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Cul-de-sac

Cul-de-sac

:For the musical group, see Cul de Sac (group). See also Dead end (disambiguation). Dead end (disambiguation).]] Dead end (disambiguation)]] A cul-de-sac (originally in anatomy: French, literally "bottom of a sack" or "bottom of bag") or dead-end street is a street with only one inlet/outlet. A cul-de-sac is usually differentiated by having a turnaround area at its closed end. In modern urban planning culs-de-sac are deliberately created to limit through-traffic in residential areas. While some culs-de-sac provide no possible passage, others allow cyclists, pedestrians or other non-automotive traffic to pass.

Suburban culs-de-sac

Since the 1970s, nearly all new subdivisions in America have made heavy use of the cul-de-sac. Typically, there is one or several central roads in the subdivision, with many culs-de-sac of varying length branching out, to fill all of the land in the subdivision. There are only a few roads (relative to the number of culs-de-sac) leading out of the subdivision, usually into other subdivisions or onto major roads. These changes can be attributed to real-estate developers' desire to meet FHA guidelines and make federal home loans available to their consumers[http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/publications/bulletins/01workshop/sub_landsc.htm]. This is in contrast to early 20th century American urban planning which emphasized a grid layout, partially out of wide reliance on streetcars, and alleys. The use of culs-de-sac reduces the amount of car traffic on residential streets within the subdivision, thus reducing noise and the potential for accidents. It also essentially eliminates non-motorized traffic and most through-traffic. This, in turn, is thought to decrease crime and increase desirability, because very few people enter the neighborhood who do not live there, or are the guests of people who do. It also facilitates gated communities, because of the small number of entrances.

Counter intuition

More recent evidence with culs-de-sac suggests that the lack of traffic may allow misbehavior in the street that a through route would tame by the risk of being spotted by motorists. More generally, the New Urbanism movement has offered criticism of the cul-de-sac and other streets not intended to network with each other. It has been suggested that such street layouts can cause increased traffic on the non-cul-de-sac streets, make navigation (especially on foot) inconvenient and non-intuitive, and reduce the size of any given neighborhood to a single street. This applies especially to back-to-front housing where the front of the house fronts onto the cul-de-sac lane while the rear fronts onto the main roads. The Macquarie Fields riots of 2005 were a result of this kind of urban design.

See again

It's a Catalan word and has the same meaning showed before: a street without exit. Category:French phrases Category:Types of streets

Cul de Sac (group)

Cul de Sac are a rock music group formed in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois and led by guitarist Glenn Jones. Their music is primarily instrumental. They have been classified by some as post rock, but Jones has expressed some discomfort with the term. He states that Cul de Sac is the most "musically satisfying" group he's been involved with; a group that is the "closest to being the band I'd dreamed of forming. It allows me to combine my love of open-tuned guitar, played fingerstyle, with my love for electronics and noise, all placed within a rhythmic rock framework." [http://people.bu.edu/nsmith/interview.htm] Cul de Sac have collaborated with guitarist John Fahey [http://www.scaruffi.com/interv/culdesac.html] and with Can singer Damo Suzuki. [http://www.jimdero.com/News2002/LiveSuzukiMay10.htm]

External links

- Official Site: [http://people.bu.edu/nsmith/culdesac.htm#home]

Pedestrian

, Australia]] A pedestrian is a person travelling on foot, whether walking or running. In modern times, the term mostly refers to someone walking on a road but this was not the case historically.

History

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, pedestrianism was a popular spectator sport just as equestrianism still is. One of the most famous pedestrians of the day was Captain Robert Barclay Allardice, known as "The Celebrated Pedestrian", of Stonehaven. His most impressive feat was to walk 1 mile every hour for 1000 hours, which he achieved between the 1st of June and the 12th of July, 1809. This feat captured the imagination of the public, and around 10,000 people came to watch over the course of the event. During the rest of the nineteenth century attempts to repeat this particular athletic challenge were made by many pedestrians including the renowned Ada Anderson who developed it further and walked a quarter-mile in each quarter-hour over the 1,000 hours. Since the nineteenth century, interest in pedestrianism has dropped. Although it is still an Olympic sport, it fails to catch public attention in the way that it used to. However, pedestrians are still carrying out major walking feats such as the popular Land's End to John o' Groats walk, in the United Kingdom, or traversal of North America from coast to coast. These feats are often tied to charitable fundraising and have been achieved by celebrities such as Sir Jimmy Savile or Ian Botham as well as by people not otherwise in the public eye.

Health and Environment

Regular walking is very important for both a person's health and the natural environment. Obesity and related medical problems can be effectively prevented and/or cured by moving on foot on a daily basis. The widespread habit of taking the car for short grocery trips significantly contributes to both obesity and the emissions problem, as internal combustion engines are extremely inefficient and highly polluting during their first minutes of operation (engine cold start). General availability of public transportation encourages walking, as it won't take one directly to one's doorstep.

