The ANNALS of the American

Academy of Political and Social

Science
http://ann.sagepub.com

Livable Streets: Protected Neighborhoods?

Donald Appleyard
The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 1980; 451;
106
DOI: 10.1177/000271628045100111

The online version of this article can be found at:

http://ann.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/451/1/106

Published by:

http://www.sagepublications.com

On behalf of:

American Academy of Political and Social Science

Additional services and information for The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and
Social Science can be found at:

Email Alerts: http://ann.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts

Subscriptions: http://ann.sagepub.com/subscriptions

Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav

Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

Downloaded from http://ann.sagepub.com at Glasgow University Library on June 2, 2010

 ANNALS, AAPSS, 451, September 1980

Livable Streets: Protected Neighborhoods?

By DONALD APPLEYARD

ABSTRACT: Streets have become dangerous, unlivable

environments, yet most people live on them. Streets need to
be redefined as sanctuaries; as livable places; as communities;
as resident territory; as places for play, greenery, and local

history. Neighborhoods should be protected, though not to the

point of being exclusionary. The neighborhood unit, the
environmental area and the Woonerf are examined as models
for the protected neighborhood. The criteria for a protected
neighborhood depend on acceptable speeds, volumes, noise
levels, reduction of accidents, and rights-of-way for pedestrians.

Donald Appleyard, professor of urban design, Departments of City and Regional

Planning and Landscape Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, is the
author of Livable Streets, and editor of The Conservation of European Cities.
His earlier books include The View from the Road (coauthor) and Planning a
Pluralist City. He is director of Berkeley’s Environmental Simulation Laboratory
and has authored numerous articles on urban design and environmental psychology.

This article is an extract from Donald Appleyard, Livable Streets (Berkeley. University of
California Press, 1980).

Downloaded from http://ann.sagepub.com at Glasgow University Library on June 2, 2010

 107

streets are where most of and parks they like to visit. Drivers
SSINCE our children
where most people
are reared and are of cars, delivery vans, and other
live, they are, vehicles should understand that
outside the home, the most important they are in pedestrian territory
part of our urban environment. Yet when traveling on these streets,
today these streets are dangerous, and should therefore move slowly,
noisy, polluted, and impersonal carefully, and with warning-as
domains, about which residents feel guests, not as owners. If only this
able to do little. Though nominally were possible, street life would
public, they are actually controlled flourish. Access for emergency ve-
by agencies and ordinances that are hicles, for ambulances, police cars,
remote from the residents of each and fire services must, however, be
street, a fact which severely restricts provided for occasional crises.
efforts at improvement by the resi-
dents. The situation on most resi-
dential streets is one of acute frustra- The street as a livable, healthy
tion. Residents are unable to control environment
traffic intrusion on their territory or
The street environment should
to organize themselves to create
not be subject to noticeable noise
clean, pleasant, sociable environ- or vibration from traffic. Street dwel-
ments, and cities are unwilling or lers should be able to sleep soundly
unable, because of obsolete ordi- without disturbance from nighttime
nances or lack of funds, to provide
noise or passing headlights. They
most help. should be able to talk on the side-
walks in normal conversational tones
THE IDEAL STREET: A CHARTER OF without having to shout. They should
STREET DWELLERS’ RIGHTS be able to study, eat, and be sick
Residents are usually modest in or tired without the constant or inter-

their requirements; here they would mittent rumble of traffic past their
like to be rid of the trucks, there they homes. The air they breathe should
would like to slow down the exces- not be heavy with fumes. Dirt and
sive speed of the cars. But we should soot should not forever be seeping
raise our sights for a moment. What through doors and windows. They
could a residential street-a street should not be forced to withdraw
on which our children are brought from the street because of the dis-
up, adults live, and old people spend comforts caused by traffic. The street
their last days-what could such a environment should have places
street be like? What are the rights of where people can sit, converse, and
street dwellers? play.
The street sanctuary
as a
The street as a community
Streets on which children grow up
should be safe from speeding and Although not all neighbors wish
careless drivers. Young children to participate in street communities,
should be able to walk or cycle streets should be places where com-
safely through neighborhood streets munal life is possible and where
to reach local schools, school bus it can happen if street dwellers
stops, and the shops, playgrounds, want it to. A street should be pleasant

Downloaded from http://ann.sagepub.com at Glasgow University Library on June 2, 2010

