Stadterweiterungen in technisher, baupolizeilicher und wirtschaftlicher Beziehung (Town Extension in their Technical, Surveying and Economic Relationship), R Baumeister, 1876.
Proposed dimensions based on vehicle volume for suburban streets. This is the beginning of the street design profession.
Town Planning in Practice; an Introduction to the Art of Designing Cities and Suburbs, R Unwin, 1909, LINK.
Street Traffic Control, M McClintock, New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1925, LINK.
Athens Charter, LeCorbusier, Grossman, 1933.
Corbu’s analysis of the ails of the city, and how to fix it, basically using the car. The analysis is spot on, and still applies for much of the world’s cities. The solutions were a product of the times (read: autocentric) and have largely failed.
Manual of walking, Elon Huntington Jessup, New York, E.P. Dutton, 1936.
Image Of The City, K Lynch, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1960.
Sets out a series of descriptors which can be used to articulate the form and content of an urban space.
Death and Life of Great American Cities, J Jacobs, Random House, 1961.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T Kuhn, University of Chicago Press, 1962.
Explains how once a revolution in science (chemistry, for example) is attained, the world quickly realigns to the new understanding. Give those of us in transportation hope.
The Pedestrian in the City, D Lewis, ed., Van Nostrand, 1966. LINK
A fascinating documentation of mobility for people walking in city development. The book has historical precedents and mid-century schemes (some have weather better than others). The most interesting are the campus plans, maps of pedestrian networks in cities like Toulouse, and examples from older cities.
Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space, J Gehl, Danish Architectural Press, 1971. LINK
Seminal discussion of pedestrian-friendly urban design. If you have not read it, you need to.
Defensible Space, O Newman, MacMillan, 1973.
Sets up a four phase paradigm: public, semi-public, semi-private, and private which can be used to describe many urban interfaces.
Pedestrian Revolution: Streets without Cars, S Breines & W Dean, Random House, 1974.
Early text on the advantages of streets designed for walking and the disadvantages of car centered design.
Urban Space for Pedestrians, B Pushkarev & J Zupan, MIT Press, 1975.
Comprehensive study of pedestrian movements in the city.
Recycling Cities for People: The Urban Design Process, L Cutler, S Cutler, Cahners Books International, 1976.
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction, C Alexander, et al, Oxford University Press, 1977. LINK
Goodreads: “At the core of A Pattern Language is the philosophy that in designing their environments people always rely on certain ‘languages,’ which, like the languages we speak, allow them to articulate and communicate an infinite variety of designs within a formal system which gives them coherence.”
Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, W H Whyte, World Wildlife Fund, 1980.
Classic study of how people use outdoor spaces.
Livable Streets, D Appleyard, UC Press, Berkeley, 1981.
Classic research onto the effects of traffic on neighborhoods.
Immature Arts of City Design, K Lynch, Places, Volume 1, Number 3, 1984.
Cities and People, M Girouard, Yale University Press, 1985.
Goodreads: “This social and aesthetic history of the world's major cities from antiquity to the present focuses on crucial periods of the cities' past and examines their architecture in light of the men and women who used it.”
Cities and the Wealth of Nations, Jane Jacobs, 1985.
Pedestrian: Planning & Design, J Fruin, Elevator World, 1987.
Innovative research which formed the basis for modern concepts of measuring pedestrian use and usage.
Experience Of Place, T Hiss, Knopf, 1990.
Almost poetic description of the public places that we all inhabit, and should perhaps retain.
The Pedestrian and City Traffic, C Hass-Klau, Belhaven Press, 1990.
From goodreads: The book presents an insightful honest analysis of where transport planners have failed since the mid-nineteenth century to the present and how traffic calming can be applied in major British, American and German cities. It discusses the segregation of motor vehicles from pedestrians and the development of public transport as a cheap, efficient and comfortable alternative to the automobile.
The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meaning Through History, S Kostof, Bulfinch Press, 1991.
Bausteine 12: Verkehrsberuhigung und Strassenraumgestaltung (Traffic Calming and Streetscape Design), Ministry of City Development and Transportation NRW, www.ils.nrw.de, 1992.
Fully illustrated handbook with research, case studies and ideas on reallocating the right-of-way in favor of non-motorized traffic.
Bausteine 18: Radverkehr an Hauptverkehrsstrassen (Bicycle Traffic on Main Roads), Ministry of City Development and Transportation NRW, www.ils.nrw.de, 1994.
Fully illustrated handbook with research, case studies and ideas on progressive bicycle facilities on main roads.
Down the Asphalt Path: The Automobile and the American City, C McShane, Columbia University Press, 1994.
Vehicle Travel Speeds and The Incidence of Fatal Pedestrian Collisions, A McLean, et al., University of Adelaide, NHMRC Road Accident Research Unit, Federal Office of Road Safety, Australia, 1994.
From Abstract: …estimate the likely effect on pedestrian fatalities of a reduction in vehicle travelling speed. Results were based on detailed investigations of 176 fatal pedestrian collisions in the Adelaide area between 1983 and 1991. Estimates were developed for a range of speed reduction scenarios. The study found that a reduction of 5 km/h in vehicle travelling speeds in the Adelaide area could be expected to result in a reduction of 30% of the incidence of fatal pedestrian collisions. Under this scenario 10% of the collisions would have been avoided altogether.