Roads

Nowadays, roads often have a designated footpath attached especially for pedestrian traffic, called the sidewalk in American English and the pavement in British English. There are also footpaths not associated with a road which are used purely by pedestrians, particularly ramblers, hikers or hill-walkers and there are roads not associated with a footpath. Such footpaths in mountainous or forested areas are called trails. On some of the latter, pedestrians share the road with horses and vehicles whilst on others they are forbidden from using the road altogether. Also some shopping streets are for pedestrians only. Some roads have special pedestrian crossings. A bridge solely for pedestrians is a footbridge.

Pedestrianisation

Efforts are underway by pedestrian advocacy groups to restore pedestrian access to new developments, especially to counteract newer developments where 20 to 30 percent do not include sidewalks. Some activists advocate large auto-free zones where pedestrians only or pedestrians and some non motorised vehicles are allowed. Many urbanists have extolled the virtues of pedestrian streets in urban areas. Many urban streets in the USA lack street lighting (lamp poles), based on the reasoning that cars have headlights to illuminate their own way. This policy severely restricts or effectively prohibits pedestrian traffic and contributes to excessive car use on short distance trips. In contrast pedestrian traffic is officially encouraged in some parts of the European Union and construction or separation of dedicated walking routes receives a high priority in most large European city centres, often in conjunction with public transport enhancements. In Copenhagen the world's longest pedestrian shopping area, the Strøget, has been developed over the last 40 years principically due to the work of Danish architect Jan Gehl. The word pedestrian also has a figurative meaning of "unimaginative" or "ordinary." Ex: She wrote pages and pages of pedestrian prose.

External links

- [http://www.ultramarathonworld.com/uw_archive/m18ja00a.html Ultramarathons]
- [http://www.lehigh.edu/dmd1/public/www-data/kelly.html Early Pedestrians in North America]
- [http://www.preservenet.com/politics/PedsRights.html Pedestrian Advocacy Groups]
- [http://www.transalt.org/campaigns/reclaiming/ Transportation Alternatives: Pedestrian Advocacy]
- [http://americawalks.org/ America Walks] Category:Transportation ja:歩行者

Subdivision

Subdivision is the process of subdividing something, usually land, into smaller pieces. A subdivision is one of these pieces. Often, the local government will require that a surety bond is in place to begin work on a subdivision. The bond is required to guarantee completion of the job. Some obligees will allow the principal to obtain other forms of gurantee including: Irrevocable Letter of Credit (ILOC), Tripartite Agreements, or Certificates of Deposit (CDs). The following articles deal with subdivisions:
- Housing subdivision
- Land subdivision
- Subnational entity
- See Also Surety Bonds

External links

- [http://www.jwsuretybonds.com/faq_letter_of_credit.htm Subdivision Bond vs. Letter of Credit]

Urban planning

under the reign of Napoleon III in the 19th century.]] Urban, city, or town planning, deals with the physical, social and economic development of metropolitan regions, municipalities and neighborhoods. Other professions deal in more detail with a smaller scale of development, namely architecture, landscape architecture and urban design. Regional planning deals with a still larger environment, at a less detailed level. The Greek Hippodamus is often considered the father of city planning, for his design of Miletus, though examples of planned cities permeate antiquity. Muslims are thought to have originated the idea of formal zoning (see haram and hima and the more general notion of khalifa, or "stewardship" from which they arise), although modern usage in the West largely dates from the ideas of the Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne. Historically, city planning originated from within architecture and civil engineering, and employed a highly rational approach to solving city problems through physical design. However, a number of broad critiques of modernist city planning that gained momentum in the 1960s (for example, those of Jane Jacobs) helped expand the domain of urban planning to include economic development planning, community social planning and environmental planning.

History

The Indus Valley civilization in the Indian subcontinent is recognized as having been the first to develop urban planning. By 2600 BC some pre-Harappan settlements grew into cities containing thousands of people who were not primarily engaged in agriculture, creating a unified culture whose sudden appearance appears to have been the result of planned, deliberate effort. Some settlements appear to have been deliberately rearranged to conform to a conscious, well-developed plan. For this reason, the Indus Valley civilization is recognized as having first developed urban planning. In ancient times, Romans used a consolidated scheme for city planning, developed for military defense and civil convenience. Effectively, many European towns still preserve the essence of these schemes, as in Turin. The basic plan is a central plaza with city services, surrounded by a compact grid of streets and wrapped in a wall for defense. To reduce travel times, two diagonal streets cross the square grid corner-to-corner, passing through the central square. A river usually flows through the city, to provide water and transport, and carry away sewage, even in sieges. During the last two centuries in the Western world (Western Europe, North America, Japan and Australasia) planning and architecture can be said to have gone through various stages of general consensus. Firstly there was the industrialised city of the 19th Century, where control of building was largely held by businesses and the wealthy elite. Around the turn of the 20th Century there began to be a movement to providing people, and factory workers in particular, with healthier environments. The concept of garden cities arose and some model towns were built, such as Welwyn Garden City in England. However, these were principally small scale in size, typically dealing with only a few thousand residents, and it wasn't until the 1920s when modernism began to surface. A modernist city was to be a sort of efficient, workable utopia. There were plans for large scale rebuilding of cities, such as Paris in France, though nothing major happened until the devastation caused by the Second World War. After this, some modernist buildings and communities were built. However they were cheaply constructed and became notorious for their social problems. Modernism can be said to have ended in the 1970s when the construction of the cheap, uniform tower blocks ended in many counties, such as Britain and France. Since then many have been demolished and in their way more conventional housing has been built. Rather than making everything uniform and perfect, planning now concentrates on individualism and diversity in society and the economy. This is the post-modernist era.

