PEDESTRIAN- AND TRANSIT-FRIENDLY DESIGN: A Primer for Smart Growth by Reid Ewing Based on a manual prepared for the Florida Department of Transportation and published by the American Planning Association The Smart Growth Network is a coalition of private sector, public sector, and nonprofit Table of Contents partners seeking to create better neighbor- hoods, communities, and regions across the Introduction .................................... 1 #14 Closely Spaced Shade Trees along United States. It is coordinated by the U.S. En- Access Routes .................................. 13 vironmental Protection Agencys Urban and Economic Development Division. Checklist of Pedestrian- and #15 Little Dead Space, or Visible Transit-Friendly Features ................ 2 Parking ............................................. 14 Reid Ewing is Research Director of the Sur- #16 Nearby Parks and Other Public face Transportation Policy Project, Washington, Essential Features ........................................ 2 Spaces ............................................... 16 D.C. and Senior Associate with Fehr & Peers #1 Medium-to-High Densities ................. 2 Transportation Consultants, Lafayette, CA. #17 Small-Scale Buildings (or Articulated #2 Mix of Land Uses ............................. 3 Larger Ones) .................................... 18 The primer was laid out by Suzanne #3 Short to Medium Length Blocks ..... 3 Lambert, Multimedia Technology Program #18 Classy Looking Transit Facilities ..... 18 manager at Broward Community College, #4 Transit Routes Every Half-Mile ...... 5 Pembroke Pines, FL. #5 Two-or Four-Lane Streets (with Rare Nice Additional Features ........................... 18 #19 Streetwalls ........................................ 18 Special thanks to Tara Bartee of the Florida Exceptions)......................................... 6 Department of Transportation for her coop- #6 Continuous Sidewalks Wide Enough #20 Functional Street Furniture ............... 18 eration and support in producing the manual for Couples ......................................... 6 #21 Coherent, Small-Scale Signage ........ 18 upon which this primer is based. #7 Safe Crossings .................................. 8 #22 Special Pavement ............................. 20 The International City/County Management #8 Appropriate Buffering from Association serves as the organizational home #23 Lovable Objects, Especially Traffic ............................................... 10 of the Smart Growth Network (SGN) and runs Public Art.......................................... 21 the SGN membership program. #9 Street-Oriented Buildings ................. 10 Endnotes ...................................... 23 #10 Comfortable and Safe Places to Wait .............................................. 13 Highly Desirable Features ......................... 13 #11 Supportive Commercial Uses ........... 13 For more information, contact the #12 Gridlike Street Networks .................. 13 Smart Growth Network at 202-962-3591 or via the Smart Growth web site at #13 Traffic Calming along Access www.smartgrowth.org Routes ............................................... 13 Introduction Urban design differs from planning in scale, other hand, is a singularly two-dimensional ac- sign than to planning. The two primers are meant orientation, and treatment of space. The scale tivity (as illustrated below left.) to be read in tandem. of design is primarily that of the street, park, or transit stop, as opposed to the larger region, com- Another primer available from the Smart This primer is based on Pedestrian- and munity, or activity center. The orientation of Growth Network, Best Development Practices: Transit-Friendly Design, a manual prepared for design is aesthetic, broadly defined. Design lies A Primer for Smart Growth, approaches devel- the Florida Department of Transportation somewhere between art, whose object is beauty, opment and redevelopment from a planning per- (FDOT) and the American Planning Associa- and planning, whose object is functionality. The spective. Scant attention is paid to aesthetics, tion (APA). The primer and manual draw pri- treatment of space in design is three-dimen- small-scale elements, and the vertical dimen- marily on three sourcesthe classic urban de- sional, with vertical elements as important as sion of development. The present primer takes sign literature, the best transit-oriented design horizontal ones in designing street space, park the opposite tack, giving more attention to de- manuals, and our own transit-related studies space, and other urban spaces. Planning, on the undertaken to give the manual an empirical base. Zooming in from Planning to Design (Miami Lakes, FL) Source: Dover & Kohl, South Miami, FL 1 Checklist of Pedestrian- and Transit-Friendly Features Pedestrian- and transit-friendly design fea- at one or both ends of their trips, the distinction were in the range of 40 to 80 people per acre; tures fall into three classes: those deemed es- is illusory. Pedestrian-friendly features are also such densities compressed enough activities sential; those deemed highly desirable; and inherently transit-friendly. They set the context into a small area to allow people to walk to those deemed nice but somewhat incidental. in which transit operates and, as transit opera- almost everything. Today, in developing ar- Even the third class will encourage street life, tors are discovering, have as much to do with eas, gross densities are one-tenth the histori- walking, and transit use, but for transit opera- ridership as do service headways, fare levels, cal norm. Such low densities are practical only tors, local governments, and developers, the and other transit operating characteristics. because the automobile allows us to overcome priorities are as indicated. great distances. Interestingly, many of these 23 features are It must be acknowledged up front that sort- now perceived as critical enough to the success People confuse high density with high rise. ing pedestrian- and transit-friendly features into of transit to have found their way into the new High densities can be achieved with small-scale three classes involves a leap of faith. But sort surface transportation act, the Transportation Eq- buildings by raising lot coverages to 50, 60, or we must. Choices must be made in the align- uity Act for the 21st Century. The act earmarks even 70 percent. Conversely, high-rise build- ment of transit routes, in the amenities offered funds for bus shelters, landscaping, street fur- ings afford only moderate densities if surrounded along walking routes, in the development prac- niture, walkways, public art, transit connections by acres of parking and lawn. Pedestrians are tices that are required rather than simply en- to parks, and other transit enhancements. It comfortable with small-scale buildings and high couraged. also creates an entirely new program, the Trans- lot coverages. They are uncomfortable with portation and Community and System Preser- high-rise towers and low lot coverages. [M]uch From the longer list of 23 pedestrian- and vation Pilot Program, which provides funding of the criticism of high-rise living and its so- transit-friendly features in the FDOT/APA for coordinated land use and transportation plan- cially alienating effects is not due to its high manual, the sections that follow highlight 12. ning, traffic calming, and transit-oriented de- density but to its low density at ground level, They are described in detail, and illustrated with velopment. where nearly all public interaction must occur.1 photos from walkable places and with graphics reproduced from award-winning design manu- The weight of available evidence points to als. The other 11 features are simply acknowl- the importance of density in promoting walking edged by name. For a detailed discussion of Essential Features and transit use.2 Higher densities mean more these features, see the manual upon which this residents or employees within walking distance primer is based. #1 Medium-to-High Densities of transit stops and stations. They mean more street life and the added interest and security The 12 highlighted features seem to relate Densities in the United States have taken that goes with having more people around. They more to pedestrians than to transit users. But a nose dive over the past 40 years. Before mean a greater propensity to walk or use tran- since virtually all transit users are pedestrians mechanized transportation, gross densities sit, and lower auto ownership rates. 2 Low Rise with High Density vs. High Rise with Low Density at Ground Level Ideally, the very highest densities will be closest to transit stops. A density gradient will (The Kentlands, MD) (Las Colinas, TX) maximize transit ridership. While densities may decline with distance from stops, they will av- erage at least the threshold values within the quarter mile service area around stops. #2 Mix of Land Uses #3 Short to Medium Length Blocks There has been a trend toward longer and longer blocks, and correspondingly fewer and The old rule of thumb is that seven units per As important as high residential densities, fewer intersections within development and re- acre are required to support basic bus service. perhaps more important, are high employment development areas. This is true not only in the For premium bus service, the required residen- densities. The rule of thumb in this case is that suburbs, where superblocks are the norm, but tial density rises to 15 units per acre.