Category Archives: Walkability

Seaside, Battery Park City, the State of Our Streets, and New Urbanism

by John Massengale Posted on March 10, 2019

I RECENTLY spent a week in Seaside, where I was once Town Architect. In honor of Seaside, I’m uploading two essays from Street Design, The Secret to Great Cities and Towns. The first is the opening of the chapter on … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Beauty, Classical, Culture, Education, Good Kind, New Urbanism, New York, Pedestrian, Slow Streets, Street Design, Urbanism, Walkability | Comments Off on Seaside, Battery Park City, the State of Our Streets, and New Urbanism

My New York Times Op-Ed: “There Are Better Ways to Get Around Town”

by John Massengale Posted on May 29, 2018

New York City Streets for People After the Congestion Zone May 15, 2018 (link) The debate continues over how to make New York City’s streets less crowded, safer and better for people as well as cars. Some, like Gov. Andrew … Continue reading →

Posted in -, Architecture, Beauty, Bicycle, Current, New York, News & Reviews, Pedestrian, Quote of the Day, Slow Streets, Street Design, Urbanism, Walkability | Comments Off on My New York Times Op-Ed: “There Are Better Ways to Get Around Town”

Occupy Broad Street

by John Massengale Posted on September 16, 2016

THE BROAD crossroads where Wall Street and Broad Street come together is a beautiful space, fully the equal of medieval European plazas. Today, post-911, it’s closed to almost all traffic, because the New York Stock Exchange sits at the southwest corner of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Beauty, Current, New York, Pedestrian, Slow Street of the Day, Slow Streets, Street Design, Street of the Day, Urbanism, Walkability | Comments Off on Occupy Broad Street

Occupy Main Street

by John Massengale Posted on September 10, 2016

Great Barrington’s Main Street should be a place where people want to get out of their cars to shop, eat, and socialize—under a majestic canopy made with tall trees. That’s not what State DOTs build, however. This story originally ran … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Beauty, Culture, Current, Historic Preservation, New England, Street Design, The Other Kind, Urbanism, Walkability | Comments Off on Occupy Main Street

NYC DOT Shared Streets: Lower Manhattan THIS SATURDAY

by John Massengale Posted on August 11, 2016

THE NYC DOT’S SHARED STREETS: LOWER MANHATTAN will take place Saturday, August 13  as part of the annual Summer Streets program. Frankly, it looks like the weather will not be good, but the rain will come and go, and this … Continue reading →

Posted in Current, Good Kind, New York, Pedestrian, Slow Streets, Street Design, Urbanism, Walkability | Comments Off on NYC DOT Shared Streets: Lower Manhattan THIS SATURDAY

To Stop Pedestrian Deaths NYC Must Change How it Builds Streets

by John Massengale Posted on December 29, 2015

From CITYLIMITS.ORG: November 13th—Friday the 13th—marked the 13th day in a row that a pedestrian died on a New York City Street, all killed by cars or buses going too fast. They were among the 19 pedestrian deaths in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Beauty, Current, New Urbanism, New York, Pedestrian, Slow Streets, Street Design, Urbanism, Walkability | Comments Off on To Stop Pedestrian Deaths NYC Must Change How it Builds Streets

God is in the details

by John Massengale Posted on December 22, 2015

I’m working on a project in Connecticut where the team is proposing a “Slow Zone” in the center of town. An engineer on a project is a little worried about some of the details I’ve proposed. He wrote, “I think we … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Beauty, Bicycle, Craft, Culture, Current, Good Kind, Materials, Pedestrian, Slow Streets, Street Design, Urbanism, Walkability | Comments Off on God is in the details

Places Where People Want To Walk

by John Massengale Posted on November 4, 2015

: MY COMMENT ON BIKE PORTLAND’s Bike-friendliness and walk-friendliness are actually pretty different, study says I’ve only been to Portland twice, mainly downtown. There was no bike share then, so I’ve never ridden a bike in Portland. In other words, … Continue reading →

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Happy Earth Day — The 21st Century Is The New Sixties?

by John Massengale Posted on April 22, 2015

EARTH DAY reminded me of my old friend Konrad Oberhuber, an art historian at Harvard when I met him, who later became the Curator of the Albertina in Vienna. In 1983 I went on a Fogg Museum trip to Prague with Konrad … Continue reading →

Posted in Bicycle, Classical, Culture, Current, Global, Historic Preservation, New Urbanism, Pedestrian, Street Design, Walkability | Comments Off on Happy Earth Day — The 21st Century Is The New Sixties?