The New York City Department of Transportation has released a plan to make the streets of the Big Apple more walkable. The plan, World Class Streets: Remaking New York City’s Public Realm by Gehl Architects/Urban Planning Consultants studies the issues surrounding pedestrian traffic and outlines new city policies regarding the function and design of public spaces to better accommodate that traffic in NYC.

The main finding of Gehl, a Danish firm credited with turning Copenhagen into one of the most walkable and bikeable cities on earth, was that - surprise, surprise! - New York City sidewalks are too crowded. The solution? Devote more public space to pedestrian traffic and less to automobile traffic. Given that tearing down privately owned buildings or converting already scarce public park space weren’t viable there wasn’t really anywhere else to turn.

The report and policies fall directly in line with Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s vision for a cleaner, greener with less cars. After seeing his Congestion Pricing initiative stonewalled in the New York State legislature, Bloomberg has consistently moved toward cutting down the access of automobile traffic in Manhattan on his own, using measures that do not require State approval such as mandating more bus lanes on Broadway in Lower Manhattan and creating a Pedestrian promenade on the Great White Way south of Times Square. This report represents the further evolution of the Mayor’s vision for a cleaner, greener city that uses less fossil fuels and relies more on people power and public transit.

You can takepart in learning more about this green vision of the future of NYC by checking out the Sustainable Streets Plan.

LINKS:

NY Times: Green Inc.: Taking the Woe Out of Walking in New York City

NY Daily News: International Urban Whiz would ban cars in Times Square

Crains New York: NYC will close two lanes to cars on Broadway

The Washington DC Metro will be issuing commemorative Barack Obama SmarTrip farecards this coming January. The cards will celebrate the upcoming Inauguration of President-Elect Obama as the 44th President of the United States.

This is a match made in heaven of a promotion. DC is one of the most Democratic cities in the United States and is positively abuzz right now over the incoming Obama administration, with signs hanging on buildings all around the city as Unions, Non-Profit Organizations, Businesses and Private Citizens express their rejoice at the arrival of a new approach in American politics. DC also has one of the highest percentages of African-American residents among American cities, who, needless to say, are more than a little excited over the prospect of America’s first African-American President. Plus with Obama himself being a huge proponent of public transportation, putting his image on the farecards fittingly adds the face of a friend and soon to be champion of mass transit to the DC Metro experience.

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Living well may be more of an art than a science, but living green is another matter; it turns out there are plenty of formulas and equations to help you pick the places that are more conducive to an eco-conscious lifestyle.  One of the best comes courtesy of Popular Science, which has tallied up the data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Geographic Society’s Green Guide for American cities of over 100,000 people in more than 30 categories, including air quality, electricity use and transportation habits.

Armed with these facts and figures, Popular Science created four broad categories in which to compare fifty American cities, awarding up to 5 or 10 points depending on the category:

Electricity (E; 10 points): Cities score points for drawing their energy from renewable sources such as wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric power, as well as for offering incentives for residents to invest in their own power sources, like roof-mounted solar panels.

Transportation (T; 10 points): High scores go to cities whose commuters take public transportation or carpool. Air quality also plays a role.

Green living (G; 5 points): Cities earn points for the number of buildings certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, as well as for devoting area to green space, such as public parks and nature preserves.

Recycling and green perspective (R; 5 points): This measures how comprehensive a city’s recycling program is (if the city collects old electronics, for example) and how important its citizens consider environmental issues.

Here’s their top 10, including the ratings in each category:

1. Portland, Ore. 23.1Electricity: 7.1 Transportation: 6.4 Green Living: 4.8 Recycling/Perspective:  
4.8America’s top green city has it all: Half its power comes from renewable sources, a quarter of the workforce commutes by bike, carpool or public transportation, and it has 35 buildings certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.

2. San Francisco, Calif. 23.0Electricity: 6.8 Transportation: 8.8 Green Living: 3.5 Recycling/Perspective: 3.9See how San Francisco turns wasted roof space into power, here.

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