Category Archives: Pedestrian Observations

How Residential Blocks Act As Barriers

Posted on 2012/10/12 by

Two weeks ago, I found a board game store in Vancouver, and through it a variety of gaming events. The store is located about five blocks from my apartment, and I first saw it from a bus nearly two months … Continue reading →

Posted in Pedestrian Observations, Personal/Admin, Urban Design, Urbanism, Vancouver | 17 Comments

Pedestrian Observations from Vancouver: Street Width and Building Height

Posted on 2012/07/26 by

I moved to Vancouver last weekend. The slow pace of posting will probably continue for another week, but I do have multiple posts in the pipeline. I am currently at a downtown hotel, commuting to Kitsilano to look at apartments … Continue reading →

Posted in Pedestrian Observations, Personal/Admin, Urban Design, Urbanism, Vancouver | 26 Comments

Pedestrian Observations from New Haven

Posted on 2012/06/26 by

I don’t normally pedestrian-observe cities that I’ve been to so many times, and New Haven is the US city I’ve spent the most time in other than the two I’ve lived in. But my last visit, in which I looked … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, Pedestrian Observations, Urban Design, Urbanism | 25 Comments

Pedestrian Observations from Central London

Posted on 2011/09/26 by

As I got off the Underground, I was greeted by a fenced roadway without easy crossings. I found the way around a roundabout and started to walk toward the hotel where I was to meet my family, on the wrong … Continue reading →

Posted in Pedestrian Observations, Urban Design, Urbanism | 33 Comments

Pedestrian Observations from Barbados: Followup to Caribbean Car Ownership

Posted on 2011/08/31 by

The biggest criticism I’ve gotten in comments to Matt Yglesias’s link to my previous post was about my comparison of Puerto Rico’s car ownership with that of neighboring middle-income Caribbean nations. Multiple people claimed that Puerto Rico is much larger … Continue reading →

Posted in Cars, Pedestrian Observations, Transportation, Urbanism | 13 Comments

Quick Note: Safe Streets, Safe Cities

Posted on 2011/06/15 by

Everyone should go read Jan Gehl’s post on Streetsblog about good urban design, excerpted from his book Cities for People. I have nothing to add, except to underline one part that’s often underrated among urbanists: the role of parked cars … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel, New York, Pedestrian Observations, Urban Design, Urbanism | 6 Comments

Pedestrian Observations from Providence in Summer

Posted on 2011/06/03 by

I’d only visited Providence once, for two hours in the dead of winter, and found the downtown/mall area dreary. I just visited twice again to look at apartments, and saw much better. Providence’s downtown is still dominated by single-use office … Continue reading →

Posted in Pedestrian Observations, Providence, Urbanism | 1 Comment

Little Things That Matter: Stoplight Phasing

Posted on 2011/05/31 by

In Manhattan, most intersections have two stoplight phases: one permitting all north-south traffic, and one permitting all east-west traffic. Each phase lasts about 45 seconds, ensuring that pedestrians can cross even the widest avenues in one go with time to … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel, New York, Pedestrian Observations, Urban Design, Urbanism | 6 Comments

Pedestrian Observations from Athens, GA

Posted on 2011/05/25 by

I’m currently at a conference at UGA, located in a town that clearly tries to be walkable, and for the most part fails: for example, it has bike lanes on high-speed arterials and unwalkable streets with share the road signs. … Continue reading →

Posted in Pedestrian Observations, Urbanism | 12 Comments