Reclaiming streets as places to live
Woonerf communities provide safe play areas and meeting places
Are asphalt roads and sidewalks in neighbourhoods really needed? Of course they are, you might say. Otherwise, where else will people walk and how will drivers reach their garages? But let’s look at the wisdom of having roads and sidewalks in their current form.
First, a short history. The building of the suburbs after the Second World War provided muchneeded relief to overcrowded cities, while the decades since have seen continuous lowering of densities to an average of 4.2 units per acre, from 40.
Despite fewer users, paradoxically, the width of a typical street grew from a mere 4.8 metres at the turn of the century to 15 metres, rivalling Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. Road construction also became elaborate. Drains, storm sewers, fresh water and natural gas pipes are some of the utilities buried under the asphalt. And with global warming, the paved areas have become a solar collector, raising both the temperature and cooling costs of the homes nearby.
Residents began to pay a huge sum of money — included in the cost of the home — for something they used only once or twice daily. Studies show that most suburban streets are used during rush hours and are idle the rest of the day. The cost of road repair and snow clearing has also skyrocketed, making planners rethink the wisdom of having a single use of the large expanses of asphalt we call “streets.”
The Dutch had cost-saving in mind when they conceived the Woonerf (or Street for Living) in the 1970s. Why should we spend so much on something we use so little, they asked.
If we were to narrow local streets and slow car speed, the space between buildings could be transformed into part of the neighbourhood’s open space. Streets, they argued, could be safe play areas and meeting places and, yes, house cars.
The concept caught on in the Netherlands, leading to the building of several Woonerf communities and catching the interest of other nations, which replicated it in their approach to planning.
I walked through a development called BO01 (or City of Tomorrow) on a sunny July day last year. Part of the Swedish port city of Malmö, it’s a 54-acre, 1,425-dwelling urban renewal project that began in 2001 and rewrote the rules of how neighbourhoods should be planned.
The mindset: Put the interests of pedestrians, cyclists and the environment ahead of those of motorists.
The recipe: increase density to 26 units per acre, offer a highly efficient public transit service, reduce parking requirements to 0.7 spots per unit, slow vehicular traffic to 15 kilometres an hour, mix residences and amenities and, above all, make walkability fun.
How did they achieve the last one?
Tall buildings were sited along the seashore to block the incoming harsh winter winds. Public areas between the beautifully designed, colourful buildings were paved with yellowish unipavers and streetscaped with trees and benches. Rain water is collected from all roofs and balconies to run in open canals where vegetation grows.
There is also public art with rocks and water as themes. Granite carvings from which water springs intercept the walk along pathways. The street-level shops and cafés at the base of apartment buildings offer a destination and animate the walk.
Many residents have chosen not to have a car altogether. Each housing unit is within 900 feet of a sheltered bus stop equipped with a digital readout. Buses connecting BO01 with the city centre run at seven-minute intervals and are given priority at traffic lights through radar that senses bus arrival, prompting the light to turn green.
Local and federal authorities contributed to the project financially. They knew that a return on investment would not only lower the cost of housing but would set the stage for an active lifestyle and, eventually, would reduce health-care costs.
Back in Canada, homeowners often tend to believe that their domain ends at the front edge of their property and that the street belongs to someone else — the city perhaps. But residents ought to recognize that the street is theirs as well. The street can become the neighbourhood public square, a place for a Canada Day barbecue, a giant garage sale or a farmers’ market on weekends, reducing residents’ need to travel to a big box on the edge of town.
As we rethink our future neighbourhoods and fix existing ones, we may want to take a hard look at our streets and reclaim them. After all, it is we who pay for their costly construction and neverending upkeep.