The Visible Hand

"To Seward Mott, who headed FHA's Land Planning Division, the legislation's mandate provided an opportunity to redirect the design of suburban America and to create conditions that would force public officials and planners alike to adopt planning measures and to abandon the rectilinear grid in favor of plans of curvilinear streets. Curvilinear plans had many advantages when compared to rectilinear gridiron plans: they provided greater privacy and visual interest; could be adapted to greater variations in topography; reduced the cost of utilities and road construction; and, by eliminating the need for dangerous four-way intersections, provided a safer environment for domestic activities.(93)

The curvilinear layouts recommended by FHA in the 1930s set the standards for the design of post-World War II subdivisions."

"The FHA set forth seven minimum requirements for new subdivisions:

1. Location exhibiting a healthy and active demand for homes.

2. Location possessing a suitable site in terms of topography, soil condition, tree cover, and absence of hazards such as flood, fog, smoke, obnoxious odors, etc.

3. Accessibility by means of public transportation (streetcars and buses) and adequate highways to schools, employment, and shopping centers.

4. Installation of appropriate utilities and street improvements (meeting city or county specifications), and carefully related to needs of the development.

5. Compliance with city, county or regional plans and regulations, particularly local zoning and subdivision regulations to ensure that the neighborhood will become stable (and real estate values as well.)

6. Protection of values through "appropriate" deed restrictions (including setbacks, lot sizes, minimum costs of construction).

7. Guarantee of a sound financial set up, whereby subdividers were financially able to carry through their sales and development program, and where taxes and assessments were in line with the type of development contemplated and likely to remain stable.

In addition, FHA issued a set of "desirable standards," which, although not strict requirements, were additional factors that influenced the approval of a project.

• Careful adaptation of subdivision layout to topography and to natural features

• Adjustment of street plan and street widths and grades to best meet the traffic needs

• Elimination of sharp corners and dangerous intersections

• Long blocks that eliminated unnecessary streets

•Carefully studied lot plan with generous and well-shaped house sites

• Parks and playgrounds

• Establishment of community organizations of property owners

• Incorporation of features that add to the privacy and attractiveness of the community."- U.S. Dept. Of Interior

The Shaping of Suburbia

"The FHA was authorized to provide Federal insurance for privately-financed mortgages for homes, housing subdivisions, and rental housing. Through the development of standards, as well as its review and approval of properties for mortgage insurance, the FHA institutionalized principles for both neighborhood planning and small house design.

FHA's Land Planning Division under Seward H. Mott, an experienced site planner, was responsible for establishing principles for neighborhood planning and for reviewing subdivision plans submitted by developers seeking FHA approval. This approval would not only enable developers to secure private financing but would also make low-cost mortgages available for prospective home owners. Mott's staff translated many of the prevailing ideas about neighborhood design that had been endorsed by the 1931 President's Conference, including Perry's Neighborhood Unit Formula, into written standards and basic design principles that could be uniformly applied across the Nation to the design of neighborhoods of small houses."- U.S. Dept. of Interior

The Federal Housing Administration

"The 1931 President’s Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership led to substantial reforms in housing for middle and lower middle income Americans, and resulted in the passage of the National Housing Act of 1934, creating the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). These reforms were guided by in the “Neighborhood Unit” concept (introduced by Clarence Perry of the Russell Sage Foundation), a revival of Riverside, Illinois as an ideal of American suburban design, and the synthesis of Olmstedian (curvilinear) and Garden City principles (hierarchy of roads, superblock, restrictions, etc.)

Long curvilinear blocks avoided four-way intersections in favor of cul-de-sacs,and circles. Designers grouped modest houses of similar style and scale and set them back a uniform distance from tree-lined streets, with nearby access to trolley or bus lines. Garden Apartment communities featured multiple buildings of similar style and scale arranged within a garden-like superblock. Similar to the Country Club districts, deed restrictions and protective covenants prohibited “non-conforming” uses and resulted in a cohesive, even homogenous, residential village in a park-like setting."- Cultural Landscape Foundation

The Codes Project

"This website is an anthology of the codes, laws and related documents that have created, or sought to create, particular urban forms. It is a searchable archive drawn from a broad array of historical documents. We have selected documents from around the world, and from all time periods."