108

enough so that people can sit out in character, with different kinds of
and talk easily and there should not surfaces, and with adequate spaces
be too many strangers. Street com- play all the street games chil-
to
munities can not only reduce the dren like to engage in, places where
anomie of urban life, they can en- they can hide, places where they2
courage street activities, keep the can build things or play in sand.2
street clean, engage in common ac- They should be able to do these
tions, and care for the detailed de- things without disturbing adults.
sign of the street, the sidewalks, Backyards can accommodate many
the benches, the street furniture, of these activities, but in central
and the play places. They can put cities the street is often the only
on local celebrations and can defend place available.
the street or neighborhood from un- The street is a learning environ-
wanted intrusions, projects, or plans. ment. On it children can learn much
The optimal size of such communities about nature, through plants and
is debatable, but for many groups trees, the sun and the wind, and
and situations it is the street block through exposure to the earth itself.
itself. They can learn about social life if
there are people on the street whom
The street as neighborly territory they can safely meet. Learning about
this larger city depends on their
While protecting each resident’s freedom to roam
safely in their
right to be left alone and while neighborhood.
respecting his private domain, the
street should become in a symbolic,
if not a legal, sense territory that The street as a green and pleasant
the residents believe belongs to land
them, for which they have a sense of The &dquo;greening&dquo; of streets is per-
pride and responsibility. If this were haps one of the most common de-
the case, residents would be more sires of those who live in the central
likely to maintain their streets, plant city. Trees, grass, plants, and flowers
trees and flowers along them, moni- not
tor street behavior, and provide hardness and
only provide relief from the
grayness of the city,
other kinds of street amenities. shade in summer and
they provide
remind people of the natural en-
The street as a place for play and vironment which is often far away;
learning they signal the seasons, and sym-
Since the street is where many bolize, through growth, flowering,
children spend by far the largest and decay, the cycles of life itself.
amount of their time outdoor, it
should be a fine place to play. The street as a unique historic
What makes good places for children place
to play? Places which are diverse
People take pride in places that
have a special identity. This iden-
1. S. N. Brower, The Design of Neighbor- tity may be due to some unique
hood Parks (Baltimore: Baltimore City Plan-
ning Commission, Department of Planning,
1977); and D. Appleyard, ed., "Introduction," 2. R. Moore, "Open Space: Learning
in The Conservation of European Cities Place," New School of Education Journal 11:
(Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1979). 4 (1973).

Downloaded from http://ann.sagepub.com at Glasgow University Library on June 2, 2010

 109

quality such as a view, a small creek, or of Naples, those &dquo;echo chambers

an old tree, or a particular house of human passion&dquo; that tourists
or garden that one of the residents travel from far and wide to photo-
has built or created. All streets graph, where the clack of street
have a history, though it is evident voices drowns out all other sounds.
only on some and is suppressed or In Naples, there used to be 170
forgotten on others. Without undue different types of street vendors,
nostalgia, a street’s history can be each with their own particular cry.5
discovered, revived, or revealed, But try to walk through the Traste-
and its present history can be re- vere today; pressed between the
corded were residents able to begin speeding Fiats and the old walls
seeing it as a &dquo;place&dquo; rather than a and slipping on the wet cobbles,
&dquo;channel.&dquo; Residential streets should one experiences one of the more
be destinations, not routes. dangerous urban experiences.
It cannot all be blamed on traffic,
STREET LIFE VERSUS THE STREET however. The middle-class concept
AS SANCTUARY of a street as a sanctuary rather
than a social center is taking over,
There is no single perfect street,
but the qualities described pre- tranquilizing many of these historic
viously should help to set some
centers. A revealing study by Sidney
standards that we should strive to Browersof working-class Baltimore
attain. It has been common since
residents found that they denigrated
Jane Jacobs3 and Bernard Rudofsky4 pictures of streets with people
to idealize streets that have a lively sitting on the stoops as less prefer-
able to live on, attitudes similar
and visible street life. They are like
to those of some families in San
a party to which we wish we could
Francisco’s Mission District. Many
go. Streets like those in Chicago
described by Gerald Suttles and working-class people wish to escape
those of the old West End in Boston from the pressures of intense street
studied by Marc Fried and Herbert life and crowded conditions.
Can we retain or somehow re-
Gans perform important functions
create this nearly lost form of urban
for those who live on them, despite
life? The young &dquo;pioneers&dquo; who
problems like those found in the flock to New York’s Greenwich Vil-
Mission District of San Francisco.
In many ways we see them as sym- lage, Boston’s North End, San Fran-
bols of working-class urban life, cisco’sTelegraph Hill, Castro Street,
and Union Street, not to mention
images of a thriving, bustling world London’s Chelsea and Islington and
of intense human interaction, filled
Amsterdam’s Jordaan, are in search
with the gossip, humor, dependence,
and community solidarity that mid- of such action. This kind of street
dle-class suburbanites have lost. life is quite different from working-
class street life. Most of it has gravi-
Streets with outdoor life are
American versions of the legendary
tated to the main commercial streets
because the families with vast num-
streets of the Trastevere, of Venice,
bers of children simply do not exist,
and the little old neighborhood
3. J. Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great
American Cities (New York: Random House,
1961). 5. Ibid.
4. B. Rudofsky, Streets for People (New 6. S. N. Brower, The Design of Neighbor-
York: Doubleday, 1969). hood Parks.

