About a year ago I discovered a great blog called Streetsblog.org. The focus of the blog is bring attention to the livable street movement. The Bloomberg administration has done an amazing job making a lot of progressive changes to NYC streets making them safer for pedestrians, bikes, and cars.
The intersections of 23rd Street, Broadway, and 5th Ave are probably the best illustration of this policy. Where once there was only space for cars, trucks, and buses now there is space for bikes pedestrians, tourists, and public use space. You can see the plans and the thought process for the space called "The Madison Square Pedestrian Project."
Well now Jan Gehl, a Danish urban designer/planner and architect, has created a plan called "World Class Streets" that takes the DOT's and City's plans for livable streets and combines the best parts and makes recommendations for the City moving forward. What is really interesting about the plan is that Gehl looks at all aspects of what has been done like the summer streets, current trends in city planning, bike space, coast line space, etc. I am really glad that the Bloomberg administration was able to get another term as I think this Mayor has done a great job of creating progressive policy for making the city more livable for all of its residents.
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