Should streets be treated as places? How is the New York City Department of Transportation transforming our city streets? Will the entire city benefit? What are the possible economic benefits of this new holistic approach?

As streets across the United States are being changed to accommodate the needs of all users (pedestrians, bicyclists, bus riders, the old, the young, and car and truck drivers), this Thursday’s program, The Complete Street, will feature four exceptional presentations — including one from Janet Attarian, director of Streetscape & Sustainable Design Program, Chicago — on urban streets as they are and could be.

In Chicago, melding complete streets and ecological design has resulted in sustainable changes both practical and pleasing, such as permeable pavers and landscaped medians that reduce storm water run-off while offering visual pleasure (see image above). Here in New York, bicycle paths have opened and sections of Broadway have closed to create pedestrian plazas, an experiment that will become permanent. What are the best practices in contemporary streetscapes? What are the challenges? How can improvements be funded and maintained? How can civic momentum be maintained from one administration to the next? Join us for an engaging discussion of the city streets of today and tomorrow. Continue Reading>>

If you missed Tuesday night’s panel, Light Fight: What’s Effective, Sustainable & Affordable, you can now listen to a summary of the fascinating discussion about the future of New York City’s street lighting that took place between some of America’s most prominent lighting designers and engineers and City officials in this podcast.

Moderator Randolph Sabedra of RS Lighting Design, and chair of the NYC public outreach committee, Illuminating Engineering Society New York City introduced the panel comprised of: Howard Brandston of Brandston Partnership, Inc.; Margaret Newman AIA, LEED AP, chief of staff, New York City Department of Transportartion; Peter Morante, director of energy programs, Lighting Research Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and Denise Fong IALD, LC, LEED AP, Candela, Seattle.

The discussion ranged from research into the human eye’s ability to perceive different kinds of light to the ways in which urban livability is influenced for good and bad by different types of street lighting illustrated with examples from as far afield as Shanghai, Copenhagen and Chicago. [To listen to the full, uncut footage of the panel discussion, click on the audio mp3 icon.]

The next event in our April panel series, New York’s Changing Streetscapes, is The Complete Street: Sustainable, Healthy & Pleasurable will take place on Thursday, April 29, at 6:30 p.m., at Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave., and addresses attempts to create an urban street that considers the needs of all its users — pedestrians, bicyclists, bus passengers, motorists, and truck drivers — and seeks an equitable allocation of resources. Tickets are $15, $10 MAS members and reservations are required. Purchase tickets online or call 212-935-2075. To become a member of The Municipal Art Society, visit MAS.org/membership.

For more MAS podcasts, visit MAS.org/audio or visit our iTunes page.

Ahead of next Tuesday’s panel discussion Light Fight: What’s Effective, Sustainable & Affordable? in which she will feature as a panelist, internationally-renowned lighting designer Denise Fong talks to Tamara Coombs of MAS about the challenges and complexities of what is a fundamental issue of urban livability and public safety: street lighting.

Selecting the best street lighting for the “City That Never Sleeps” might seem to be a straightforward task of choosing what costs least and illuminates most, but the question is more complicated. How do you factor in energy efficiency and sustainability? Do laboratory measurements of light sources accurately reflect the way light is perceived on the street? What are the advantages and disadvantages of high pressure sodium and metal halide lights? New York City is participating in a pilot project using LED-technology. Is LED technology the certain way of the future or does it have its own drawbacks? What choices have other cities made—and why?

On Wednesday, April 7, MAS’ April panel and tour series New York’s Changing Streetscapes continues with architect and author of Twenty Minutes in Manhattan Michael Sorkin engaging an expert panel in a lively discussion of the good, the bad, and the ugly of our city’s famous streetscapes.

The panel, Are New York’s Streets Out of (Design) Control promises to be a fantastic opportunity to hear from people on all sides of the debate about the future of our city’s streets. Questions to be considered will include: Why are New York’s streets filled with the visual chaos of loud signs, tacky newsracks, graffiti–covered phones that don’t work and as many styles of street furniture as there are Business Improvement Districts?; Do other American cities do a better job?; Are we now heading in the right direction?; Do the NYC Street Design Manual, sleek bus shelters and award winning urbanSHED design signal a better future?; How do we learn from past mistakes and avoid turf battles?; And, what needs to happen next? Continue Reading>>

The Municipal Art Society of New York is celebrating the arrival of spring with an entire month devoted to the city’s streets — those elements (including roads, adjoining buildings, sidewalks, street furniture, trees, plantings and open spaces) that combine to form the character of a street. We chose New York’s Changing Streetscapes for our April tour and events series because streets constitute more than a quarter of our city — our largest public space — and can be a core indicator of livability.