Downloaded from http://ann.sagepub.com at Glasgow University Library on June 2, 2010

110

shops and local industries that pro- cases culs-de-sac, have developed
vided the mixed uses and life that mostly by chance-a change in ter-
Jane Jacobs argued for are having a rain, as in San Francisco, may have
hard time surviving. They are being prevented the gridiron from being
replaced by boutiques, handicraft carried through, or the distance be-
shops, restaurants, and street ven- tween arterials may have led to
dors, many of which serve regional streets within a superblock that do
markets. not carry much through traffic. But
We can feel nostalgic about the these are a rarity until one reaches
passing of the old street life, but the older suburbs where the gridiron
this new form has its own vitality; plan has been overthrown in favor of
indeed, since it is the free wish of discontinuous streets. In the new
young people to join in, it has a outer suburbs, the streets are de-
healthier quality than the street life signed to discourage through traffic
which stemmed from inadequate by use of three-way intersections
housing and-enforced localism. These and street hierarchies, but their
young pioneers are active and in length and width encourages what
many cases demand protection of traffic there is to travel fast. So the
their street life from excessive traf- suburbs have their own problems.
fic. They should be encouraged. Ideal streets are hardly prevalent
There is, however, another ideal in our cities today, and the prin-
kind of residential urban street, a cipal reason is the suppression of
quieter one with a more moderate their life by passing traffic. The
outdoor social life. It is typified by reduction or slowing down of traf-
the San Francisco culs-de-sac stud- fic can allow the life that people
ied by Charles Zemer,7quiet sanc- want on their street to flower; it can
tuaries where children from many allow conditions that make it pos-
blocks around gather to play their sible to live amenably in the denser
street games; or the quiet cobbled urban fabric of the inner city; it
London mews, tucked away behind can be the first step in creating
the street-facing houses; or some of conditions for street communities to
the quieter squares of Kensington, reappear.
Chelsea, and Islington; or the nar-
row streets of older European cities,
THE PROTECTED NEIGHBORHOOD
where there is privacy and where
children can safely play. Although Around the street lies the neigh-
street life may be less evident and borhood. It may be that an effective
less interesting to photograph, these national policy to create livable
streets, too, can be powerful social streets should concentrate on the
units. concept of protecting neighbor-
American cities have few residen- hoods. In the history of city plan-
tial squares, apart from those in ning, there have been a number of
Savannah and a few in Philadelphia significant attempts to protect neigh-
and Boston. But thQse few have borhoods. The neighborhood unit
usually become treasured places, (Fig. 1) was conceived not only as a
adopted by the affluent. Streets bounded social enclave, but also as a
without through traffic, in some protection from traffic.8 Though at-

7. C. Zerner, "The Street Hearth of Play" 8.J. Dahir, The Neighborhood Unit Plan:
(master’s thesis, University of Oregon, Dec., Its Spread and Acceptance (New York:
1974). Russell Sage Foundation, 1947).
Downloaded from http://ann.sagepub.com at Glasgow University Library on June 2, 2010
 111

FIGURE 1. The &dquo;neighborhood unit&dquo; as seen by Clarence A. Perry.

