Beyond Bump-Outs: A Brief Overview of Contemporary Pedestrian- and Public-Space-Oriented Street Design

In the last two decades, there have been exceptional innovations in both policy and implementation of pedestrian- and public-space-oriented street designs in North American cities. These innovations begin to address the street as a public space and a space for urban design practice. This break follows nearly a century of street design that primarily focused on the efficiency of vehicle movement and a process that is typically led by traffic engineers. This focus on vehicle movement has resulted in an institutionalized and path-dependent process of street design that reinforces the dominance of automobility (Hess 2009; Urry 2004). The standardized street type hierarchy (i.e., local, collector, arterial, and highway) is a notable legacy of this system. Within the standard hierarchy, streets are classified by their relationship to automobile movement and the level of access they provide to adjacent properties. For example, expressways are designed with limited access to maximize vehicle flow, while local streets are designed to allow access to most or all adjacent properties. Furthermore, each street type is associated with clearly defined geometric standards that dictate the acceptable ranges for the width of traffic lanes and the appropriate curb radii at intersections. These design standards directly correspond to the street design speeds and expected turning radius for vehicles (based on the expected vehicle sizes). While street design standards may include pedestrian and cyclist facilities, it is grounded first in the efficient movement of vehicles, often excluding an understanding or even consideration of the social or alternative uses of the street.