This post is quite interesting, as is the whole Dom’s Plan B blog it comes from. What is Plan B?
“Plan B” refers to the growing need for our communities and our nation to forge a dramatically new path if we expect a sustainable future rich in a rewarding quality of life. Our path for much of the past century (“Plan A”) is conventionally known as “The American Dream.” This dream has been dependent on endless low-density (and therefore community-destroying) development, forced and isolating travel by car, and high levels of consumption—mostly fueled by cheap oil. It is an inherently unsustainable path that a number of analysts now fear may be leading to the end of the American empire.
The blog post is a list of essential ingredients for creating a town or neighborhood:
1. First, houses need to be within a short walking or bicycling distance of the most important regular tasks of the household. Those tasks (or trips) include jobs, shops, services, culture, public meeting places (such as parks, squares or plazas) and civic institutions.
2. Places conducive to true towns and neighborhoods provide “Third Places” (think of a neighborhood pub, or the TV show “Cheers”). Neighborhoods and towns also provide “social condensers” and other features which nurture a sense of community and sociable conviviality and neighborliness. Sidewalks – the most common form of social condenser — are therefore found on both sides of most or all streets.
3. Neighborhoods and towns have connected streets with short block lengths, and the streets have low design speeds. Such design is essential for minimizing trip distances and maximizing travel safety, both of which are extremely important in inducing travel by foot, bicycle, and transit.
4. Finally, residents of real towns and neighborhoods tend to know the boundaries of their town or neighborhood, which gives their place an identity.
You can read the whole blog post here.