Traffic Calming in Practice, Landor Publishing, 1994
Authoritative Sourcebook with 85 Illustrated Case Studies.
Great Streets, A Jacobs, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1995.
Research comparing hundreds of streets around the world, at scale, to determine the elements which make them worthy of constant praise. Book utilizes plans, cross sections, and maps of individual streets and a set of one- square-mile maps of the street plans of 50 cities around the world.
ASVV: Recommendations for Traffic Provisions in Built-up Areas, Centre for Research and Contract Standardization in Civil and Traffic Engineering, www.crow.nl, 1996.
From flyer: “The Basic Information chapter contains the fundamental principles and prerequisites for the design process. The information in this chapter and in the Working Methods chapter can be used to formulate traffic and transport policy in builtup areas (such as parking policy and public transport). The chapter also includes a number of search schedules, which take the designer to the reference pages. These pages refer the reader to the provisions that can be used as a possible solution to traffic problems.
Inside the Blackbox: Making Transportation Models Work for Livable Communities, E Beimborn et al, Citizens for a Better Environment and The Environmental Defense Fund, 1996.
Sign Up for the Bike: Design manual for a cycle-friendly infrastructure, Centre for Research and Contract Standardization in Civil and Traffic Engineering, www.crow.nl, 1996.
From introduction: …collates existing knowledge, introduces a number of new approaches and suggests optimum solutions as seen from the cyclist's viewpoint. It is assumed that there is already a certain amount of political support for promoting the use of bicycles. This book then is primarily intended for those people, for example who work for local authorities, who are closely involved in the design of cycling-facilities and who must add content to a politically formulated policy...
Listening to Bike Lanes: Moving Beyond the Feud, J Hiles, 1996. LINK
From Abstract: This paper critically reviews the claims of advocates on each side of this controversy and finds that what passes for hard fact is often conjecture and exaggeration, including assertions about car-bike crashes, and the potential of both bike lanes and education to affect bicyclist safety and behavior. In an effort to find a less one-sided viewpoint, the author employs concepts from the fields of cognitive psychology and environmental design to explore alternative ways of describing and explaining how bicyclists and motorists are influenced by the environments through which they move.
Asphalt Nation: How The Automobile Took Over America And How We Can Take It Back, J H Kay, Crown Publishing, New York, 1997.
Often didactic discussion of how the United States has been turned over the automobile interests.
City After the Automobile: An Architect's Vision, M Safdie, Westview Press, 1997.
Begs the question of why other architects have not taken up the mantle.
Greening Of Urban Transport: Planning for Walking and Cycling in Western Cities, R Tolley, ed., Wiley, 1997.
From cabdirect: The book examines policies and strategies for increasing walking/cycling mode share and reviews progress towards that in a variety of geographical circumstances and policy environments. The first section focuses on the principles of planning for the green modes. Specific discussions throughout relate to Western European cities. The second section focuses on strategies for the encouragement of the green modes. The third section assembles experience and results of green mode encouragement, and thus functions as a review of the state of the art in the late 1980s. The book concludes with policy recommendations.
Traveling Speed and the Risk of Crash Involvement, C N Kloeden et al, The University of Adelaide, 1997.
From Abstract: The relationship between free travelling speed and the risk of involvement in a casualty crash in a 60 km/h speed limit zone was quantified using a case control study design. It was found that the risk of involvement in a casualty crash doubled with each 5 km/h increase in free travelling speed above 60 km/h. Hypothetical speed reductions applied to the case vehicles indicated large potential safety benefits from even small reductions in travelling speed, particularly on arterial roads.
Flexibility in Highway Design, FHWA-PD-97-062, 1997.
From abstract: This Guide is about designing highways that incorporate community values and are safe, efficient, effective mechanisms for the movement of people and goods. It is written for highway engineers and project managers who want to learn more about the flexibility available to them when designing roads and illustrates successful approaches used in various highway projects. It can also be used by citizens who want to gain a better understanding of the highway design process. The challenge to the highway design community is to find design solutions, as well as operational options, that result in full consideration of sometimes conflicting objectives. This Guide helps meet that challenge by provoking innovative thinking for fully considering the scenic, historic, aesthetic, and other cultural values, along with the safety and mobility needs, of our highway transportation system.
The Effects of Road Design on Speed Behaviour: A Literature Review (Report 2.3.1 of MASTER: Managing Speeds of Traffic on European Roads), M Martens, S Comte, N Kaptein, European Commission, Fourth Framework Programme, Transport RTD Programme, 1997
From Summary: Controlling driving speed is considered to be an effective way of improving driving safety; driving speed plays an important role in accident occurrence, since higher speeds lead to increased accident probability and severity…This literature review contains an overview of the efficacy of various speed reducing measures. Measures that affect driving speed directly are discussed, but special attention is paid to factors that affect driving speed indirectly, i.e. by influencing the willingness to show the appropriate speed behaviour. Advantages and disadvantages of various measures are discussed…Currently, the largest reductions in driving speed are realised with speed reducing measures that physically restrict driving at high speeds. Since this only forces road users to reduce speed, but does not let them choose this voluntarily, a more optimal solution is to design roads that are “self-explaining”. By designing a road that provides a speed image, that is in accordance with the actual speed limit, drivers will choose the appropriate driving speed more or less automatically.
