Incomplete StreetsProcesses, Practices, and Possibilities

Purpose• Definition of Complete Streets:

“A Complete Streets policy ensures that the entire right of way is routinely designed and operated to enable safe access for all users. Pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities must be able to move along and across a complete street.”

(McCann and Rynne 2010, p. 3)

• Answer the question: “For whom?”• Part 1 – Processes• Part 2 – Practices• Part 3 –Possibilities

National Complete Streets Coalition

Part 1 – ProcessesOf love affairs and other stories

Vs. Jane Jacobs Groucho Marx

What/Who are streets for?• Not for cars (1925) = many causalities

• Car sells decline, manufactures create new “stories”. (pedestrians to blame)

• By 1930, streets are back to cars.• “The automobile was an expression of

American ideals, in particular of personal freedom against official restraint, of economic freedom against regulation … of individual against collectivism” (page 26).• Are we trying to get back to more

communal living? • Is this economic freedom against

regulation what got our country and cities into this mess our local governments are trying to fix?

Moving Beyond Fordism • The car - suburban complex was reinforced by: public

investment, consumer identity, and public policy.• Themes:• Urbanization vs. Suburbanization• Integration vs. Segregation

• Is Fordism discriminatory?

Page 44 – The price of new vehicles increases without median income increasing. Can Americans continue to make financial sense of the car-suburban complex?

Geographer William Bunge created this

map of Detroit in 1960s depicting

“Where commuters run over black children”. The commuters were

white elites coming to and from their high-

paying jobs in downtown and then

back out to their suburban life.

Urban Spatial MobilityCongestion pricing and the people

London• Initial success • Buses faster and

cheaper• Change in mayor = • Change in political

support• Increase in bus

costs• System collapses

New York • Never happened• Why?• Lack of local political

power to change the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)?

Stockholm• People of higher incomes

paid more congestion tax.

• Permanent implementation of tax may not equal success.

• Other problems:• Unsafe for cyclists • Social inclusion in mass

transit • Lack of suburban

public transportation

Urban Spatial MobilityCongestion pricing and the people

Do we expect the political leaders to “practice what they preach” and use public transportation?

Examples: mayor of New York, city planner of Hutto, ourselves?

Thoughts on this quote:“Environmental justice is based on the myth that environmental

measures benefit everyone equally and harm no one excessively.”

-Julian Agyeman, Robert Bullard, and Bob Evans (2003)

1988 1995 2003 2010 20180

1500

3000

4500

6000

National Nonmotorists Street Deaths1994-2013

PedestriansCyclists

Year

Num

ber o

f fat

aliti

es

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx

Cumulative irresponsibility in streetscapes

Ghost Bikes

Cumulative irresponsibility in streetscapesChildren and streets “Forgotten remembering”

Who is responsible?

Disconnect from driver and road:Death, injury, & fear of public streets. Is this more common today with texting and driving?

The street as ecology• Problems with the Complete Street concept:• Further fragmenting space • Reinforcing hierarchies • Issues of pedestrians and bicyclists in shared

space • Views streets as path and not as a place

• Street as Ecology:• India- order in the chaos, diversity of use• Cambridge, MA - space of participation,

socialization, business, political activities

• Is the Street as Ecology concept better than the Complete Street? Paris goes car free September 27, 2015.

Part II Practices

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Lowriding and the domestication of Denver’s Northside

Who are streets for?• Not Latinos • Issues of gentrification:

• ethnic groups displacing other ethnic groups• mainstream middle class versus working class Latino

“Yesterday’s neighborhood plans shape today’s neighborhoods” (page 123).

• What are some examples in which the above statement applies?

• Is gentrification a good or bad thing in this specific case?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hILM__78MVg

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Socioeconomic sustainability in Minneapolis’s bicycle infrastructure• Urban spaces compete for being “green” and

attracting the creative class• “The new urban politics is as much about

sustainability as it is about urban competition” (page 141).

• Sustainable development = usually an economic ploy, can further segregate people

• Do you agree that Austin displays this environmental gentrification?

• How does climate effect the desire for these bike-only roads?

• Would you ride on them? Why/why not?

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Gentrification through Oakland farmers market • Eco-gentrification• Super-gentrification • The (possible) irony of Phat Beets

Can affordable housing lessen the effects of gentrification? How does the process of building community occur without some gentrification? (if it’s “hip,” it will attract outsiders)

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Reversing Complete Streets disparities

Case study of Portland, Oregon• Using Community Watershed Stewardship

Program (CWSP) to create a win-win-win• economic development - environmental

improvement - social equity • “the city and the city” problem• white, well off, eco-conscious and the

lower-income, minorities Does Austin have the two cities issue as well? What about San Marcos? Does population play a role in the social inequity?

Part IIIPossibilities

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Compl(eat)ing the streetsSidewalk food vending: history, laws, vendors as space shapers, and legalization • Reemerged in the 1970-1980s• Mainly immigrants (again, who are the streets for?) • Transforms path to place through attracting people and creating

culture • “Layers of microspatial organization”

• Legalization with permits• Number of permits, location of vendors, health

regulations/requirements, undocumented workers • Incentives for healthier food options

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Institutionalized DIY through CFSECar-free streets events such as Critical Mass, and Park(ing) Day foster:• Sense of community and empowerment • Camaraderie, connection, openness • Reclaiming the space and the city for the peopleConcept of oeuvre - building the city as a work of art The majority of San Francisco bicyclists are white males (26-35). Now there is a push to make the streets more bike-friendly. Does this reinforce the idea of the streets being mainly for white commuters or does it disband it?

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The most Complete Street in the world

Claiborne Avenue 1966 & 2014

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The most Complete Street in the world

Claiborne Avenue study looks at removing ramps but leaving elevated expressway (2013)

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/04/claiborne_avenue_study_looks_a_1.html

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The politics of sustainability in Portland Infrastructure is only noticed when it is in flux - creation, transformation, or destruction • North Williams Traffic and Safety Operations Project• Community inclusion/exclusion - Who is

participating in the process?• City planners role in politics - Are they proactive or

reactive?• Project’s main focus is safe streets - For Whom?

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Incomplete Streets, Complete RegionsLow-income workers’ transportation, industrial zoning, and complete communities• Low-income workers (increasly) dependent on cars. • Location of jobs, public transportation doesn’t serve their needs

• Industrial districts • Major contributors to local economy • Factor in sustainability (products to market)

• Complete Communities • quality education, affordable housing, jobs, healthy food, recreation, affordable

transportation What about the environmental impacts of an increased dependency on cars for low-income people? (they are probably not buying hybrids)Are Complete Streets and Complete Communities different? If so, which one would allow for more social equity?

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Towards an understanding of Complete StreetsOverview of contributing authors insights• Streets are complex spaces with

multiple functions• Complete streets = “Creative Class”• Thus attracting the creative class,

gentrification is going to follow.

Can cities implement environmental amenities into a space without causing gentrification?Does bicycle infrastructure lead to gentrification? (Who rides bikes?)

http://austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Transportation/Complete_Streets/Austin_CompleteStreetsGuideToCityPrograms_10-22-15.pdf