SOURCE New York Regional Survey, vol 7 (1929)

tacked later for its social exclusive-
ness on the one hand9 and for its
ineffectiveness in the socially and
physically mobile world of the mod-
ern city on the other,’O a recent
9. R. Isaacs, "The Neighborhood Theory,"
J. Am. Institute Planners 14(2), Spring 5-23.
10. S. Keller, The Urban Neighborhood: A
Sociological Perspective (New York: Random
House, 1968).
Downloaded from http://ann.sagepub.com at Glasgow University Library on June 2, 2010
study shows that the concept en-
dures with remarkable tenacity.ll
The neighborhood concept is to be
found in plans throughout the
country and the world. While the
11. T. Banerjee and W. Baer, "The Origin
and Development of Neighborhood Theory,"
in "Where to Live?," (manuscript, Univer-
sity of Southern California, 1978).

FIGURE 2. The &dquo;enmronmental area&dquo; pnn-
cipal concept of the Buchanan Report,
1963.
SOURCE. Donald Appleyard, Lmable Streets
(Berkeley, Ca Umversity of Califorma Press, 1980)
original ideals of creating urban
villages failed to materialize in the
complete sense in which they were
conceived, the concerns of the two
groups of critics have to some ex-
tent canceled themselves. Physi-
cally defined neighborhoods have
not necessarily become exclusive
because the social and physical mo-
bility of their residents has not
confined them within neighborhood
boundaries. The strategies of ex-
clusion have shifted to the larger
scale of city and suburb.
Neither has the neighborhood
concept become entirely irrelevant.
Indeed, despite the internecine
disputes of planning theorists, the
&dquo;neighborhood&dquo; has never achieved
such popularity. It is now the clarion
call of a widespread political move-
ment and is even a plank in our
Downloaded from http://ann.sagepub.com at Glasgow University Library on June 2, 2010
national urban policy. The &dquo;new&dquo;
neighborhood, however, is not the
bounded social enclave of the old
working class, though that mythical
meaning still clings to the word, but
is an active political entity dedi-
cated to defending and upgrading
its local territory. The neighbor-
hood movement may be fueled by
the same romantic quest for roots
and community that motivates the
&dquo;street life&dquo; movement and may
be caused by the very placeless-
ness of our society, but the re-
sults of such revitalization are on
the whole likely to be beneficial.
And so the revival of the concept of
neighborhood as a basis for traffic
management as well as for other
policies seems justified, as long as
some of the original social baggage
is dropped and
cautiousness about
exclusiveness and displacement is
held in mind.
The next powerful concept in the
history of neighborhood planning
was the precinct, later called the
environmental area (Fig. 2) by Colin
Buchanan. 12 Since the concept of the
neighborhood was in disrepute at
the time, all social implications were
denied. It was primarily a design
concept to afford priority to the
&dquo;environment&dquo; over &dquo;access&dquo; in
residential areas. More modest and
focused than the neighborhood, it
proved less controversial and for a
time achieved widespread popularity
until it became overshadowed by
the subsequent &dquo;motorway&dquo; build-
ing area. Nevertheless, despite some
political controversies, such as in
Barnsbury, the Buchanan Report
has had many applications through-
out Britain and other countries, such
as Sweden and Australia, as well as
in San Francisco’s own protected
residential area program.
12. C. Buchanan, Traffic in Towns (Lon-
don : Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1963).