Bausteine 21: Hauptverkehrsstrassen fuer den Umweltverbund (Main Roads for the Environment), Ministry of City Development and Transportation NRW, www.ils.nrw.de, 1998.
Fully illustrated handbook with research, case studies and ideas on design and operation of urban thoroughfares.
Design and Safety of Pedestrian Facilities, ITE, www.ite.org, 1998.
From summary and conclusions: While traffic engineers have a responsibility to provide for the safe and efficient flow of all types of road users, traffic-control measures are too often designed with the sole interests of motorists in mind, and pedestrians are left to ‘fend for themselves’ on streets with inadequate crossing times, confusing traffic-control devices, excessive delays, and construction zones with little or no provisions for those who walk...
Synthesis of Safety Research Related to Speed and Speed Management, J Stuster, Z Coffman, D Warren, FHWA, 1998.
From Abstract: This report presents a synthesis of research findings on the safety effects of speed, speed limits, enforcement, and engineering measures to manage speed…The report updates a similar synthesis published in 1982. A great deal of speed related research has been carried out since that time. This synthesis highlights the results of significant safety research related to speed completed since the last update. Some of the earlier benchmark studies are incorporated where appropriate.
MASTER: Managing Speeds of Traffic on European Roads, European Commission, Fourth Framework Programme, Transport RTD Programme, 1998.
The project’s main objective was to develop recommendation for speed management strategies and policies in Europe. Existing travel speeds, impacts and speed management were researched. A procedure to determine appropriate speeds on different roads is outlined.
Traffic Impact of Highway Capacity Reductions: Assessment of the Evidence, S Cairns, C Hass-Klau & P Goodwin, Landor Publishing, London, 1998.
"...in every case studied, even quite drastic reductions in road capacity have not been followed by prolonged gridlock, and major increases in existing levels of congestion are typically only temporary...Instead, there is a fairly substantial body of evidence to suggest that some proportion of traffic effectively 'disappears'..."
"In general, the most robust finding from the case studies appears to be that road capacity can be reallocated to other modes, or other uses, without prolonged gridlock or traffic chaos occurring. When real traffic problems do occur...they tend to be short-lived."
"...traffic does 'disappear' in response to reductions in road capacity, but only to the extent that it needs to do so."
Traffic goes to one of three places:
if the surrounding network is under-capacity (in time or space), the displaced traffic is absorbed,
if the capacity of the surrounding network is increased (in time or space), the displaced traffic is reallocated, or
if the surrounding network cannot accommodate the displaced traffic (in time or space), then travelers shift mode, destination, frequency or other and the displaced traffic 'disappears'.
Traffic Calming: State of the Art Practice, R Ewing, ITE, 1999.
Authoritative guide and statistical analysis of existing traffic calming in the U.S. Shows how far traffic calming in the U.S. is behind that in Europe and Australia.
Main Street: When a Highway Runs Through It, Oregon DOT, 1999.
Handbook of ideas to reintegrate highways into the urban streetscape as they become main streets.
Safety in Geometric Design Standards, E Hauer, University of Toronto, 1999. LINK
From introduction: Designers of roads believe that roads built to standards are safe. Lawyers and judges assume that roads designed to standards are appropriately safe. Beliefs, no matter how passionately held, and assumptions, no matter how repeatedly applied, are fallible guides to truth. The truth is that roads designed to standards are not safe, not unsafe, nor are they appropriately safe; roads designed to standards have an unpremeditated level of safety.
Street Design Guidelines for Healthy Neighborhoods, D Burden, et al, Center for Livable Communities, www.lgc.org, 1999.
From introduction: Traditional streets are an important component of healthy neighborhoods and livable communities. Pedestrians in most cities say they want well-designed neighborhood alleys, lanes and streets that keep motorist speeds between 10 and 25 mph, and provide on-street parking, sidewalks, shade, benches, street lamps, and other community amenities.
Street reclaiming: Creating Livable Streets and Vibrant Communities, D Engwicht, New Society Publishers, 1999.
From Abstract: Street reclaiming is a technological leap beyond traffic calming. Not only does it reduce traffic volume and speed in your street, it helps reclaim your street as a place for play, social activity, and community building. For thousands of years streets have been the epicenter of the social, cultural, and economic life of cities. Chapter One of this book reviews this tradition and takes stock of what has been "stolen" by traffic. This chapter celebrates the potential of our streets. In order to reclaim our streets, we first need to dramatically reduce traffic. Chapter Two shows that reducing traffic is as simple as reducing trash. Chapter Three introduces the reader to the exciting concept of psychological reclaiming - a process of taking back your street immediately with a few simple techniques. Chapter Four gives an overview of a practical program that a few neighbors can initiate to reclaim their street. Chapter Five shows how the concepts and practical steps outlined in this book help to tackle the root causes of traffic problems. It does this by exposing eight myths that underpin current approaches to urban and transport planning. Chapter Six asks the question, "Are our streets worth saving?" It concludes that we must not just reclaim a lost tradition - we must build our streets so that they help us face the challenges of the future.
