Strong Neighborhoods:Strong Towns

The second annual keynote speaker of the La Crosse Mayor's Neighborhood Conference on Transportation is the founder of Strong Towns, Chuck Marohn who speaks all over the U.S. on the importance of revisiting the basics of what makes a town, a good strong town a good place to live.  

Chuck Marohn, founder of Strong Towns

Mr. Marohn makes good 'sense' in saving 'cents' with emphasis on good urban design with an alternative practical view rather than solely being dependent upon engineering, a science with little basis in reality rather than how its residents actually use the space.

We tend to continue throwing money at highway and road projects that make little difference in alleviating the ever growing problem of congestion. It's time to start rethinking the use of space.    Forgiving design which allows for driving error (avoidance of obstacles i.e. trees) is to remove the trees. Then there is no shade for the pedestrian on the sidewalk. If a sign is needed to correct speed, then, the road has little good design. 

We heard about the 'futon' of the transportation world the 'stroad.' You know the futon's purpose is to be both a sofa and a bed and is not really comfortable being either, well the 'stroad' is supposed to be a cure all for getting us around in our towns but is a disaster in its attempt to be both a street and a road because you can't go faster nor achieve the two's goals. Since a road is to connect 2 distant points quickly and a street is for spending time with benches and plantings, the 'stroad' is both unfriendly and inefficient. The truth is a 'stroad' ends up leading to strip malls, big box stores with large parking lots and a low tax base.  And face it, they are ugly to boot. We have all this space and energies leading to pavement rather than concentrating on the people who live in the town not its outskirts. This 'stroad' model is neither cohesive nor economic for communities and their neighborhoods. 

Streets are: More art than science.

1)  slower

2)  have pedestrians

3) intensity with more buildings

4) embrace complexity

Roads:

1) limit access

2) separate cars from other modes of transportation

3) do not allow adjacent land

4) simplify

Note how the four design values for streets vary as to priorities for engineers and the public.

 engineers      vs    public

1. speed                 1. safety

2. volume              2. cost

3. safety                3. volume

4. cost                   4. speed

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex and more violent." - E.F. Schumacher  The challenge neighborhoods have is to look at their needs, prioritize them and approach the city to help them accomplish these projects.

Good transportation whether it's sidewalks, crosswalks for pedestrian traffic, slower speeds, bike lanes, better usage of side streets with local small ma and pa neighborhood businesses can make a city/town a better place to live.

"The Strong Towns approach is a fundamental rethinking of how we work together to build lasting wealth and prosperity within our communities. A strong America is made of strong cities, towns and neighborhoods." Check out Strong Towns at this link.

Makes one wonder are so many one way downtown streets for speed
 in the best interest of La Crosse residents and businesses? Hmmm.

*Ironically I came across the following city planning progress story  the day after the conference. I've included it due to its charm about survival amidst the cement and rethinking how we grow... Seattle and City Growth