Planning and aesthetics

In developed countries there has been a backlash against excessive man-made clutter in the environment, such as bollards (signposts), signs, and hoardings (temporary fences around construction sites). Other issues that generate strong debate amongst urban designers are tensions between peripheral growth, increased housing density and planned new settlements. There are also unending debates about the benefits of mixing tenures and land uses, versus the benefits of distinguishing geographic zones where different uses predominate. Successful urban planning considers character, of "home" and "sense of place", local identity, respect for natural, artistic and historic heritage, an understanding of the "urban grain" or "townscape," pedestrians and other modes of traffic, utilities and natural hazards, such as flood zones. Some say that the medieval piazza and arcade are the most widely appreciated elements of successful urban design, as demonstrated by the Italian cities of Siena and Bologna. While it is rare that cities are planned from scratch planners are important in managing the growth of cities, applying tools like zoning to manage the uses of land, and growth management to manage the pace of development. When examined historically, many of the cities now thought to be most beautiful are the result of dense, long lasting systems of prohibitions and guidance about building sizes, uses and features. These allowed substantial freedoms, yet enforce styles, safety, and often materials in practical ways. Many conventional planning techniques are being repackaged as smart growth. There are some cities that have been planned from conception, and while the results often don't turn out quite as planned, evidence of the initial plan often remains. See List of planned cities. Some of the most successful planned cities consist of cells that include park-space, commerce and housing, and then repeat the cell. Usually cells are separated by streets. Often each cell has unique monuments and gardening in the park, and unique gates or boundary-markers for the edges of the cell. The commercial areas naturally become diverse. These differences help instill a sense of place, while the similarities of the cells make each place in the city familiar.

Planning and safety

List of planned cities Many cities are constructed in places subject to flood, storm surges, extreme weather or war. City planners can cope with these. If the dangers can be localized (for flood or storm surge), the affected regions can be made into parkland or greenbelt, often with lovely results. Another practical method is simply to build the city on ridges, and the parks and farms in valleys. Extreme weather, flood, war or other emergencies can often be greatly mitigated with secure evacuation routes and emergency operations centers. These are relatively inexpensive and unintrusive, and many consider them a reasonable precaution for any urban space. Many cities also have planned, built safety features, such as levees, retaining walls, and shelters. Some planning methods might help an elite group to control ordinary citizens. This was certainly the case of Rome (Italy), where Fascism in the 1930s created ex novo many new suburbs in order to concentrate criminals and poorer classes away from the elegant town. In recent years, practitioners have also been expected to maximize the accessibility of an area to people with different abilities, practising the notion of "inclusive design," to anticipate criminal behavior and consequently to "design-out crime" and to consider "traffic calming" or "pedestrianization" as ways of making urban life more bearable. City planning tries to control criminality with structures designed from theories like socio-architecture or environmental determinism. These theories say that an urban environment can influence individuals' obedience to social rules. The theories often say that psychological pressure develops in more densely developed, unadorned areas. This stress causes some crimes and some use of illegal drugs. The antidote is usually more individual space and better, more beautiful design in place of functionalism. Other social theories point out that in England and most countries since the 18th century, the transformation of societies from rural agriculture to industry caused a difficult adaptation to urban living. These theories emphasize that many planning policies ignore personal tensions, forcing individuals to live in a condition of perpetual extraneity to their cities. Many people therefore lack the comfort of feeling "at home" when at home. Often these theorists seek a reconsideration of commonly used "standards" that rationalize the outcomes of a free (relatively unregulated) market.

Planning and transport

There is a direct, well-researched connection between the density of an urban environment, and the amount of transport into that environment. Good quality transport is often followed by development. Development beyond a certain density can quickly overcrowd transport. Good planning attempts to place higher densities of jobs or residents near high-volume transport. For example, some cities permit commerce and multi-storey apartment buildings only within one block of train stations and four-lane boulevards, and accept single-family dwellings and parks further away. Densities are usually measured as the floor area of buildings divided by the land area, or in a residential context, by the number of dwellings divided by the land area. Floor area ratios below 1.5 are low density. Plot ratios above five are very high density. Most exurbs are below two, while most city centers are well above five. Walk-up apartments with basement garages can easily achieve a density of three. Skyscrapers easily achieve densities of thirty or more. Higher densities tempt developers with higher profits. City authorities may try to encourage lower densities to reduce infrastructure costs, though some observers note that low densities may not accommodate enough population to provide adequate demand or funding for that infrastructure. In the UK, recent years have seen a concerted effort to increase the density of residential development in order to better achieve sustainable development. Increasing development density has the advantage of making mass transport systems, district heating and other community facilities (schools, health centres, etc) more viable. However critics of this approach dub the densification of development as 'town cramming' and claim that it lowers quality of life and precludes residents from realising their (sub)urban desire (right?) for a house with a garden and off-road parking space. Automobiles are well suited to serve densities as high as 1.5 with basic limited-access highways. Innovations such as car-pool lanes and rush hour-use taxes may get automobiles to neighbourhoods with plot ratios as high as 2.5. Densities above 5 are well-served by trains. Most such areas were actually developed in response to trains in the middle 1800s, and have historically high ridership that have never used automobiles for their work trip. A widespread problem is that there is a range of residential densities between about two and five that causes severe traffic jams of automobiles, yet are too low to be commercially served by trains or light rail. The conventional solution is to use buses, but these and light rail systems may fail where automobiles and excess road network capacity are both available, achieving less than 1% ridership. Some theoretricians speculate that personal rapid transit might coax people from their automobiles, and yet effectively serve intermediate densities, but this has not been demonstrated. The Lewis-Mogridge Position claims that increasing road space is not an effective way of relieving traffic jams as latent or induced demand invariably emerges to restore a socially-tolerable level of congestion.