Literature Review on Vehicle Travel Speeds and Pedestrian Injuries, W Leaf & D Preusser, DOT-HS-809-021, 1999.
From Abstract: The relationship between vehicle travel speeds and resulting pedestrian injury was reviewed in the literature and in existing data sets. Results indicated that higher vehicle speeds are strongly associated with both a greater likelihood of pedestrian crash occurrence and more serious resulting pedestrian injury. It was estimated that only 5 percent of pedestrians would die when struck by a vehicle traveling at 20 miles per hour or less. This compares with fatality rates of 40, 80, and nearly 100 percent for striking speeds of 30, 40, and 50 miles per hour or more respectively.
Pedestrian and Transit-Friendly Design, R Ewing, Third National Access Management Conference, FHWA, 2000.
From abstract: There has been a trend toward longer and longer blocks, and correspondingly fewer and fewer intersections within a given area. This practice is not pedestrian-friendly. For a high degree of walkability, block lengths of 300 ft, more or less, are desirable. Blocks of 400 to 500 ft still work well, but as blocks grow to 600 to 800 ft or longer, adjacent blocks become isolated from each other. The old transit industry standard - that transit users will walk a quarter mile, or 5 min at 3 mph, to a bus stop - is better than we might have guessed. Converting reported walk times from the 1990 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey into distances, and plotting and smoothing the resulting frequency curve, the median walking distance to and from transit stops is almost exactly a quarter mile.
Liveable Neighbourhoods: Street Layout, Design and Traffic Management Guidelines, Western Australian Planning Commission, 2000.
Bicycles: an integral part of urban transport system in South Asian cities, G Tiwari, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Delhi, 2000.
presents details from a case study of a corridor in Delhi to illustrate how existing arterial roads can be replanned to provide for safer and more convenient bicycling and at the same time improve efficiency of bus transport system.
Collection of Cycle Concepts (English), S Jensen, et.al, Road Directorate, 2000. LINK
From abstract: Promotion of more and safer bicycle traffic produces healthier road users and helps to create better towns. Collection of Cycle Concepts presents some ideas on how to increase the use of bicycles and how to prevent bicycle accidents.
Transport and the Economy, the Myths and the Facts, European Federation For Transport And Environment, Stichting Natuur En Milieu, 2001
From Introduction: "Whatever people might say about building roads, you can’t doubt that it’s good for the economy, can you?" Well actually you can. And you should. And those who understand the link between transport and economy do doubt that building more infrastructure is always good news. But the fact that the above sentence is so often uttered shows just how difficult it is to argue against an accepted piece of "wisdom", even if that "wisdom" happens to be at best dubious and at worst simply wrong.
Safety Effects of Marked vs. Unmarked Crosswalks at Uncontrolled Locations, C Zegeer, et al., FHWA-RD-01-075, 2001.
From abstract: The study results revealed that on two-lane roads, the presence of a marked crosswalk alone at an uncontrolled location was associated with no difference in pedestrian crash rate, compared to an unmarked crosswalk. Further, on multi- lane roads with traffic volumes above about 12,000 vehicles per day, having a marked crosswalk alone (without other substantial improvements) was associated with a higher pedestrian crash rate (after controlling for other site factors) compared to an unmarked crosswalk. Raised medians provided significantly lower pedestrian crash rates on multi-lane roads, compared to roads with no raised median. Older pedestrians had crashes that were high relative to their crossing exposure.
More substantial improvements were recommended to provide for safer pedestrian crossings on certain roads, such as adding traffic signals with pedestrian signals when warranted, providing raised medians, speed-reducing measures, and others.
Home Zones: Reconciling People, Places and Transport, B Hamilton-Baillie, 2001.
Study tour of Home Zones (woonerven) in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands.
Designing Sidewalks and Trails for Access, Part 2, B McMillen, ed., FHWA, 2001.
From introduction: This guidebook is the second part of a two-phase project focused on designing sidewalks and trails for access. It was created to provide planners, designers, and transportation engineers with a better understanding of how sidewalks and trails should be developed to promote pedestrian access for all users, including people with disabilities.
Cost-benefit Analysis of Measures for Vulnerable Road Users (Workpackage 5 of PROMISING: Promotion of Measures for Vulnerable Road Users), European Commission, Fourth Framework Programme, Transport RTD Programme, 2001
From Summary: The report examines the issues of measuring exposure and relating this to accidents. It concludes that monitoring of exposure is clearly important if valid conclusions are to be drawn from changes in casualty numbers. However the means to monitor exposure accurately, especially for pedestrians and cyclists, are not routinely available.
Beautiful Roads: A Handbook on Road Architecture (English), Road Directorate, www.vd.dk, 2002.
From introduction: Architecture is an art form that is bound up with utilitarian, technical, and economic considerations and with the "sense of place" and physical conditions of a site. Architecture is thus often described as a balancing and coordination of aesthetic, functional, and technological considerations.
Pedestrian Facilities Users Guide: Providing Safety and Mobility, C Zegeer, et.al., FHWA-RD-01-102 , 2002.
