pedestrian

Maps 2014 (40) As I move

mapacamin

Chances are that what I’m going to disclose is already known by some of the makers of the electronic contraptions I carry ; so here is a map of the routes I use often (blue numbers are distances in meters).

I live in A, work in B and once a week I eat at C. some weeks I go to cinema at D. 1 and 2 are pedestrian daily routes, which are alternative depending on the day (and the hour); the distance between A and B is so reduced that the presence of an expressway in the middle makes these two the shortest pedestrian routes. 3 is mainly a bus route, an explanation for the 90º angle (by foot it could be shorter, but it would take too long). And 4 is a weekend route, to go to the cinema through the urban core (the return trip is often by underground or bus, or, when it is late at night, by cab). The remaining points are supermarkets, cinemas, restaurants and other interest points.

The city I live in is rather good for a pedestrian; but this doesn’t mean that walking routes are necessarily shorter than by other means. On the other side, they are highly predictable when it comes to time: I usually walk at 4 km/h (compared to the average 24 km/h for cars, which is subject to strong variations during daytime). By walking you always have alternatives (but for the case of obstacles such as expressways or rail lines), and as slopes are gentle I can predict my travel times. And yes, sometimes (with not such regular patterns, once or twice a week at most) I move in my car…

The calle Campos in Denia
Calle Campos: 500 m of central retail

Calle Campos: 500 m of central retail

Traffic management in central retail cores is not always easy. In Madrid it seems clear that the retailers in the Sol- Callao- Montera area have understood that despite the limita-tions to traffic and parking the zone works, mainly as the hub of a pow-erful public transportation system; but in smaller cities, or in other areas of Madrid, this can be contro-versial.
Some solutions try to please as well retailers asking for on-street parking as those asking for more pedestrian space. The city of Denia (Alicante) plays a certain centrality role for a set of neighboring municipalities, and this is clear in calle Campos. It is not in fact a high place for architecture (rather your average 1960s or later building, with all that this means in Spain), but its urban location and its retailers, as well as the presence of choice retailers in neighboring streets seems (at least during a short stay) to make it the place to be.
How to make both concepts work together? With a watch and a cal-endar. The street is pedestrian in certain moments, and it takes traffic the rest of the time (the most often, in fact). I am not sure this would be the best option in general, but it is an alternative that seems to work here (again, I have been a short time) in a city where most of the historic core is pedestrian.

The post says it all: on holydays and holyday eves the street becomes a pedestrian area, while parking is regulated the rest of the time

The post says it all: on holydays and holyday eves the street becomes a pedestrian area, while parking is regulated the rest of the time

A sidewalk cafe in the morning of a working day, with cars in the street


A sidewalk cafe in the morning of a working day, with cars in the street

A view across the street in the car-mode

A view across the street in the car-mode

Cars in the morning

Cars in the morning

A no-cars evening

A no-cars evening

The view from the sidewalk in a no-car evening

The view from the sidewalk in a no-car evening

Rua Gonçalo de Carvalho in Porto Alegre

And now for an internet finding, as I have never put foot in Porto Alegre (or anywhere in Brazil). Here is a rather local street, that has wonderful trees (Tipuana tipu, or rosewood) and an interesting space, with a regular paving for cars and sidewalks with irregular stone slabs which seem nice, at least seen from Google Street View’s car.

According to the blog poavive, these trees have been planted and maintained by the neighbors, and the street is now a listed space, with legal protection.

Conde de Cartagena street, in Madrid. Maples instead of tropical trees, altough also a good vegetal cover, and less stone on the surfaces

Conde de Cartagena street, in Madrid. Maples instead of tropical trees, altough also a good vegetal cover, and less stone on the surfaces

What surprises me, seen from Spain, is that planting and taking care of the trees is assumed by the neighbors. In many countries this is clearly a municipal affair. Looking at google maps I can see there are other streets in Porto Alegre which also have fine trees, as Marqués de Pombal (a little less dense, in fact), but I do not know if it is also due to the neighbors. Even here in Madrid, far from being a tropical city, we have some streets with good trees, albeit less exuberant. I reckon also that sometimes the relevant role of the neighbors is preventing the trees from being logged; after reading the post on the amics arbres- arbres amics blog, it seems this was also the case in Porto Alegre.

