Toronto Papers
Circumstantial Urbanism: A Los Angeles approach to walkability and urbanity
John Kamp and James Rojas, Latino Urban Forum
Summary: This session will examine a phenomenon in Los Angeles we are calling “circumstantial urbanism.” In many parts of Los Angeles, pockets of urbanity and pedestrian activity have arisen absent of any formal planning or urban design interventions – Boyle Heights, the Fashion and Broadway Districts, to name a few. In many ways, the urbanity and liveliness found in these neighborhoods has arisen circumstantially. Meanwhile, some portions of the city that have received extensive planning and design attention remain lifeless, devoid of much pedestrian activity. This paper and presentation will examine both what the circumstances are that have given rise to the urbanity found in these aforementioned pockets, as well as what planners and designers can learn from these circumstances, to make their work more relevant and effective in revitalizing ailing spaces and places. ... More
Collaborative Pedestrian Planning in Community Redevelopment: A Case Study from Milwaukee
Nathan Guequierre, Bay Ridge Consulting
Summary: In Milwaukee, collaborative pedestrian planning is being used as a tool for bringing stakeholders with varied interests together in the service of urban redevelopment. Walkability touches on values that many stakeholders have in common, and groups with widely varying missions can see the links between improving pedestrian conditions and their own priorities. A “Walking Workshop” program combines meaningful stakeholder participation with the application of best practices in pedestrian planning to enable stakeholders to address the walkability issues that most directly affect them. This paper outlines the format and methods used in the Milwaukee Walking Workshops and presents a case study of one workshop in the city’s Walnut Way neighborhood. There, a variety of stakeholders collaborated to create a pedestrian plan recommending infrastructure improvements, policy initiatives, and neighborhood programs to improve walking conditions. The plan is currently being implemented. The format of the Milwaukee Walking Workshop program can be applied to numerous contexts in which neighborhood associations, municipalities and non-profits desire to plan for and instigate changes that are responsive to neighborhood desires and guided by local priorities. The paper concludes with a list of “lessons learned” in the Milwaukee program to guide practitioners who want to adapt the program to their own settings. ... More
College Street Pedestrian Clearway:“Giving pedestrians what’s best – not just what’s left.”
Gord Brown
Summary: The citizen-led effort to ‘put pedestrians first’ in the reconstruction of Toronto’s College Street has been considered successful by many. This paper provides an overview of the goals, challenges and results achieved by the College Street Revitalization Committee, which may be of interest to grass-roots organizations driving local pedestrian improvements. In addition, the paper offers insights and recommendations from their experience with this initiative that may be of interest to city governments seeking to improve the planning and operation of their pedestrian realm. The street in question is an eight block stretch of typical Toronto “Main Street” bounded by Spadina Avenue on the east, and Bathurst Street on the west. While there are some larger institutions, it is typified by two to three storey structures, with modest residential apartments over a variety of retail or service shops. There is a mix of heritage and more modern construction. There is transit service on College, Bathurst and Spadina. While well located near Toronto’s downtown core (adjacent to the vibrancy of Little Italy, the late Victorian-era, low-rise residential neighbourhood of Harbord Village, the unique spirit and energy of Kensington Market, and the adjacent University of Toronto), this section of College Street has degraded over the years. Businesses struggle to survive, and the prevailing street condition (with six traffic lanes and two bike lanes dominating narrow sidewalks) made it unappealing to pedestrians. While parallel efforts for economic revitalization and aggressive redevelopment are in order, it was addressing the pedestrian realm – and bringing pedestrians to the area -- that was seen as the ‘bold stroke’ that could start to turn things around. With the guidance of Toronto urban designers James Brown and Kim Storey (Brown + Storey Architects) and support from City staff, the citizens used upcoming sidewalk reconstruction as an opportunity to present a pedestrian-forward design plan based on the ‘Pedestrian Clearway’ model. Citizens then worked with City staff over a number of years to implement and operationalize the plan -- and, were rewarded with two to three meters of additional sidewalk for much of the area, and 90 new trees that will shade the widened sidewalks in years to come. This paper provides an overview of the project, details of sidewalk improvement models that were developed (or piloted) during the project, and recommendations submitted to the City of Toronto on the basis of our experience. ... More
Competition for the Prize of Innovation “Safe on Foot”
Marlène Butz, Swiss Pedestrian Association
Summary: Measures to improve the situation for pedestrians are often small and not spectacular, but they increase safety and comfort for pedestrians. To stimulate more cities and communities to improve the situation for walking and to give an incentive, every 3 to 4 years a Competition for the Prize of Innovation “Safe on Foot” is awarded in Switzerland. The aim of the competition is to give communities an award for measures, which improve the safety and the quality of walking. The measures are communicated to a wide public. Thus, other cities should be motivated to do pedestrian-friendly planning as well. The competition is not only a collection of “best practice” concerning the projects but a tool to involve the public authorities of different levels, the media and the population in the process of improving the situation of the pedestrians. ... More
Creating Walkable Environments along Suburban Arterial Roads.
Case study: Cliffside Neighbourhood, Kingston Road, Toronto | Chris Hardwicke, Associate, Sweeny Sterling Finlayson & Co Architects
Summary: Suburban arterial roads in North America are engineered to optimize traffic flow. The engineering standards for these wide high-speed multilane roads include limits on intersections, tree placement, signage and crosswalks. The physical structure of the roadway, combined with a built form pattern that is typically set back, fenced off or reverse fronted, creates an urban space that is counterproductive to a pedestrian supportive environment. At the same time these arterial roads are the only continuous connected public right-of-way in a suburban environment. Their connectivity encourages planners to designate these hostile environments as transit routes and bike routes. This paper presents a case study of an incremental urban design and landscape strategy that aims to improve the pedestrian environment for a typical suburban arterial road in Toronto, Canada. Situated in Scarborough’s Cliffside Village, Kingston Road is both a highway and a main street for the neighbourhood. The main street has immense potential, with residential neighbourhoods on either side and a close proximity to Lake Ontario, the Scarborough Bluffs and a marina. But the street also presents significant challenges. Currently, Kingston Road is a vast open space of heavy traffic and parking that creates a real and psychological barrier between the neighbourhoods north and south of this main street. The aim of the project was to work with the existing community to create an incremental design solution that would transform Kingston Road from a car-oriented arterial road into a pedestrian supportive main street, improving both the street culture and retail environment. The Kingston Road project was the result of a two-week Design Charette with a mutli-disciplinary team of designers who worked in collaboration with the local community. The design team included architects, landscape architects, urban designers and an economic consultant. The design concept proposed to bind the Cliffside Village neighbourhood together through a network of active public spaces. Recognizing the fiscal constraint and limited resources available for city building, the design provides a new model for community improvement in Toronto. The proposal is comprised of a network of crosswalks, pocket parks and temporary occupations that can be produced over time as budget and programs develop. The incremental strategy is a pragmatic way for the existing strip malls, parking lots, traffic flow and property divisions to adjust over time as the economy and culture of the neighbourhood evolves. It’s easy to characterize suburban strip roads such as Kingston Road as asphalt wastelands. The vast parking lots and speed of the traffic seem insurmountable in relation to the human scale. Looked at in a new way, however, the open spaces can be used for a new kind of public landscape that adds value to the neighbouring properties and the whole street. These underutilized open spaces can be seen as an opportunity for transformation more dramatic than is possible in typical main streets. ... More
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