From abstract: This guide is intended to provide information on how to identify safety and mobility needs for pedestrians with the roadway right-of-way. Useful for engineers, planners, safety professionals and decision-makers, the guide covers such topics as: the Walking Environment including sidewalks, curb ramps, crosswalks, roadway lighting and pedestrian over and under passes; Roadway Design including bicycle lanes, roadway narrowing, reducing the number of lanes, one-way/two-way streets, right-turn slip lanes and raised medians; Intersections with roundabouts, T-intersections and median barriers; and Traffic Calming designs.
Injuries in South-East Asia Region: Priorities for Policy and Action, World Health Organization, 2002.
From page six: Injury can be prevented by reducing the probability of energy exchange between human beings and their surroundings. This is done by lowering the amount of energy available (e.g. speed limits), reducing the amount of energy transferred (e.g. cushioning provided by sand in playgrounds, use of helmets and seatbelts, cushioning impacts), and physical separation of the energy source from human beings (e.g. insulation on electric wires).
Disappearing Traffic? The story so far, S Cairns, S Atkins, & P Goodwin. Municipal Engineer 151(1): 13-22, 2002. Page 14.
“Reallocating roadspace from general traffic, to improve conditions for pedestrians or cyclists or buses or on-street light rail or other high-occupancy vehicles, is often pre- dicted to cause major traffic problems on neighbouring streets. This paper reports on two phases of research, resulting in the examination of over 70 case studies of roadspace reallocation from eleven countries, and the collation of opinions from over 200 transport professionals worldwide. The findings suggest that predictions of traffic problems are often unnecessarily alarmist, and that, given appropriate local circumstances, significant reductions in overall traffic levels can occur, with people making a far wider range of behavioural responses than has tradition- ally been assumed. Follow-up work has also highlighted the importance of managing how schemes are perceived by the public and reported in the media, with various lessons for avoiding problems. Finally, the findings high- light that well-designed schemes to reallocate roadspace can often contribute to a multiplicity of different policy aims and objectives.”
Boulevard Book: History, Evolution, Design of Multiway Boulevards, A Jacobs, et al, MIT Press Cambridge, 2003.
A celebration of the multiway boulevard and an argument for its revival, with design guidelines and historic examples.
Neighborhood Street Design Guidelines, ITE, www.ite.org, 2003.
From website: provides guidance in the overall layout and design of transportation elements for new neighborhood developments, where neighborhoods can comprise both residential and mixed residential/commercial subdivision development. The report presents design criteria that will encourage appropriate behavior on the part of motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists, as well as providing for a reasonably safe and accessible street network.
New City Spaces, J Gehl & L Gemzoe, Danish Architectural Press, 2003.
Public Places Urban Spaces: The Dimensions of Urban Design, M Carmona, T Heath, T Oc & S Tiesdell, Architectural Press, 2003.
Streets and the Shaping of Towns and Cities, M Southworth & E Ben-Joseph, Island Press, 2003.
Safety in Numbers: more walkers and bicyclists, safer walking and bicycling, P Jacobsen, Injury Prevention Vol. 9. pp 205-209, 2003.
From Discussion: This result is unexpected. Since it is unlikely that the people walking and bicycling become more cautious if their numbers are larger, it indicates that the behavior of motorists controls the likelihood of collisions with people walking and bicycling. It appears that motorists adjust their behavior in the presence of people walking and bicycling. There is an urgent need for further exploration of the human factors controlling motorist behavior in the presence of people walking and bicycling.
From Conclusion: A motorist is less likely to collide with a person walking and bicycling if more people walk or bicycle. Policies that increase the numbers of people walking and bicycling appear to be an effective route to improving the safety of people walking and bicycling.
Promoting Safe Walking and Cycling to Improve Public Health: Lessons from the Netherlands and Germany, J Pucher and L Dijkstra, American Journal of Public Health. Vol. 93 (9), 2003.
Accessible Pedestrian Signals: Synthesis and Guide to Best Practices, J Barlow, B Bentzen, & L Tabor, 2003. LINK
From website: This online guide provides background information on how pedestrians who are blind or visually impaired cross streets, and how Accessible Pedestrian Signals assist this process.
ARTISTS: Arterial Streets for People, A Svensson, ed, European Union, Brussels., 2004.
From introduction: presents an integrated, people-oriented approach to the design and management of arterial streets.
Dark Age Ahead, Jane Jacobs, 2004.
Excellent critique of the specialization of the professions.
Public Spaces, Public Life, J Gehl, L Gemzøe, Danish Architectural Press, 2004.
Review of Pedestrian Safety Research in the United States and Abroad, B Campbell, et al, FHWA-RD-03-042, 2004.
From abstract: an overview of research studies on pedestrian safety in the United States; some foreign research also is included. Readers will find details of pedestrian crash characteristics, measures of pedestrian exposure and hazard, and specific roadway features and their effects on pedestrian safety. Such features include crosswalks and alternative crossing treatments, signalization, signing, pedestrian refuge islands, provisions for pedestrians with disabilities, bus stop location, school crossing measures, reflectorization and conspicuity, grade separated crossings, traffic-calming measures, and sidewalks and paths. Pedestrian educational and enforcement programs also are discussed.
