12 Psychological Street Design Rules
We now know how to think about it. What do we do about it?
How would you teach college sophomores to design a street?
This was the question I was facing when my good friend, Dr. John Ivan, invited me to come speak at University of Connecticut. We did a graduate seminar, but he also graciously let me speak to his undergrad transportation engineering class—and right at the end of the semester! Then we had some of them join us for several back-to-back Brick City Lab sessions.
All 4 groups did a great job, but one of them blew me away. I could tell they had really gotten it, when they asked at the very beginning, “Am I required to include a road?” I mysteriously responded that the buildings couldn’t move. They took the hint and ran with it. I wish I had all their names—I’ve been waiting for to give them credit before I posted the scenario. (When I get them, I’ll update the blog post and add their pictures.)
They created a passive linear park along the left side that could easily be converted to a roadway if the mayor threw a fit and required it. The right side got a splash pad, a green space, and the news-stand. They left plenty of room—16 feet of sidewalk—in front of the buildings and included a trolley and bike lane in the center. There’s so much I love about this.
So how did I get them there?
To be fair, I suspect the team leader for this group had been paying attention to urban design issues long before this.
In class, I told them about the mental frameworks—the 7 psychological concepts that impact the way a street operates. However, I knew that sophomores don’t have a lot of experience even thinking about street design. So I gave them a set of 12 rules to start with. Some of these we’ve discussed before. I’ll flesh these out more over the next few months, but here’s the list to get you started thinking:
Scale: Commercial nodes work in 1/4 mile diameter centers. Support uses extend another 1/2 mile from there, but no more. You can do multiple centers, but each 1/4 mile is a new one.
Width: You have 60 feet of visual corridor width to work with. Subdivide it into a boulevard if needed. Use vertical elements to shape the space.
Length: Never let your drivers see more than 500’ in front of them (350’ is better). Short blocks and slight angles make this easy.
Orientation: Doorways face the street (that’s what makes it a street, not a road—look it up!)
Step down the context: transition as you approach from visually open to enclosed. Add gateways to delineate where the integrated space begins and ends.
Use your network: not every street is integrated. Don’t try to do everything in one ROW.
Proximity: Put the people near the entrances, not behind a parking lot or by the busy road.
It’s a river, not a road: High speed, high volume, or expansive width means you need a ford and maybe a railing. A street will feel more like a creek or stream.
Sidewalk level crossings indicate people get priority. Never waste a speed table.
Street art is for signaling a human interaction space. Paint freely, but only if you’ve got the people there to back it up.
Margins matter: Parking really gets in the way. Open space can too. If it feels like a long way to walk, people evaporate and drivers respond accordingly.
Be opportunistic: Quick, cheap, and vertical are your friends. Use redevelopment, resurfacing, and build new ped/bike connectivity any chance you can get.
What do you think? Have I missed anything?
This list is very roadway design oriented, but it bleeds over into the design of the community as a whole. If you haven’t seen it yet, my dear friend, Victor Dover has an amazing video series on planning a town.
Most individual developers only think in terms of their own project. It’s an industrial/farming mindset: create a product to sell. The best and most successful developers think in terms of building an ecosystem over time for a place they care enough about to give to their grandchildren. When they build that way, what they create will last generations, not just as long as their financing holds out. It won’t make you rich quick, but it will make you very wealthy. If you need help, the Incremental Development Alliance is one of the best sources I know.
Come back next week and we’ll start digging in on our list.
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