The most recent concept, the
Dutch Woonerf, 13 residential
or
yard, represents the latest stage
in the evolution of the protected
neighborhood. In addition to the
design of such areas, it contains
a new and powerful idea. It legally
changes the rules of traffic behavior
within the protected area.
The Woonerf concept has been
developed over the years by the city
of Delft and has now been adopted
at the national level by the Nether-
lands Ministry of Transport and Pub-
lic Works. A Woonerf is a residen-
tial area in which most traffic has
its destination within the area and
where traffic flows are generally be-
tween 100 to 300 vehicles per hour
during the peak period. The design
features oftheWoonerf are as follow:
1. sharing street space between
vehicles and pedestrians; to this end
curb distinctions between the side-
walks and street pavement are elimi-
nated ; and
2. conveying the impression that
the whole street space is usable by
pedestrians; to this end abrupt
changes in path direction, vertical
features, surface changes, plantings,
and street furniture are all designed
as obstacles to vehicle travel and to
create a residential atmosphere.
The design philosophy of the
Woonerf is to create a kind of
gestalt message that the street be-
longs to the residents. The particular
traffic control devices can vary with
the neighborhood. Indeed, inten-
sive citizen participation means that
devices differ between neighbor-
hoods and between streets.
The real power of the Woonerf
concept lies in the traffic rules. Each
Woonerf is clearly signed at the
entrances with a special Woonerf
sign. Extracts from the most signif-
13. Royal Dutch Touring Club,
Woonerf,
The Hague, Netherlands, 1978.
Downloaded from http://ann.sagepub.com at Glasgow University Library on June 2, 2010
113
icant rules are as follow:
Article 88a. Pedestrians may use the
full width of the road within an area
defined as a &dquo;woonerf;&dquo; playing on
the roadway is also permitted.
Article 88b. Drivers within a &dquo;woonerf&dquo;
may not drive faster than a walking
pace. [Later this is defined as the
&dquo;speed at which a rider allows his
horse to walk,&dquo; a peculiar Dutch
concept which means speeds of be-
tween 15 and 20 k.p.h., that is, 9
to 12 m.p.h.] They must make allow-
ance for the possible presence of
pedestrians, children at play, un-
marked objects, irregularities in the
road surface and the alignment of the
roadway.
Article 88c.... traffic approaching from
the right (at whatever speed) always
has priority.
Article 88d.
1. Drivers may not impede pedes-
trians within a &dquo;woonerf.&dquo;
2. Pedestrians may not unnecessarily
hinder the progress of drivers. 14
The concept embodied in these
regulations is that pedestrians and
children have greater rights to resi-
dential street space than traffic, but
that the space must be shared. Each
traveler on the street is forced to
take care of the others. Research
has shown that children now play
over all the street space, that their
play is more stable and less mobile
than before, and that there are more
behavioral &dquo;contacts,&dquo; a measure of
behavioral adjustments, between
drivers and pedestrians than pre-
viously. Visits to Woonerven reveal
that drivers do indeed travel very
slowly and carefully in these areas,
although there are some problems
with motorcyclists.
The protected neighborhood in the
United States
While most of the American pub-
lic may not be ready for such con-
14. Ibid.
114
straints as the Woonerf and may not
wish to spend money on the whole-
sale redesign of urban streets, the
concept of protected neighborhoods
and a reassessment of the traffic
rules in the residential neighbor-
hoods should be publicly debated.
There are eight issues that should
be discussed.
The first issue concerns accept-
able speeds. It is clear that the 25-
m.p.h. speed limits adopted in most
stateshave little effect on driver
behavior and are too fast for most
&dquo;quiet&dquo; neighborhoods. A study
have conducted on San Francisco
residential streets revealed that 33
percent of all vehicles exceeded the
25-m.p.h. speed limit. Acceptable
speeds for neighborhoods with chil-
dren may have to be as low as 15
m.p.h. This is the designated speed
at school sites in many states. It is a
stringent rule and may be only
justified on streets where there are
large numbers of small children. In-
vestigating safe speeds for children
has not been the subject of research
in this country, so the previously
mentioned figure needs substantia-
tion. Several European cities have
or are considering 20 m.p.h.
lower limits in residential areas. In
Britain the concept of &dquo;slow speed&dquo;
roads is gaining acceptance. The
development of safe, acceptable traf-
fic speeds for American neighbor-
hoods should be a matter of national
priority.
Acceptable volumes is another
volumes, these
issue. At the lower
may be less important than speed
and may be more variable. Again,
the research we have conducted tells
us that residents can be unhappy
even with very low volumes. How-
ever, when they rise above 2,000
vehicles per day on streets with
children, they become unacceptable
to the vast majority of residents.
Downloaded from http://ann.sagepub.com at Glasgow University Library on June 2, 2010
Also important are right-of-way
priorities for pedestrians and pedes-
trian access to streets. As with the
Woonerf, we should seriously con-
sider changing the right-of-way rules
in residential neighborhoods. At the
present t~me, drivers believe they
have the right-of-way on even the
quietest residential street. Until this
attitude is changed, livability and
safety will be in jeopardy. Whereas
the British have experimented with
standards for minimal pedestrian de-
lay in residential streets, it may be
we that standards for pedestrian &dquo;ac-
cess,&dquo; that is, the ability of pedes-
trians to use the street space for
depending on ac-
various activities,
ceptable volumes and
speeds, will
be more meaningful.
The fourth issue concerns reduc-
ing pedestrian accidents. The bot-
tom line in protecting residential
areas and their residents from traf-
fic is the reduction of child acci-
dents. A research program underway
at Britain’s Transportation Research
Laboratory has the goal of reducing
accidents in British residential areas
by 10 percent. A recent study of
9,000 residential streets on housing
or estate S,15 for instance, has found that
culs-de-sac were the only design fea-
ture of streets that correlated sub-
stantially with reduced accidents.
Sweden has geared its guidelines
for the design of residential areas
toward the main purpose of reducing
child accidents and has supported
extensive research on the relation
between street design and child
safety. It is time that the United
States began to carry out such a
program on a broader scale.
Acceptable noise levels is a further
issue. As we have seen, noise inter-
15. G. T. Bennett and J. Marland, Road
Accidents in Traditionally Designed Local
Authority Estates. TRRL Supplementary Re-
port No. 394.
 115

