Creating the canvas for a public life...

Bulbout at the northeast corner of 12th and Monroe Streets NE, Brookland, Washington, DC. (The photo I really need to show is of the southeast corner, and I don't have one.)

I was talking with an urban design consultant on Saturday. He is someone who I've crossed paths with off and on over the past 6 years, as he has worked on various projects in DC. We were talking about bulbouts and the 12th Street streetscape redesign in Brookland, in DC's northeast quadrant.

While I write somewhat like a harda**, in person I think I am perhaps too reasonable, as my academic approach of objectivity allows me to view issues from multiple perspectives.

"Mistakes were made" with pedestrian-centric bulbouts, at least at the intersection of 12th and Monroe Streets. The bulbout eliminated a lane (the right turn lane). Since buses turn left from 12th Street onto Monroe, and from Monroe onto 12th Street, because bus drivers are trained to not take chances with oncoming traffic, traffic can quickly back up for 2-3 blocks. Both streets are narrow, with parking on both sides, and one through lane.

Sure I favor walking and bicycling but creating this kind of cascading traffic failure doesn't seem to make sense, especially because for the most part, at this juncture anyway, Brookland is a automobile-centric community that also uses transit. But walking and bicycling are infrequent behavior there.

The consultant asked me if I had been to London (sadly I haven't). He said the streets fail there in terms of traffic, the roads wind around, but so what, because London is all about walking-centric street vitality and urbanism. In other words, he is fine with (re)creating streets that fail for cars at the benefit of walkability.

Shoppers walk down Oxford Street, London's main shopping street, April 15, 2006.(Luke MacGregor/Reuters)

While neither of us had an answer for my response: does this make sense in low density neighborhoods that are not walking-centric, that are still automobile-centric, and will creating these kinds of evident "failures" in throughput reduce citizen support for other mobility-promoting changes in streetscapes and infrastructure?

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An article in the Financial Times mentioned a document, "Creating a Canvas for Public Life in Bath," outlining a people oriented plan to "drive the choking traffic from the streets, introduce new bus services, increase pedestrianisation and improve the appearance of a place, that is often shabby and polluted."

As the document says:

The strategy is based on a big idea: that Bath's public realm -- the streets and spaces between its buildings -- should be recognized, invested in and managed as one of the city's most exciting assets. It proposes that Bath should become the UK's most walkable city, and the public realm should be viewed as the canvas upon which a heathier, more vibrant and inclusive public life, a more dynamic and more successful economic life, and a more distinctive and creative brand identity for the city can be established.