Planning and suburbanization

In some countries declining satisfaction with the urban environment is held to blame for continuing migration to smaller towns and rural areas (so-called urban exodus), so successful urban planning can bring benefits to a much larger hinterland or city region and help to reduce both congestion along transport routes and the wastage of energy implied by excessive commuting. A strong belief that the behaviour of individuals living in or frequenting an area can be heavily influenced by its physical design and layout is called environmental determinism.

Planning and the environment

Arcology seeks to unify the fields of ecology and architecture, especially landscape architecture, to achieve a harmonious environment for all living things. On a small scale, the eco-village theory has become popular, as it emphasizes a traditional 100-140 person scale for communities. In most advanced urban or village planning models, local context is critical. In many, gardening assumes a central role not only in agriculture but in the daily life of citizens. A series of related movements including green anarchism, eco-anarchism, eco-feminism and Slow Food have put this in a political context as part of a focus on smaller systems of resource extraction, and waste disposal, ideally as part of living machines which do such recycling automatically, just as nature does. The modern theory of natural capital emphasizes this as the primary difference between natural and infrastructural capital, and seeks an economic basis for rationalizing a move back towards smaller village units. A common form of planning that leads to suburban sprawl is single use zoning.

References

- Tunnard, Christopher and Boris Pushkarev, Man-Made America: Chaos or Control?: An Inquiry into Selected Problems of Design in the Urbanized Landscape, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1963. (This book won the National Book Award, strictly America; a time capsule of photography and design approach.)
- (A standard text for many college and graduate courses in city planning in America)

External links

- [http://www.planning.org/ American Planning Association] — organization for professional planners
- [http://www.narc.org/ National Association of Regional Councils]
- [http://www.ampo.org/ Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations]
- [http://www.carfree.com/ Carfree.com]
- [http://www.citycomforts.com/blog.html City Comforts]
- [http://www.citymayors.com/ City Mayors] - Reporting on local government worldwide
- [http://www.cyburbia.org/ Cyburbia] — urban planning-related message boards, wiki, image galleries, and hierarchical link directory
- [http://www.planetizen.com/ PLANetizen] — planning news
- [http://www.planum.net/ Planum] — The European Journal of Planning
- [http://www.rtpi.org.uk/ Royal Town Planning Institute] — professional organisation of planners in UK and worldwide
- [http://www.uli.org/ Urban Land Institute]
- [http://www.urbanplanet.org Urban Planet] — An online forum for urbanists
- [http://www.worldmayor.com/ World Mayor] - The world's most outstanding mayors ja:都市計画

Tram

:For other meanings of tram, see tram (disambiguation). tram (disambiguation), Finland]] Finland. It delivers parts to the Transparent Factory]] A tram (tramcar, trolley, or streetcar) is a railborne vehicle, lighter than a train, designed for the transport of passengers (and/or, very occasionally, freight) within, close to, or between villages, towns and/or cities. Trams are distinguished from other forms of railway systems in that they travel wholly or partly along tracks laid down in streets, usually on track reserved for the tram system. A cable car is a special type of tram. Tram systems are common throughout Europe and were common throughout the western world in the early 20th century. Although they disappeared from many cities for many years in the mid 20th century, in recent years they have made a comeback. The terms "tram" and "tramway" were originally Scots and Northern English words for the type of truck used in coal mines and the tracks on which these trucks ran — probably derived from a North Sea Germanic word of unknown origin meaning the "beam or shaft of a barrow or sledge", also "a barrow or truck body". The sense of "streetcar" is first recorded in 1860.