Streets and Patterns: The Structure of Urban Geometry, S Marshall, Routledge, New York, 2004.
From Amazon: a new framework for the design and planning of urban layouts, integrating transport issues such as road hierarchy, arterial streets and multi-modal networks with urban design and planning issues such as street type, grid type, mixed-use blocks and urban design coding.
World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention, M Peden, et al, World Health Organization, www.who.int, 2004
From Summary: Road traffic injuries are a growing public health issue, disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups of road users, including the poor. But road traffic crashes and injuries are preventable. Road traffic injury prevention must be incorporated into a broad range of activities, such as the development and management of road infrastructure, mobility planning, the provision of health and hospital services, child welfare services, and urban and environmental planning. The health sector is an important partner in this process. Its roles are to strengthen the evidence base, provide appropriate pre-hospital and hospital care and rehabilitation, conduct advocacy, and contribute to the implementation and evaluation of interventions.
Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?, B Hamilton-Baille, Journal of Urban Technology 11 #1, 2004.
Guide for Achieving Flexibility in Highway Design, American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, 2004. LINK
From website: “Context-sensitive solutions (CSS) reflect the need to consider highway projects as more than just transportation facilities. Depending on how highway projects are integrated into the community, they can have far-reaching impacts beyond their traffic or transportation function. CSS is a comprehensive process that brings stakeholders together in a positive, proactive environment to develop projects that not only meet transportation needs, but also improve or enhance the community. Achieving a flexible, context-sensitive design solution requires designers to fully understand the reasons behind the processes, design values, and design procedures that are used.
Reclaiming city streets for people Chaos or quality of life?, European Commission, 2004, https://ec.europa.eu/environment/pubs/pdf/streets_people.pdf
Traffic evaporation case studies from Belgium, England, Finland, France, & Germany.
Recombinant Urbanism: conceptual modeling in architecture, urban design, and city theory, D G Shane, Wiley, 2005.
From http://archidose.org/wp/2006/12/11/recombinant-urbanism/- This history and manifesto of urban-modeling techniques is all about threes. It starts with the three stage sets of Sebastian Serlio (the Noble, the Comic, and the Satyric) from his Mannerist treatise The Five Books of Architecture. It continues with Kevin Lynch's three "normative" models (the City of Faith, the City as a Machine, and the Organic City), in many ways the basis for Shane's book. Variations on Lynch's three are also found in Cedric Price's "The City as an Egg" (boiled, fried, scrambled) and the Young Planners' three urban patterns (Archi Città, Cine Città, and Tele Città). Each of these groupings of three basically tell the same story, the evolutionary stages of urban form: the compact pre-industrial city with a highly defined center, the sprawling industrial city with its logic of production and consumption, and contemporary cities characterized by multiple centers acting as attractors (of people and goods).
Safe Streets Livable Streets, E Dumbaugh, Journal of the American Planning Association 71 #3, pp 283-300, 2005.
Urban Transport Crisis in India, Pucher, J Pucher, et al, Transport Policy, 2005.
From Abstract: This article summarizes key trends in India’s transport system and travel behavior, analyzes the extent and causes of the most severe problems, and recommends nine policy improvements that would help mitigate India’s urban transport crisis.
Golden Age for Cities? How we design cities is how we understand them, B Hillier, Urban Design, Issue 100, 2006.
From article: For decades, under the influence of transport engineering and our own architectural conceptions, we have thought of the city as a system of urban places linked by movement channels. By implication this has separated movement from place. It is now clear that movement is intrinsic to place, and the life of places is largely a function of how it is embedded in the larger scale spatial pattern of the city and movement potential it creates.
London Cycling Design Standards, Transport for London, London, 2006.
From http://www.tmsconsultancy.co.uk: This document sets out the principals, guidance and standards for designing to reduce barriers to cycling, in order to support road safety targets and increased levels of cycling in London. It is aimed not just at designers of cycle route schemes, but at all designers of infrastructure that cyclists will use or that will affect cyclists.
The Art of Cycling: A Guide to Bicycling in the 21st-Century America, R Hurst, Falcon Guide, 2007.
The High Cost of Free Highways, R Weinberger, Idaho Law Review vol. 43 no. 2, 2007.
Link & Place : A Guide to Street Planning and Design, P Jones, N Boujenko & S Marshall, 2007.
Sets the standard for street typologies.
Liveable Neighbourhoods, Western Australian Planning Commission, Department for Planning and Infrastructure, 2007.
Manual for Streets, A Bradbury, et al, Thomas Teleford Publishing, London, 2007.
Concrete Dragon, Thomas Campanella, Princeton Architectural Press, 2008.
Excellent history and understanding of Chinese cities.
The Myth of Travel Time Savings, D Metz, Transport Reviews 28 #3, 2008.
Speed Management: A Road Safety Manual for Decision-Makers and Practitioners, E Howard, et al, Global Road Safety Partnership, 2008.
From the executive summary: The management of speed remains one of the biggest challenges facing road safety practitioners around the world and calls for a concerted, long-term, multidisciplinary response. This manual advocates a strong and strategic approach to creating a safe road system, with speed management at its heart. Reducing motor vehicle speeds in areas where the road user mix includes a high volume of vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists is especially important. The manual consists of a series of ‘how to’modules.