feres with a whole range of home and city neighborhoods especially, the
outdoor activities, especially sleep costs of maintaining parks, their
and speech, causing annoyance and, crime problems, and their frequent
in severe cases, deterioration of nonuse 18 are bringing into question
hearing. Research into acceptable the effectiveness of larger parks as
noise levels has been carried out the sole urban recreation facilities..
in several countries. 16 Interference Street space is the other obvious
with different levels of sleep can source of open space. In many com-
occur between 35 and 50 dbA munities streets are overdesigned
(weighted decibels), whereas inter- for the traffic they have to carry.
ference with soft speech in the home There is a great deal of spare fat
can occur above 45 dbA. Fluctuat- in residential street systems, and at
ing noise can be more disturbing low-traffic levels, street space can be
to sleep. The effectuation of stand- shared between slow-moving ve-
ards based on such research is hicles and pedestrians. The alloca-
difficult on existing urban streets. tion of street space to other-than-
Short-term noise abatement policies vehicle use, that is, for pedestrians,
depend on speed and volume con- children’s play, sitting out, com-
trols -and on compensation, which munity gardens, and any other resi-
may provide sound insulation for dent activities, will depend on resi-
the dwellings. Long-term efforts will dent composition-children, old
have to be directed at reducing noise people, income, and so forth-
emissions. densities, traffic volumes, and avail-
Acceptable parking levels is a able private and public open space
sixth issue. Adequate parking for in the neighborhood.
residents and their visitors has long The last issue is acceptable levels
been a standard in the design of of maintenance and appearance.
new housing areas. Restriction on Sound maintenance and pleasant ap-
parking by outsiders through park- pearance were considered by inter-
ing permit programs and other de- viewed San Francisco residents as
vices is a new and currently popu- among the most desirable qualities
lar trend in the United States,17 since of their streets. For adequate main-
it protects neighborhoods from the tenance, street cleaning has to be
negative impacts of neighboring frequent, and pavement and side-
commercial, office, and institutional walk repair must be regularly carried
uses. Given continued support by out. Other aspects of appearance
the courts, these kinds of parking that have been instrumental in re-
restriction are likely to evolve in a vitalizing residential streets have
more precise way based on the rela- been the painting and rehabilitation
tive parking needs of residents and of houses, the planting of trees and
neighboring uses. shrubs, the improvement of floor
Acceptable levels of open space surfaces, the attractive design of
is another important issue. In inner- traffic-control devices, and the pro-
16. OECD, Reducitig Noise in OECD vision of other amenities, such as
, A Report of the Ad Hoc Group planters, seats, and play places.
Countries
on Noise Abatement Policies (Paris, 1978).
Limiting the area of visible parking,
17 H. Simkowitz, L. Hader, and E. Barber, or breaking it into small groups,
The Restraint of the Automobile in Ameri-
can Residential Neighborhoods (Cambridge,
MA: U.S. Department of Transportation, 18. S. N. Brower, The Design of Neighbor-
Transportation Systems Center, May, 1978.) hood Parks.

