
What Snow Tells Us About Creating Better Public Spaces - heydenberk
http://thisoldcity.com/advocacy/photos-what-snow-tells-us-about-creating-better-public-spaces-e-passyunk-avenue#.UvfSh4tdU4Q
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mcrider
I wish driving and owning a car started to become discouraged the same way sin
taxes and bylaws are discouraging cigarette smoking. Sitting outside on a
bench in Honolulu yesterday, I looked around and saw that half of what I was
seeing were roads and cars. This space that could be so beautiful (it's Hawaii
after all) was overwhelmingly just about being a transportation network.

I love the feeling of driving a car, but I think the cost is too high -- So
much financial and mental stress (not to mention so much death -- A classmate
from high school was killed in a crash just last week) is caused by these
things and they bisect our physical spaces making so much of our world
uninhabitable and depressing. I realize people need transportation but I had
hoped the rising cost of oil would cause a paradigm shift in how we commute,
and that doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon.

~~~
henrikschroder
When I visited Hawaii for the first time I noticed that something was very
different compared to similar vacation destinations in for example south-east
asia.

It's the same climate. It's the same relaxed atmosphere. It's the same hotels.
People come there for the same reasons. People wear the same kind of clothes.

But the major difference is that all hotels in Hawaii have huge parking
garages. It's a ten-minute drive from Honolulu airport to Waikiki, there's
excellent public transportation, hotel shuttles, and taxis, but people still
just rent cars, because american tourists rent cars out of habit, not
necessity. It's so deeply ingrained, it's gonna take a long while to dispel
it.

~~~
alexeisadeski3
Heaven forbid they use these rented cars to stray outside of Honolulu!

Also: The reason there are so many cars, roads, and parking lots in
Honolulu/Hawaii compared to SE Asia? Because the residents of Hawaii aren't
poor - in fact they're quite well off by SE Asian standards.

~~~
eru
For comparison, Singapore is pretty well off, too. And only heroic efforts by
the government keep the car population in check. Eg there can only ever be
around 1 million cars on the island, and permits are auctioned off. A ten year
permit goes for around 100k SGD at the moment.

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analog31
As a bike commuter, I look at those areas marked in green as places where I
can escape to if I get cut off, or where I can let a car overtake me. In fact,
the narrowing of roadways due to piled up snow is one of the main dangers of
winter cycling.

~~~
heydenberk
I'm a bike commuter and I commute on these streets. I don't think this is as
much of an issue in Philadelphia as it is elsewhere. The roads are all small,
one-way streets with stop signs at every block. Cars are rarely going fast
enough that they need to overtake a bike before they reach the next
intersection where they can pass more easily. Less anecdotally, New York has
been making these changes with many intersections and finds the roads are
safer for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.

~~~
revelation
Anecdotally, the number of car drivers that have the miniscule intelligence
required to foresee that overtaking me would yield zero benefit at extreme
risk is 0.

~~~
pyre
The extreme risk to them is zero. If they run you over their insurance goes
up, and they can complain to their friends about how some "hipster, commie,
hippie biker" was in the wrong for even being on the road.

I know someone that was run over by someone that ran a red light. Her arm was
broken, and the lady in the car was in the wrong. The lady that hit her had
the gall to call her up later and complain to her that her auto insurance
rates had gone up. No shit! You run a red light and hit someone, what do you
expect?

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lemonberry
This is neat. It reminds me of being on college campuses where students have
created new paths through grass bypassing sidewalks and paved paths. I always
thought the worn paths should be incorporated into the "official"
infrastructure somehow.

~~~
saeranv
Rem Koolhaas' design for the IIT Campus Center in Chicago takes this idea and
uses it as a basis for generating the floorplan:

    
    
      "...OMA carried out a study to map the “desire lines” of student foot traffic across the campus. These intersecting diagonal paths are maintained inside the Campus Center itself..." - from the project description
    

Check out the third image here: [http://www.oma.eu/projects/2003/iit-
mccormick-tribune-campus...](http://www.oma.eu/projects/2003/iit-mccormick-
tribune-campus-center)

One of my favorite buildings!