Toward a new paradigm: Examples and Lessons from Nottingham, Boston and Seoul, unpublished, 2008.
Looks at three cities which have made strides towards new paradigms in terms of the city, departing from the Le Corbusier car-centric attitude to city planning.
Traffic Safety and City Structure: Lessons for the Future, D Mohan, Salud Publica Mex 2008, vol 50, suppl 1, 2008.
Road traffic fatality data for 56 cities around the world and for cities with a population of greater than 100,000 in the USA... There are wide variations in fatality rates across income levels and within similar incomes levels. The risk varies by a factor of about 20 between the best and the worst cities. These patterns appear to indicate that it is not enough to have the safest vehicle and road technology to ensure low road traffic fatality rates. City structure, modal share split, and exposure of motorists and pedestrians may have a significant role in determining fatality rates, in addition to enforcement, vehicle crashworthiness and road design.
Footfalls: Obstacle Course to Livable Cities, A Roychowdhury, Centre for Science and Environment, Delhi, 2009.
A study on walkability in India, where walking has a significant mode share.
Making Transportation Sustainable: Insights from Germany, J Pucher, et al, Brookings Institution, 2009.
From Executive Summary: Increasing transportation sustainability in the United States requires policies that foster changes in travel behavior. Germany’s case may provide a helpful example. Although car use has grown in both countries, Germany has been far more successful than the United States in creating a more balanced transportation system.
Paved with Good Intentions: Fiscal Politics, Freeways, and the 20th Century American City, J Brown, E Morris and B Taylor, Access, No. 3, 2009.
Follows the money to explain how we got the cities we have.
Prosperity Without Growth, T Jackson, 2009.
Road Safety in India: Challenges and Opportunities, D Mohan, et al, The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, 2009.
The present report was designed to analyze the traffic safety situation in India, and to identify countermeasures for areas in which the total harm caused by crashes can be substantially and readily reduced.
Street Network Types and Road Safety: A Study of 24 California Cities, W Marshall, N Garrick, Urban Design International, 2009.
Data on more than 130,000 crashes occurring over nine years in 24 medium-sized California cities was input into a geographic information system (GIS) and evaluated against principal measures of street network density and connectivity at the Census Block Group level. ...results indicate that the highest risk of fatal or severe crashes occurs with very low street network density and safety outcomes improve as the intersection density increases.
Streetscape Guidance 2009: A guide to Better London Streets, Transport for London, 2009.
From Introduction: To ensure that the design of our streets receives a consistently high level of care and attention, Transport for London (TfL) has written Streetscape Guidance. The vision contained in the Guidance is for the streetscape to provide a quiet backdrop to our city and to enhance its character and activities, rather than overpower or dominate them. The Guidance has been developed for the Transport for London Road Network (TLRN), however the principles can be applied to any roads in the Capital.
An approach to understanding Islamic urban design, John Lockerbie, http://catnaps.org/islamic/islaurb1.html. ~2010.
Hidden Health Costs of Transportation, Urban Design 4 Health, Inc., American Public Health Association, 2010.
From Introduction: This report outlines how the connection between health and the built environment impacts the pocketbook; it also provides a summary of the process of planning, funding and building transportation systems, and discusses key opportunities for public health professionals to get involved in the process.
Travel and the Built Environment: A Meta-Analysis, R Ewing & R Cervero, Journal of the American Planning Association, 2010.
From Purpose: We conducted a meta-analysis of the built environment-travel literature existing at the end of 2009 in order to draw generalizable conclusions for practice. We aimed to quantify effect sizes, update earlier work, include additional outcome measures, and address the methodological issue of self-selection.
Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City, P Norton, MIT Press, 2011.
A must read to understand jaywalking.
Fundamental Law of Road Congestion: Evidence from US Cities, D Gilles & M Turner, American Economic Review, 2011.
From the abstract: We investigate the effect of lane kilometers of roads on vehicle-kilometers traveled (VKT) in US cities. VKT increases proportionately to roadway lane kilometers for interstate highways and probably slightly less rapidly for other types of roads. The sources for this extra VKT are increases in driving by current residents, increases in commercial traffic, and migration. Increasing lane kilometers for one type of road diverts little traffic from other types of road. We find no evidence that the provision of public transportation affects VKT. We conclude that increased provision of roads or public transit is unlikely to relieve congestion.
Urban Design Since 1945: A Global Perspective, D G Shane, Wiley, 2011.
The best book I have read on recent urban design.
Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier, Edward Glaeser, Penguin Press, 2011.
From Goodreads: A pioneering urban economist offers fascinating, even inspiring proof that the city is humanity's greatest invention and our best hope for the future.
Cycle Space: Architecture and Urban Design in the Age of the Bicycle, S Fleming, nai100 Publishers, 2012.
Excellent discussion of how to design buildings and cities for the scale of the bicycle (as opposed to foot or car).
Low-Stress Bicycling and Network Connectivity, M Mekuria, P Furth, H Nixon, 2012.
Made for Walking: Density and Neighborhood Form, J Campoli, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2012.
Rethinking A Lot: The Design and Culture of Parking, E Ben-Joseph, MIT Press, 2012.
