One day we will have to decide

By Bruce Firestone | Architecture

Aug 14

Do we build cities for cars or people?

I vote for people.

Here’s what a woonerf (livable) road really looks like:

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Here’s a fabulous makeover of a roadway for pedestrians and bikes. In Stockholm? No. Berlin? No. LA? Nope. In Moscow, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-08-10/moscow-s-makeover-swaps-soviet-grit-for-urban-sparkle

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And how about an inexpensive makeover of a main street as a flower garden and “farm?”

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This is Revolution Square (!) in Moscow.

Here’s my version of a woonerf living streetscape:

And here’s corn growing at our home next to a pathway to our backyard with fruit trees and more nearby, all in a totally urban condition 🙂

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And how about this makeover of a New York City streetscape?

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Or this in Paris?

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Or a few roadways in Tblisi:

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How about this patio in Saint John New Brunswick; does it add anything to urban life/does it animate place? [Thanks to former student Matt Nesrallah for this image]

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Of course, we could always continue with modern era planning methods that result in towns and roads that look like this:

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Or this:

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And results in this:

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Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD, ROYAL LePAGE Performance Realty broker, Ottawa Senators founder, Real Estate Investment and Business coach 1-613-762-8884 bruce.firestone@century21.ca twitter.com/ProfBruce profbruce.tumblr.com/archive brucemfirestone.com

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About the Author

Bruce is an entrepreneur/real estate broker/developer/coach/urban guru/keynote speaker/Sens founder/novelist/columnist/peerless husband/dad.

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