Downloaded from http://ann.sagepub.com at Glasgow University Library on June 2, 2010

116

and improving the attractiveness of that neighborhoods can be created

what are normally gray asphalt from the outside as well as the inside.
parking spaces are among the more In St. Louis, the Streets Depart-
crucial areas in which residential ment encourages neighborhoods to
character needs improvement. De- develop their own schemes, as long
sign guidelines for residential streets as the arterial streets are left open.
should be developed in ways in The designation of such areas could
which residents can participate. be based on the street system, on
physical boundaries, or on social
CONCLUSION groupings or functional patterns.
There are many ways to create The dangers of exclusiveness must
livable streets and neighborhoods. be vigilantly watched. The parceling
of neighborhoods into defended
Most of them will come from the
islands could encourage the division
grass roots as they have in the past.
But there are uniform traffic codes
of the city into warring fiefdoms,
and uniform traffic control devices and the more powerful neighbor-
that have been decided upon at the hoods may monopolize the concept,
as in the old private streets of St.
national level.’9 Most of this legisla-
Louis or those walled subdivisions
tion is still geared to facilitating
faster and safer travel. These must of southern California.
be reassessed. Protected neighborhoods will vary
in size from individual streets to
Although uniformly acceptable numbers of blocks, though larger
speeds or volumes of traffic or rights- areas may have more difficulties for
of-way in residential neighborhoods
emergency services. Optimal sizes
may seem remote and overly stand-
ardized for the diversity of neighbor- are in any case unclear, though new
hoods to be found in this country, research in Britain suggests that
national guidelines, based if pos- areas containing about 1,000 houses
sible on solid research, will be a coincide with some accident thresh-
old. 21 Protected neighborhoods would
necessary addition to the combina-
not have to be everywhere. Mainly
tion of strategies needed to make
residential areas safe and livable they are needed where populations
are especially vulnerable and street
places.
Whether or not national uniform systems particularly open to in-
standards are developed, individual trusion. Many neighborhoods are al-
well protected. There could
cities could develop protected streets ready
and neighborhoods with their own also be different levels of protec-
from neighborhoods with im-
particular rules. While the concept tion,
should be clear, its realization should permeable walls, gates, and speed
be flexible. The motivation should control devices to more permeable
ones with signs and more moderate
preferably come from the neighbor- controls.
hoods, though one thing we have Those who wish to carry through
learned from Suttles’s research 20 is
such improvements must be aware
19. U.S. Department of Transportation, of the difficulties. Traffic is a com-
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
for Streets and Highways (Washington, DC, plex ecological system that shifts
1971).
20. G. Suttles, The Social Construction of 21. E.Dalby, Transportation and Road Re-
Communities (Chicago: University of Chi- search Laboratory (personal communication
cago Press, 1972). to Crowthorne, 1978).

Downloaded from http://ann.sagepub.com at Glasgow University Library on June 2, 2010


around rather than disappears. Neigh-
borhoods are heterogeneous. Many
residents are willing to tolerate the
conditions they have found and do
not want any change. And there are
large numbers of people who are
still opposed to any restriction on
the automobile. Naively held ideas
and simplistic plans will succumb
to violent backlash unless schemes
for livable streets are developed
with political awareness and a con-
cern for equity.
Two other strategies in making
residential areas safer should be
mentioned. The first is public educa-
tion. Many national and local road-
safety campaigns have been carried
on throughout the world 22 with vary-
ing degrees of effectiveness. Usually
they have been accompanied with
increased law-enforcement strate-
gies, engineering, and environmen-
tal changes so that the individual
22. OECD, Road Safety Campaigns: De-
sign and Evaluation (Paris, 1971).
Downloaded from http://ann.sagepub.com at Glasgow University Library on June 2, 2010
117
effects of different components in
these campaigns have been difficult
to assess. However, the importance
of public safety campaigns, espe-
cially at the local level, to educate
drivers about the purposes of pro-
tecting neighborhoods should not be
ignored. Too often neighborhood
traffic programs become bogged
down in political controversy while
the purpose of making streets safer
for children is lost.
The second strategy is that of bet-
ter and more effective law enforce-
ment. But the law enforcement
agencies in cities have too many
tasks to undertake already, and the
policing of thousands of residential
streets for a few traffic offenders
is like searching for a needle in a
haystack. The city that relies solely
on better enforcement as a solution
to its residential traffic problems is
avoiding the issue. However, in
combination with traffic control sys-
tems, law enforcement can be ex-
tremely important.