Walkable City: How Downtown can Save America, One Step at a Time, J Speck, Farrar, 2012.
30-second Architecture, E Denison, ed., Prospero Books, 2013.
Good example of how to present disparate ideas in a readable fashion. Design is not linear, nor should design guides be.
Completing Our Streets: The Transition to Safe and Inclusive Transportation Networks, B McCann, Island Press, 2013.
Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design, C Montgomery, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2013.
How the design of American cities has contributed negatively to quality of life.
How to Study Public Life, J Gehl, B Svarre, Island Press, 2013. LINK
Measuring Urban Design, R Ewing & O Clemente, Island Press, 2013.
Streets as Public Spaces and Drivers of Urban Prosperity, G Mboup, UN-Habitat, 2013.
Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns, J Massengale and V Dover, Wiley, 2014.
Cities Safer by Design: Guidance and Examples to Promote Traffic Safety through Urban and Street Design, B Welle, et al, World Resources Institute, 2015.
From executive summary: Cities Safer by Design provides an overview of how cities around the world can design communities and streets in a way that maximizes safety and health while promoting a more sustainable form of urban development. The guide can be used by designers, private and public developers, engineers, public health experts, city planners, policy makers, and others working to create plans and implement projects that include street and community design.
Increasing Highway Capacity Unlikely to Relieve Traffic Congestion, S Handy, 2015.
The Pedestrian and the City, C Has-Klau, Routledge, 2015.
From the introduction: …provides an overview of an insight into the development and politics of, and polices on, walking and pedestrians: it covers the evolution of pedestrian-friendly housing estates and the attempts to create independent pedestrian footpaths from the nineteenth century up to the present day.
Tactical Urbanism: Short-term Action for Long-term Change, M Lydon and A Garcia, Island Press, 2015.
Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution, J Sadik-Khan & S Solomonow, Viking Press, 2016.
From Goodreads: An empowering road map for rethinking, reinvigorating, and redesigning our cities, from a pioneer in the movement for safer, more livable streets.
Transport Justice: Designing Fair Transportation Systems, K Martens, 2016.
From publisher: …develops a new paradigm for transportation planning based on principles of justice. …starts from the observation that for the last fifty years the focus of transportation planning and policy has been on the performance of the transport system and ways to improve it, without much attention being paid to the persons actually using – or failing to use – that transport system.
Transport Planning and Traffic Safety: Making Cities, Roads, and Vehicles Safer, G Tiwari, D Mohan, IIT-Delhi, 2016.
From publisher: …brings together the international experiences and lessons learned from countries which have been successful in reducing traffic crashes and their applicability in low-income countries.
Why Healthy Cities Will Depend on Sustainable Transport Solutions, N Pocard, Ballard, 2017. LINK
Sustainable Mobility for the 21st Century, M Mohieldin, N Vandycke, World Bank, 2017. LINK
Building sustainable, inclusive transportation systems, J Smith, E Clayton, D Hanson, Strategy&, 2017. LINK
BRT Planning Guide, ITDP, 2017. DOWNLOAD
From the publisher: The Bus Rapid Transit Planning Guide is the most comprehensive resource for planning a bus rapid transit (BRT) system, beginning with project preparation all the way through to implementation.
Implementing Context-Sensitive Design on Multimodal Corridors: A Practitioner's Handbook, Congress for New Urbanism and Institute of Transportation Engineers, 2010, updated 2017.
Parking and the City, D Shoup, ed. Routledge, 2018.
Road diets: designing a safer street, C Waters, Vox, 2018. VIDEO
What Happens to Kid Culture When You Close the Streets to Cars, J Velazquez, CityLab, 2018. LINK
Do transportation network companies decrease or increase congestion?, G Erhardt et al, Science Advances 5 #5, 2019.
Principles of Sustainable Transportation, Green City Blue Lake, 2019. LINK
Policing the Open Road, How Cars Transformed American Freedom, S Seo, 2019. LINK
Dystopian Cities: How the Tyranny of Specialists Destroy African Cities, A Muzenda, African Urban Institute Press, 2019. LINK
From website: …reveals the destruction that specialists are creating in cities across Africa. He reveals how the tyrannical nature of specialists is creating fragmented cities. How the spatial atrocities committed by specialists are turning African cities into a dystopian state. In doing so, Muzenda sets basis for specialists to find one another if they are to create prosperous, sustainable and just cities – cities that are liveable.
A History of Street Networks: from Grids to Sprawl and Beyond, L Aurbach, 2020. LINK
Rewriting Our Nation's Deadly Traffic Manual, S Bronin and G Shill, Harvard Law Review F., Vol. 135, p. 1, 2021, Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper No. 21-39, 2021. LINK
Restorative Cities: Urban Design for Mental Health and Wellbeing, J Roe and L McCay, Bloomsbury, 2021. LINK
A refreshing take on city design, playing down economics, land use, mobility, and other traditional aspects in favor of impacts of residents’ well-being: noise, park access, and other stress-reducers. “Place aesthetics, perceived ‘interestingness’ and architectural variation improve the likelihood of people walking or cycling and are associated with psychological restoration, improved wellbeing and reduction in perceived levels of stress.”