History

1860]] Appearing in the first half of the 19th century, trams were at first pulled by horses. 19th century The first trams, known as streetcars or horsecars, were built in the US, and developed from city stagecoach lines and omnibus lines that picked up and dropped off passengers on a regular route and without the need to be pre-hired. These first lines operated in Baltimore, Maryland in 1828, in 1832 on the New York and Harlem Railroad in New York City, and in 1834 in New Orleans. At first the rails protruded above street level, causing accidents and major trouble for pedestrians. They were supplanted in 1852 by grooved rails, invented by Alphonse Loubat. The first tram in France was inaugurated in 1853 for the World's Fair, where a test line was presented along the Cours de la Reine, in the 8th arrondissement. Trams were first regularly used in Europe in Sarajevo, starting in 1885. These streetcars were an animal railway, usually using horses and sometimes mules to haul the cars, usually two as a team. Rarely other animals were tried, including humans in emergencies. One of the advantages over earlier forms of transit was the low rolling resistance of metal wheels on steel rails, allowing the animals to haul a greater load for a given effort. Problems included the fact that any given animal could only work so many hours on a given day, had to be housed, groomed, fed and cared for day in and day out, and produced prodigious amounts of manure, which the streetcar company was charged with disposing of. Since a typical horse pulled a car for perhaps a dozen miles a day and worked for four or five hours, many system needed ten or more horses in stable for each horsecar. New York City had the last regular horsecar lines in the U.S., closing in 1914. A mule-powered line in Celaya, Mexico operated until 1956. Horse-drawn trams still operate in Douglas, Isle of Man. Isle of Man in the United States]] The tram developed after that in numerous cities of Europe (London, Berlin, Paris, etc.). Faster and more comfortable than the omnibus, trams had a high cost of operation because they were pulled by horses. That is why mechanical drives were rapidly developed: with steam power in 1873, and electrical after 1881, when Siemens AG presented the electric drive at the International Electricity Exhibition in Paris. The convenience and economy of electricity resulted in its rapid adoption once the technical problems of production and transmission of electricity were solved. The first electric tram opened in Berlin in 1881.

Cable pulled cars

Main article: Cable car (railway) The next type of streetcar was the cable car, which sought to reduce labor costs and the hardship on animals. Cable cars are pulled along a rail track by a continuously moving cable running at a constant speed on which individual cars stop and start by releasing and gripping this cable as required. The power to move the cable is provided at a site away from the actual operation. The first cable car line in the United States was tested in San Francisco, California in 1873. Cable cars suffered from high infrastructure costs, since a vast and expensive system of cables, pulleys, stationary engines and vault structures between the rails had to be provided. They also require strength and skill to operate, to avoid obstructions and other cable cars. The cable had to be dropped at particular locations and the cars coast, for example when crossing another cable line. After the development of electrically-powered streetcars, the more costly cable car systems declined rapidly. Cable cars were especially useful in hilly cities, partially explaining their survival in San Francisco, though the most extensive cable system in the U.S. was in Chicago, Illinois, a flat city. The San Francisco cable cars continue to perform a regular transportation function, in addition to being a tourist attraction.

Electric trams (trolley cars)

San Francisco cable cars successfully demonstrated his new system on the hills in 1888]] Electric-powered trams (trolley cars, so called for the trolley pole used to gather power from an unshielded overhead wire), were first successfully tested in service in Richmond, Virginia in 1888, in an installation by Frank J. Sprague. There were earlier commercial installations of electric streetcars, including one in Berlin, Germany, as early as 1881 by Werner von Siemens and the company that still bears his name, and also one in St. Petersburg, Russia, invented and tested by Fiodor A. Pirotskiy in 1880. Another was by John Joseph Wright, brother of the famous mining entrepreneur Whitaker Wright, in Toronto in 1883. The earlier installations, however, proved difficult and/or unreliable. Siemens' line, for example, provided power through a live rail and a return rail, like a model train setup, limiting the voltage that could be used, and providing unwanted excitement to people and animals crossing the tracks. Siemens later designed his own method of current collection, this time from an overhead wire, called the bow collector. Once this had been developed his cars became equal to, if not better, than any of Sprague's cars. Since Sprague's installation was the first to prove successful in all conditions, he is credited with being the inventor of the trolley car. A rare but significant variant of the trolley car was the conduit car, which drew its power from an underground third rail.

Golden Age

third rail]] Trams experienced a rapid expansion at the start of the 20th century until the period between the two world wars. There was a rapid increase in the number of lines and increase in the number of riders: indeed, it became the primary mode of urban transportation. Horse-drawn transport virtually disappeared in all European, American and Indian cities by 1910. Buses were still in a development phase at this time, gaining in mechanical reliability, but remaining behind compared to the benefits offered by trams; the automobile was still reserved for the well-to-do.

A temporary disappearance from many cities

In several countries the advent of personal motor vehicles caused the rapid disappearance of the tram from most western and Asian countries by the end of the 1950s. The technical progress of the bus rendered it more reliable, and it became a serious competitor to the tram because it did not require the construction of costly infrastructure. In many cases buses also provided a smoother ride and a faster journey than the older trams. For example, the tram network survived in Budapest but for a considerable period of time bus fares were higher to recognise the superior quality of the buses. Governments thus put investment principally into bus networks. Indeed, infrastructure for roads and highways meant for the automobile were perceived as a mark of progress. The priority given to roads is illustrated in the proposal of French president Georges Pompidou who declared in 1971 that "the city must adapt to the car". Tram networks were no longer maintained or modernized, a state of affairs that served to discredit them in the eyes of the public. Old lines, considered archaic, were then bit by bit replaced by buses. Tram networks disappeared almost completely from North America, France, the UK, India, Turkey, Spain and South Africa. On the other hand, they were maintained or modernized in Switzerland, Germany, Croatia, Poland, Finland, Romania, Austria, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and Japan. In France and the UK, only the networks in Lille, Saint-Etienne, Marseille, and Blackpool survive from this period, but they are each reduced to a single line. Australian tram networks disappeared by the 1970s, with the exception of the extensive system in Melbourne and the Glenelg line in Adelaide.

