Compact Urban Pattern Compact Urban development patterns support an interconnected network that is found in most downtown areas and pre-World War II neighborhoods and cities. A connected street grid offers users several routes to one or more destination points in a single trip. Commercial building fronts are typically at the edge of the sidewalk, with parking on the street or at the rear to support easy pedestrian access. A mix of land uses are present, including residential, with the highest density and intensity of uses. According to the MUSC study, “In compact urban settings, the needs of all users – pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, and transit users – are balanced. Vehicles move more slowly so that cyclists can safely share the road and pedestrians can feel comfortable crossing and walking near the street. Design techniques for compact urban settings include on-street parking, narrower vehicle lanes, street trees, sharrows, frequent crosswalks, and wide sidewalks. On thoroughfares that must be wide (four lanes or more), a side access lane should be considered. This lane would include a slower-moving lane, on-street parking, and a wide sidewalk to provide a proper frontage for street-oriented buildings.” Figure 4 depicts Boston’s Newberry Street as an example of what Compact Urban development looks like in the built environment.
Figure 4: Newbury Street, in Boston Massachusetts. A compact urban development pattern. Source: Google Maps 2019.
Hillsborough County | 19 th Avenue PLAT Study | June 2020
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