Car-Free Neighborhood Proposal for Major Urban Reinvention in the United States

This is a series of images designed from my ongoing years long study of urban conditions. Arrived at through on site observation and readings about the detrimental station of cars within any given urban fabric. I've taken elements from illustrations of ancient Greek towns, experience with Chinese courtyard housing, variations of block size and differentiated individual preference.

The plan I've designed incorporates housing types from 3 story, "3-I Townhouse," arrangements, 4-5 story "Barcelona Blocks," large setback 9 story boulevard blocks, and tower blocks having 18, 27, and 36 stories (9 story incremental height increase allowances). The setbacks and building heights are designed so that every low-rise block receives direct sunlight for at least 2 hours during the winter solstice at street level on southern facades. The employ of direct access to sunlight makes for less imposing urban form, and promotes street life throughout the year.

From experience, and the publications of various other authors on the subject, I've arrived at the conclusion that street widths of approximately 30' permit nice variation in street furnishings, public use, pedestrian traffic flow, the potential for urban vegetable gardens if planting strips are utilized as storm water catchments in the middle of each street. Here are some projections of what a safe, clean, car free urban form may look like if built out to capacity a designed capacity of about 75,000 people per square mile. The first image represents high-rise buildings along a series of perimeter boulevards designed to encompass an area of 1 round or square kilometer. The high-rise buildings wouldn't intrude oppressively into the skyline on lower blocks as illustrated in the second image. The second image is intended to show a typical street view from 4-5 story blocks only a few hundred feet from the base of the high-rise boulevards, and this view is essentially a worst case scenario as far as high-rise intrusion into the more human scaled blocks within the 75,000 people per square mile urban fabric. The third image is a typical block of 3 stories + rooftop loft apartments. This image also illustrates the free use of ground level outdoor space for planting, patio, and outdoor activity. We essential create a dense park of buildings among natural "backyard," elements of landscape and patio public space.