Return to grace

The priority given to personal vehicles and notably to the automobile led to a loss in quality of life, particularly in large cities where smog, traffic congestion, sound pollution and parking became problematic. Acknowledging this, some authorities saw fit to redefine their transport policies. The bus had shown its limits on account of its low capacity and its difficult coexistence with automobile traffic, which made it slow both on the road and commercially. Subways required a heavy investment and presented problems in terms of subterranean spaces that required constant security. For subways, the investment was mainly in underground construction, which made it impossible in some cities (with underground water reserves, archaeological remains, etc.). Subway construction thus was not a universal panacea. The advantages of the tram thus became more visible. At the end of the 1970s, some governments studied, and then built new tram lines. In France, Nantes and Grenoble lead the way in terms of the modern tram, and new systems were inaugurated in 1985 and 1988. In 1994 Strasbourg opened a system with novel British-built trams, specified by the city, with the goal of breaking with the archaic conceptual image that was held by the public. The public, who realized with each installation of tram lines their benefits in urban flexibility and redistribution and the reduction in downtown automobile traffic, encouraged numerous city governments to so equip their streets. Many cities already equipped with trams have extended their lines and built new ones. A great example of this shift in ideology is the city of Munich, which began replacing its tram network with a rapid transit a few years before the 1972 Summer Olympics. When the metro network was finished in the 1990s the city began to tear out the tram network (which had become rather old and decrepit), but now faced opposition from many citizens who enjoyed the enhanced mobility of the mixed network - the metro lines deviate from the tram lines to a significant degree. New rolling stock was purchased and the system was modernized, and a new line was proposed in 2003.

Technical developments

Later, cable cars were attached to a moving cable underneath the road. The cable would be pulled by a steam engine at a powerhouse. The Monongahela and Duquesne Inclines in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, have some of the appearance of trams, but are more accurately funiculars. Modern trams generally use overhead electric cables, from which they draw current through a pantograph, a bow collector (less commonly) or the now-rare trolley pole (the first is most common and used on most new tram designs). The first operational electric street railway was started in Scranton, Pennsylvania, but the first large-scale electric street railway system was built in Richmond, Virginia in January, 1888. By 1890 over 100 such systems had been begun or were planned. There are other methods of powering electric trams, sometimes preferred for aesthetic reasons since poles and overhead wires are not required. The old tram systems in London, Manhattan (New York City), and Washington D.C. used live rails, like those on third-rail electrified railways, but in a conduit underneath the road, from which they drew power through a plough. Washington's was the last of these to close, in 1962. Today, no commercial tramway uses this system. More recently, a modern equivalent has been developed which allows for the safe installation of a third rail on city streets, which is known as surface current collection or ground level power supply; the main example of this is the new tramway in Bordeaux. In narrow situations double-track tram lines sometimes reduce to single track, or, to avoid switches, have the tracks interlaced, e.g. in the Leidsestraat in Amsterdam on three short stretches (see [http://adres.asp4all.nl/asp/get.asp?map_width=474&map_height=396&view=&laag=AmsterdamLite_Alleen_Kaart.mwf&xdl=Stadsplattegrond&xsl=Layout&straat=DAM&huisnummer=1&postcode_n=1012&postcode_a=JS&x_coord=121399&y_coord=487379&panning=true&point=&minx=120658.02971199994&maxx=120741.37028799993&miny=486378.4868480003&maxy=486448.11315200035&zoom=333 map detail]); this is known as interlaced or gauntlet track. Traditionally trams had high floors, requiring passengers to climb several steps in order to board, but since the 1990s this design has been largely replaced by low-floor trams, or occasionally by high-floor trams with level boarding platforms, as in Manchester's Metrolink and some parts of Cologne's network, which allow passengers in wheelchairs or with perambulators to access vehicles more easily. perambulator]]

Tram-train

Tram-train operation uses vehicles such as the Flexity Link and Regio-Citadis which are suited for use on urban tram lines, but also meet the necessary indication, power, and resistance requirements to be certified for operation on main line railways. This allows passengers to travel from suburban areas into city-centre destinations without having to change from a train to a tram when they arrive at the central station. It has been primarily developed in Germanic countries, in particular Germany and Switzerland. Karlsruhe is a notable pioneer of the tram-train. This system should be brought into service in the Paris area in 2005.

Pros and cons of tram systems

Advantages

- The initial investment is high, but it remains affordable for a medium-sized city. A kilometre of tram generally costs only a third of the investment for a kilometre of underground metro line, since no boring is needed, but the public roads must be rebuilt to incorporate the rails and also cable lines must be installed.
- Elevated systems such as the monorail and the light metro require a special urbanism with large avenues and buildings in which to integrate the stations. It is also very difficult to compare their prices.
- The infrastructure needed by the trams usually requires an extension of the pedestrian sectors.
- Unlike buses, but like trolleybuses, (electric) trams give off no exhaust emissions at point of use.