The Fused Grid & Other Ways Forward

"...the Fused Grid anticipates and channels land intensification and mixed-uses by creating a zone between residential districts that is flexible in possible land uses - which can include schools, parks and commercial. This zone can also accommodate adaptations to future traffic demand by allowing for road redesign and expansion within the existing road allowance.

The Fused Grid is a model for laying out neighbourhoods and districts. It combines the geometries of inner city grids and the cul-de-sac of the conventional suburbs. The objective is to retain the best characteristics of each and none of their disadvantages while raising the quality of the neighbourhood environment."

Rethinking the Street Space: Toolkits and Street Design Manuals

The primary goals of the new street design manuals are often quite similar. Common goals include:

"Livability and Placemaking. Making streets places to linger and places to cherish.

Access and Mobility: Improving the public right-of-way for all users.

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety: Supporting design improvements such as raised crosswalks, bulbouts, bike lanes, and roundabouts that improve safety for pedestrians and bike riders.

Flexibility: Giving designers choice, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Context: Designing streets based on their place within a hierarchy of streets and their relationship to surrounding land uses, densities, and commercial activities.

Balance: Maintaining several functions in the street that include safety, roadway infrastructure, environmental sensitivity, and others.

Healthy Environment: Minimizing negative environmental effects and creating places that encourage walking and exercise.

Visual Excellence: Improving the overall aesthetic with an emphasis on high quality, lasting design and materials.

Common Strategies:

Many of the design strategies included in the manuals are similar from one city to the next. Common strategies used in the manuals include:

Minimization of the roadway to accommodate travel flow, transferring excess vehicle space to the pedestrian.

Preferential facilities for bus and bike riders in the form of bus lanes, bus shelters, bike lanes, paths, racks, and lockers.

Pedestrian amenities for placemaking such as street furniture and human-scale street lighting.

New public spaces with benches, fountains, and vendors. Both San Francisco and New York propose new public plazas in areas previously dedicated to the vehicle as pilot projects.

Pedestrian safety features such as curb extensions or "bulb-outs" at corners or mid-block to widen the sidewalk and make crossing easier, visible crosswalks, raised crosswalks, and raised intersections.

Environmentally-inspired landscaping like permeable paving, bio-swales, stormwater recapture in tree pits and planters, and climate sensitive plant palates."

Why Street Design Matters

The Great Opportunity

"On average, streets, sidewalks, and alleys occupy between 25-30% of our urban land. As the largest chunk of undeveloped space in cities, streets present an incredible opportunity to address a wide range of urban problems. And since they are publicly-owned, cities do not need to negotiate ownership, maintenance, and regulatory control. Our street spaces are the ultimate untapped urban resource, a public land bank that is waiting to be cashed in.

Why is Good Street Design So Hard to Come By?

There are several reasons why good street design is difficult to achieve. First, streets must fulfill a wide variety of functions for diverse groups at different times. Designing streets to satisfy all users is tough. Second, historically street design has been the role of the traffic engineer whose goal it was to move traffic through streets, rather than to attract people to linger in shared public space. Third, as cities look for new street design methods, a wide variety of engaged parties are eager to have a seat at the negotiation table, including bicycle coalitions, stormwater experts, bus rapid transit advocates, business improvement districts, community gardeners, school districts, utility companies, etc. While participation of these groups allows for more holistic design, achieving consensus among disparate parties is challenging. Fourth, the power to regulate the street space is dispersed in ways that makes communication and collaboration difficult to achieve." - Amy Hawks & Georgia Sheridan