-sac neighborhood is. Not only that, but suburban hoods are usually zoned to be monotonous and lacking in mixed activities.

So you're imprisoned in a wasteland of monotony where it takes forever to walk or bike anywhere interesting.

Of course, you can circle around looking at suburban homes for a few hours.

Or you can sit on an exercise bike in your basement while watching videos of how cities used to be.

[Thunderhawk]

June 17, 2010


Andrew Furman of theSchool of Interior Design shows off his favourite mode of active transportation: cycling. His research on urban filaments finds that the key to encouraging people to walk is to rethink private and public spaces, and then create shortcuts through them.

With temperatures soaring and winter hibernation fading into memory, it seems like the perfect time to take up active transportation: walking, cycling, in-line skating - getting from A to B on your own muscle power. So when the weather is nice and the evenings are long, why do so many North Americans still climb in their cars? According to one Ryerson University researcher, it's the lack of enjoyment a city offers pedestrians. The urban gridirons of North American cities force pedestrians and cyclists to stick to tried-and-tested routes that don't offer variety or visual stimulation. The key to encouraging pedestrianism is in rethinking our private and public spaces, and then creating shortcuts through them.

Andrew Furman, a professor in Ryerson's School of Interior Design, studies the interplay among art, architecture and personal mobility. Furman argues that instead of limiting pedestrians to sidewalks or streets, our urban experience would be vastly enhanced by "urban filaments." These winding passageways, which are common elsewhere in the world, weave through historic and contemporary buildings, providing visual interest and facilitating adventure. North America, by contrast, has often caved to "the pressures of modernity," trying to meet the needs of pedestrians, cyclists, cars and trams, etc. In most cases, however, pedestrians and cyclists lose out to cars when creating roads and pathways.

"We need to develop rich, inclusive and multiple pedestrian routes that facilitate movement in and around a city," Furman says. "When you wander cities of Europe and Asia, there is always a sense of discovery. The route zigs and zags, and you come across delightful things along the way - gardens, art galleries, tea rooms, etc. - and it makes you wonder, 'am I in a mall or an art gallery?'"

The roots of urban filaments can be traced to the pre-modern cities of Europe. During the Rococo era in Rome, for example, churches were treated as stopovers rather than destinations, enabling people to move freely, walk their dogs and even conduct business. North America's development during the modern era favoured the car and created hard divisions between public areas and private buildings. As a result, cities here feature long, uniform and commercially driven corridors that prevent pedestrians from finding new pathways, exploring their environment and fully engaging with their community.

Furman proposes three types of urban filaments. The first, an "interior event space," ambiguously blends inside and outside areas, and connects seamlessly to other routes. Containing street-level shops, art galleries and courtyards, the interior event space may have a roof and may also be seasonally sealed off from the elements. The second type of urban filament, "public interiors," features a roof as well as walls, and may provide a bridge to streets, hotel lobbies and airports, offering a more controlled environment than an interior event space.

The third form of urban filament is a "ribbon," and it encompasses overhead and underground conduits, such as pedestrian bridges and staircases. One successful example of a ribbon is the Highline in New York City's Chelsea area. Once an abandoned elevated railroad, the Highline has undergone extensive redevelopment to become a public park.

To move forward, effective public-private partnerships are needed to weave together public and private space, facilitating movement that makes sense. "When building new pedestrian routes, we need to focus on logic and beauty, not just convenience and commercial interests," he said. "The goal is to create surprise and delight in unconstrained movement."

Furman presented his paper, "Urban filaments: from passageways of leisure-oriented space to emergent urban form" in April at the International Conference on Urban Regeneration and Sustainability in La Coruña, Spain. The paper has also been published in The Sustainable City VI, part of the Wessex Institute’s series "Ecology and the Environment" (vol. 129).

Listen to a 60-second podcast (mp3) from Scientific American on the study.