~~~
jevinskie
It is a remarkably easy to navigate for how unique it is. Really a treat for
the eyes! Crown Hall is also very beautiful:

[http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-
content/uploads/2010/05/12...](http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-
content/uploads/2010/05/1273704810-crownhall2.jpg)

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protomyth
It seems like quite a few of these photos have snow with tire tracks in them.
Also, people drive quite differently under these conditions and in a
constrained, slower manner. It would be foolish to say that area isn't being
used by cars unless you are trying to keep traffic slowed to a crawl.

~~~
freehunter
Looking around here in the winter, we could make some major changes to how
roads are laid out as well. For example, most of the freeways are just one
lane during and right after a heavy snowfall. The cars are also traveling tens
of miles an hour under the speed limit. I've even seen two-lane roads become
one-lane roads, because people only want to drive where everyone else has
proven it's safe to drive.

Driving in the snow is much more dangerous than driving in perfect weather.
It's only natural that people are going to change their driving habits. This
article has a good premise, but poor execution.

~~~
protomyth
"This article has a good premise, but poor execution."

Makes sense, but I take the view the premise is flawed. Its one of those "oh,
that seems so obvious" type premises that describe the skin of the onion but
fails on pulling back the layers. It seems to happen a lot while dealing with
complex systems. The fun part of this one is that it seems like they don't
realize they are dealing with a complex system. The illustrating pictures even
show some cracks and the author skims over them.

~~~
freehunter
If the premise is "we can learn how traffic flows from watching traffic
patterns" and that's accomplished by watching where the tire marks go, then it
seems pretty good to me. However, watching where the snow disappears first
from the roadway isn't an accurate measure, because people drive differently
in the snow.

Another example based on the premise in the article: you can find the best
racing line on a race track by looking at where the track is darker, because
rubber and any leaking fluids will stain the track directly under where the
cars are always driving. That's where racers will be driving during normal
conditions, but it'd be inaccurate to say that the race track should only be
exactly that line, because drivers will occasionally go off that line to pass,
avoid an accident, or participate in an accident. In both racing and normal
driving, the best line isn't always the _only line_.

That's what I meant by the premise is good, but the execution is bad. It's
just a faulty measurement.

~~~
protomyth
Don't get me wrong, I think your reasoning is sound and I think I could argue
your view with pretty good confidence. Your example is quite good and I like
the idea of taking the totally opposite driving circumstances to prove the
point.

but.....

I took the premise as "there is a lot of wasted space on the road and we can
reduce it" with a methodology of "removed snow will show us what is not
wasted". So, I thought the premise was hogwash, but the execution fit their
twisted premise.

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sosuke
As a driver I see the areas being sectioned off as stress inducing. I haven't
lived in a city very long but I see a lot of short sighted ideas in this post.
Parking is a concern, a place without parking is inaccessible to people from
other areas. Plenty of the examples make turning impossible even for small
sedans, let alone full sized vehicles. A fun concept that hits a bit too close
to home for me right now. City planning like this has kept me from exploring
my own downtown area.

~~~
henrikschroder
>City planning like this has kept me from exploring my own downtown area.

Have you tried walking there instead?

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moron4hire
Some of us don't _want_ to make our entire life centered around an urban area.
I have friends from South Philly who've never been outside of Philadelphia.
For all the people here with their vitriol towards cars, that sort of
provincial attitude is just as disgusting to me. New Yorkers are the worst
about it. They can't imagine there is anything worthwhile that is not in their
city.

I've been freelancing from home for 2 years now and the thing I miss the most
is driving. I loved driving. Getting out, doing things, seeing different
things, rather than going to the same, old places all the time just because
they were in walking distance. Getting to places 10 miles away on time without
having to leave an hour before hand. It was great.

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saraid216
When did roads become the only meaningful public space we have?

~~~
malandrew
Such a depressing question. I reckon the book "The high cost of free parking"
goes into detail on this question.

~~~
saraid216
Walkable City and Happy City are also both fairly good books. Walkable City is
better in terms of suggesting actual changes, but Speck's tone is
unrelentingly unconstructive. Happy City is better on tone (passing a low bar
there), but the meat of the book is in the title and probably better captured
by Enrique Peñalosa's TED talk.

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pedrocr
Aren't the paths just the places where the plow passed? Cars may very well use
the rest of the road if it was plowed too, no?

~~~
heydenberk
The supposition is that if enough car traffic or parking would eventually
remove the snow on its own, which is accurate in my experience.

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burkemw3
What happens if I take photos of a sidewalk after a snow storm, note the areas
that are covered with snow, and argue that the unused space should be used for
additional car lanes or parking?

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mankypro
It's clear that in the author's world everybody drives a Prius. I guess Amazon
and Google shopping drones will deliver everything in his utopia. No need for
trucks to be able to navigate the streets. Hey! I'd like to see a plow on a
Nissan Leaf!

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lifeformed
And that's why I only shovel 2 straight lines on my driveway.