The Gran Vía in Madrid
Gran Vía: 1,3 km (slightly less than a mile) of central street cut through central Madrid from 1910. Not unlike Picadilly Circus/Regent street in London, or Times Square in New York

Gran Vía: 1,3 km (slightly less than a mile) of central street cut through central Madrid from 1910. Not unlike Picadilly Circus/Regent street in London, or Times Square in New York

The Gran Vía is to central Madrid, since its inception in 1910, what the boulevards were for Haussmann’s Paris: a large cut through its old urban tissue. But here it is an isolated case. With an irregular plan, it is the moment in which a Spain that had lost the 1898 war against the United States tries to rebuild its image taking America as a reference.

An icon of modernity in the post-war years, since the 1980s it entered in a decay dynamic, which began to be reversed since the late 1990s, in parallel to a sizeable work on the public space. The closure to motor traffic of the Plaza de Callao and the calle Montera allowed an increase of pedestrian spaces, reinforcing the strongest retail area in the city.

Callao in 2009 (left) and in 2006 (right). One of the busiest walkways in Madrid becomes a grand pedestrian esplanade

Callao in 2009 (left) and in 2006 (right). One of the busiest walkways in Madrid becomes a grand pedestrian esplanade

Gran Vía, as seen from the capitol building on a winter day. Cars occupy most of the space, altough walkways are wide (8 meters in many sections)

Gran Vía, as seen from the capitol building on a winter day. Cars occupy most of the space, altough walkways are wide (8 meters in many sections)

Right side of the previous image. Some urban furniture elements are perharps a bit to bulky; besides, Madrid could use a system similar to that of London, with underground entrances integrated into buildings, to free the sidewalks (altough in this case the problem is limited), but it is something quite dificult to do in an existing city.

Right side of the previous image. Some urban furniture elements are perharps a bit to bulky; besides, Madrid could use a system similar to that of London, with underground entrances integrated into buildings, to free the sidewalks (altough in this case the problem is limited), but it is something quite dificult to do in an existing city.

The left part of the wide image. The sidewalk cafes can be seen, as well as the new granite paving and the pedestrian barrier.

The left part of the wide image. The sidewalk cafes can be seen, as well as the new granite paving and the pedestrian barrier.

Biblio (43) Complete streets

biblio 43- complete streets

When I was a little boy, sometimes the grown-ups told me they woke up so early to go to their jobs, that streets were still not in place. The American concept of complete streets makes me think that in some places are still for early risers…

A complete street is, according to the definition by the National Complete Streets Coalition, a street designed to enable safe access for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and public transportation users of all ages and abilities.

This blog is written from an European perspective; I do not pretend to know the whole of the 27 states of the Union, but I can talk with some knowledge about the two cases I know best, Spain, Italy and France.

The presence of sidewalks, presented as one of the main elements in the American vision, is universal in urban land (but for some historical areas in which usually pedestrians are dominant), although width, and location of poles and signs, are sometimes quite bad; but sometimes the peripheral areas, which are not urban land in planning, can have homes without sidewalks. In illegal building areas the situation is worse.

Bicycles are not always well integrated in the street, and the situation varies from city to city.

Traffic and pedestrians are not always in a balanced relation, and crossing is dangerous in some places. And some other issues raised by the Americans are also sometimes deficiently addressed.

So, in the end, although the Americans are clearly in a worse shape (low densities help), we also have things to correct here in Europe. And from that perspective, it is interesting to read the “Complete Streets- Local Policy Workbook”, specially for the most “Americanized “ European peripheral areas.