We have assembled exciting and thought-provoking panels of experts to discuss ways to build a better street, and to examine what New York can learn from other great cities. These panel discussions are complemented by a range of streets-focused tours.

“The Municipal Art Society is pleased to continue its long-standing tradition of offering events that educate and enlighten New Yorkers about their city,” said Vin Cipolla, MAS President. “New Yorkers’ growing interest in developing the city’s pedestrian areas could make this one of our most popular series yet.”

Our month-long series kicks-off on Saturday, April 3, with Manhattan Streetscapes: The Good, Bad & The Awful, a tour of some of the best and worst streetscapes that Manhattan has to offer, from the charm of Stone Street to others that sport sorry furniture and illegal signage. This tour is supplemented on Wednesday, April 7 by the panel discussion Are New York’s Streets Out of (Design) Control? .

Events and tours are priced at $15, $10 MAS members and are open to the public. Please note the various locations around the city. For more information about these events, visit MAS.org/calendar or call 212 935-2075. Continue Reading>>

MAS is pleased at the City’s announcement today that the two portions of Broadway around Herald and Times squares closed to vehicular traffic since June of last year are to be made into permanent pedestrian plazas.

The goal of the Department of Transportation (DOT) pilot program was to reduce travel times around Times Square and Herald Square by eliminating the congestion where Broadway meets Sixth and Seventh avenues. This goal was achieved in part, but other direct consequences of reclaiming these streets for pedestrians, including a 35 percent reduction in pedestrian injuries, and the creation of 2.5 acres of new public space in one of the city’s densest neighborhoods, are the most exciting outcomes.

MAS welcomed the experiment when it was first announced last March as a great step towards creating improved, pedestrian-friendly streetscapes, and we congratulate Mayor Bloomberg and Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan today on having taken this bold step.

MAS President Vin Cipolla said, “Making these two new public plazas permanent fixtures of our streets is a fantastic achievement that promotes what Jane Jacobs called the ballet of the sidewalk — the unrehearsed choreography of people moving through the city. It will be of enormous lasting benefit to New Yorkers and the vitality of our city’s street life.”

Originally, the City had discussed extending the closures of Broadway further to the south, but there seem to be no plans at the moment to do so.

To read more about MAS’ advocacy on New York City streetscape issues click here.

In late October 2009, we reported that the Department of Buildings and the AIA New York Chapter had teamed up with an array of other civic organizations to organize an international design competition to re-imagine the maligned sidewalk construction shed. Yesterday, the city announced that a winning design has been chosen from three finalists.

The winning design, chosen by a jury including MAS Chairman David Childs, is titled Urban Umbrella and was developed by Young-Hwan Choi, a 28-year-old student at the University of Pennsylvania. His design will improve quality of life, reduce construction impacts on businesses, increase pedestrian safety, and increase available space for pedestrians on sidewalks, while also complimenting the city’s architectural beauty. Continue Reading>>

Sidewalk sheds are required whenever renovation or new construction takes place on a building, or a Department of Buildings inspector suspects an unsafe condition exists. These sidewalks sheds are erected in order to protect pedestrians and typically remain in place for nearly a year, sometimes even longer. Currently there are more than 6,000 sidewalk sheds standing in New York City, spanning more than a million linear feet. 

The Department of Buildings and AIA New York Chapter have teamed up with an array of other civic organizations to organize an international design competition called UrbanShed that seeks a brighter future for this unique New York City structure. Contestants had been asked to design a sidewalk shed that is sustainable, economical and attractive.  Continue Reading>>

This piece was first published on March 11 of this year, shortly after the City announced its proposal to pedestrianize portions of Broadway as of this past weekend.

When Washington Square Park was closed to traffic in 1959, prominent residents of Greenwich Village, including Jane Jacobs and Eleanor Roosevelt, celebrated with a ribbon-cutting and by burning a car in effigy. Their ceremony marked the conclusion of a decade-long fight with Robert Moses, who had insisted that the park must be traversed by cars in order to ease the city’s traffic congestion. New Yorkers today are reaping the rewards of Jacobs’ victory. Moses’ predictions of traffic coming to a halt proved false, and Washington Square Park is one of the city’s best-known and best-loved public places. Continue Reading>>

MAS was delighted to host Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan on Wednesday night for the premiere presentation of the city’s first truly comprehensive set of guidelines for street design, Designing Streets in New York City. David Burney, Commissioner of the Department of Design & Construction, Adrian Benepe, Commissioner of the Department of Parks & Recreation, and Amanda Burden, Chair of the New York City Planning Commission, were also in attendance.

Constituting 26% of the total area of the City, the streets and sidewalks are by far its largest public space, and the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) new manual represents a rethinking of the way city government works with regard to this vital resource. Continue Reading>>