(A green streets poster produced by the City of Portland as part of the Environmental Services Green Streets Initiative.)

The website, Planetizen, is putting out a fascinating series of articles on Complete Streets, titled “Rethinking the Street Space: Why Street Design Matters” (Part one, Part two). In it, the designers note:

“In the past two decades, the movement has gained momentum with over 80 jurisdictions across the U.S. initiating Complete Streets policies; 12 such policies have been adopted thus far in 2009.”

While on vacation last week, I noted several cities that had adopted these new policies, and the amazing turnaround in activity that has occurred since my last visits. New York has just released there 232-page Street Design Manual this May, that was released with the help of Jan Gehl’s Copenhagen-based planning firm. You may remember Jan from the video clip we posted from “Contested Streets”. Two founding members of BFOC visited Copenhagen two weeks ago, and were able to meet with several members of his firm. They even brought back a signed copy of the classic urban planning guide “Life Between Buildings”. We’ll highlight that trip soon with images from the city, and steps outlined by the team to improve Oak Cliff. One of the most interesting premises that has been focused on with “Complete Streets” is the lowering of crime and vandalism that occurs. Typically, we’ll highlight the economic revitalization, health benefits, traffic mitigation/pedestrian safety, and environmental reasons for promoting bicycle infrastructure, but the reduction in crime numbers seen when these have been applied due to greater street activity (or as Jane Jacob’s would state “More eyes on the street”), provide a whole new facet for study.