Disadvantages

trolleybus
- The initial cost is larger when compared with the bus, which is usually preferred by smaller cities
- Average speed is lower than in metros (but stops are more frequent than metro stations), unless long lengths of reserved track are involved (if most of the route is off-street then it is called light rail) (maximum around 7,000 passengers/hour, compared to 12,000 passengers/hour for the metro)
- Trams can dangerous for the cyclists, because they share the same roadway with the trams, however this and problems with parked cars are avoided by building tracks and platforms in the middle of the road.
- occupies urban space above ground and it needs modifications to traffic flow

Regional variations

Western Europe

metro, Spain]] In the Netherlands many local railways were referred to as trams, even where the steam locomotives did not have enclosed motion. In Belgium an extensive system of tram-like local railways called Vicinal or Buurtspoor lines had a greater route kilometre length than the main-line railway system. The only survivors of the Vicinal system are the Kusttram (which almost reaches France at one end and the Netherlands at the other - it's the longest line in the world) and two lines near Charleroi. Regular tram networks exists in Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels, and are very popular. France has several tram networks in major cities: in Paris suburban, in Lyon, in Nantes (Nantes has the largest French network). Recently the tram has seen a huge revival with many experiments like trolleybuses masquerading as trams in Nancy or hidden wires as in Bordeaux as the municipalities find it a quick fix to the traffic problems. In the United Kingdom, tram systems were widely dismantled in the 1950s, and after the closure of Glasgow's extensive network in 1962 only Blackpool's survived (see Blackpool tramway), although a funicular line continued to operate up the Great Orme in Llandudno. However in recent years new light rail lines have been opened in Manchester (Metrolink), Sheffield (Supertram), the West Midlands (Midland Metro), Croydon (Tramlink) and Nottingham (NET), with several others under consideration (including the proposed three-line Edinburgh Tram Network) and extensions planned for many existing systems. The Irish capital Dublin recently opened the first two lines of a new tram system known as Luas, the Irish-language word for "speed". The Norwegian capital Oslo has an extensive network, as does the Swedish city of Gothenburg. In Finland, there have been three cities with trams: Helsinki, Turku and Viipuri. Of these, only Helsinki still has trams. In Italy electric trams have run from the last years of 19th century (the first horse-drawn line opened between Milan and Monza in the 1840s). The first electric line was opened in Milan in 1893. Today Milan has 21 tramlines totalling 286.8 km. Rome (7 lines), Turin (10 lines), Naples (2 lines), Messina (1 line), Florence (3 line), Trieste (1 line), and L'Aquila (1 line) also have tramways. Other cities are building new tramlines: Bergamo (1 line of 12.6 km), Cagliari (1 line of 7 km), Modena (2 lines of 16.5 km), Palermo (3 lines of 16.6 km), Sassari (1 line of 7 km) and Verona (1 line of 11.3 km).

Central and Eastern Europe

Verona.]] All countries of the former Soviet Bloc, excluding Lithuania, have extensive tram infrastructure. Industrial freight use of city tram lines was a widespread practice during the Communist era but has since mostly disappeared, as factories left the urban areas. Another factor is an increasing replacement of trams with trolleybuses as cities face a rapid increase in traffic and such replacement often allows to increase road size. One of the exceptions is Warsaw, Poland, where the last trolleybus line was closed in the year 1995 due to high maintenance costs, and replaced with more efficient trams. Czech ČKD Tatra and the Hungarian Ganz factories were notable manufacturers of trams. The busiest traditional city tram line in the world is still route 4/6 in Budapest, Hungary, where 50-meter long trains run at 60 to 90 second intervals at peak time and are usually packed with people. A part of this route is the same as where electric trams made their world first run in 1887. Most vehicles are still of high-floor type, in fact many of them are old ones. Low floor hi-tech trams are only starting to infiltrate Central European lines due to their high price and high maintenance costs.

North America

Low floor] Note that in North America, trams are generally known as streetcars, while the term tram is more likely to be understood as a rubber-tired mock streetcar, an aerial tramway or a people-mover. Many North American cities abandoned their streetcar systems in the mid-twentieth century, due to the popularity of the automobile and government policies favoring it. However, traditional systems survived in Boston (MBTA Green Line), Newark, New Orleans, Philadelphia (Subway-Surface Lines, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Toronto. This survival was aided by the introduction of the modern PCC car in the 1940s and 1950s in all these cities except New Orleans. New light rail systems have since opened in many other cities, starting with the ground-breaking system in San Diego, and now including Baltimore, Buffalo, Denver, Hoboken, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Ottawa, Portland, Sacramento, St Louis, Salt Lake City, San Jose, and Vancouver. Additionally, all the surviving PCC operators have replaced their PCC cars with light rail vehicles, although restored vintage PCC cars are still in regular operation on San Francisco's F Market line, a line popular among tourists. This line recently underwent an expansion to the Fisherman's Wharf area and a second line along the Embarcadero to the east is in the planning stages. Another trend originating in North America is the introduction of newly built heritage streetcar lines using original or replica historic equipment, a trend which is now spreading elsewhere in the world. Examples in North America include San Pedro, California, Little Rock, Memphis, Tampa, Seattle, Charlotte, North Carolina, the new Canal Street line in New Orleans, and the reintroduction of the historic Girard Street line in Philadelphia.

Asia

Philadelphia Asia has had relatively few tram systems, with the notable exception of Japan. Many Japanese cities have tram systems. Among them are Sapporo and Hakodate in Hokkaido; Tokyo, Kamakura, Kyoto, Osaka, and Hiroshima on Honshu; Matsuyama and Kochi on Shikoku; and Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, and Kagoshima on Kyushu. Some extend into neighboring communities. Hong Kong still possesses the Hong Kong Tramway, a traditional English-style double-decker tramway with street running, along the north shore of Hong Kong Island. More recently the KCRC Light Rail system has opened in the north west New Territories. Despite its name, the Peak Tram is actually a funicular railway. The Philippines once had a tram network in Manila, but it was destroyed during World War II. The system has been replaced with the LRT and MRT. In India, Kolkata (Calcutta) has a tram network. Chennai (Madras), Kanpur and Mumbai (Bombay) were the other three which had a network but were dismantled. The only cities in mainland China with a tram network are the seaside resort of Dalian in Liaoning, which as of 2003 had three working lines, Anshan in Liaoning and Changchun in Jilin. The last trams ran in Shanghai in the mid-1960s.

Australasia

In Australasia, trams are used extensively only in Melbourne, all other major cities having largely dismantled their networks by the mid 20th century.

Melbourne tram network

:Main article: Trams in Melbourne Melbourne has one of the world's most extensive tram systems. Trams in Melbourne In Melbourne, in addition to newer types of trams in use such as the Citadis and the Combino and the middle-aged A, B and Z class trams, older W-class trams remain in service and are a popular tourist attraction. W-class trams are used exclusively on the free City Circle tram route, and also in use on some regular routes. A total of 53 W-class trams remain in regular service, with the oldest in service tram dating from 1939.

Other cities with trams

Amongst other Australian cities, Sydney closed a once-extensive tram system in the 1950s but has since opened a new light rail line. Adelaide also closed its urban tram network, but has retained an express tram line linking the city centre with the seaside suburb of Glenelg. In 2005 there are plans to extend the line into North Adelaide and the main railway station. The smaller cities of Bendigo (Victoria) and Ballarat (Victoria) have retained small parts of their tramway operations. These have become major tourist attractions. Tourist trams also operate in Victor Harbor (South Australia) and Portland (Victoria) but have not had continuous service. Christchurch in New Zealand has recently constructed a new city-centre heritage line, using historic cars. Tram museums operate in many cities.

New tram proposals

Perth and Brisbane both have proposals to implement light rails systems in their respective CBDs. In Brisbane's case, several proposals have been made and each has been knocked back, but with the recent introduction of integrated ticketing under the TransLink scheme and expansive Queensland Government transport infrastructure plans, the most recent proposal may go ahead. Calls also are in place for the Gold Coast, just south of Brisbane, to solve their major traffic problems. Proposals also exist to extend the Sydney and Adelaide systems beyond one line each.

Historical facts

The Tasmanian city of Hobart was the first city in the Southern Hemisphere to operate a successful electric tramway system, installed in 1893, and the only Australian city to use the European-style 'bow collector', instead of Frank Sprague's trolley pole system. Another first for Hobart was its use of electric double-decker trams, the first city outside Europe to do so.

Africa

Hobart Hobart Tram systems were and are less prevalent in Africa. However, in Egypt both Cairo and Alexandria have historic and still extant tram systems and in South Africa tram services existed in cities like Johannesburg and Pretoria. In Cairo, the urban tramway network is now defunct, but the express tramway linking it with Heliopolis is still in operation, as is the relatively new tram system in the satellite town of Helwan 25km to the south. In Alexandria, both the urban tramway network and the express tramway system serving the eastern suburbs are still in operation. The urban system operates yellow cars, included some acquired second-hand from Copenhagen, on largely street track. The express tramway operates 3-car trains of blue cars, including some double-deck cars, on largely reserved track.

Streetcars in North America

History

Copenhagen's Green Line in Boston]] In Canada, most cities once had a streetcar system, but today Toronto's TTC is the only traditional operator of streetcars, and maintains the most extensive system in North America (in terms of total track length, number of cars, and ridership). New systems have been built in Edmonton, Alberta and Calgary, Alberta. The first lines built in the United States (and indeed the world) were in 1832 from New York City to Harlem by the New York and Harlem Railroad, and in 1834 in New Orleans. Most U.S. streetcar systems were removed by the 1950s as a result of the popularity of the automobile and government policies in favor of it. Contrary to popular belief, there was no conspiracy between GM and other automobile interests in removing the streetcar systems. Who removed them were the streetcar companies who over time replaced their streetcars for buses due to economic reasons, and the alleged novelity of buses.

Surviving systems

Not all streetcars systems were removed; the San Francisco cable cars are the most famous example in the United States. More conventional streetcar operations survived complete abandonment in Boston, Newark, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco in the United States, together with Toronto in Canada. All of these systems have received new equipment. Some of these cities have also rehabilitated lines, and Newark, New Orleans, and San Francisco have added trackage in recent years. In Toronto, the city has added two new lines in recent years, and is activly upgrading its other lines. Further expansion is planned in combination with the city's plans for the rejuvenation of its waterfront. More recently a number of cities in North America have built new light rail systems which operate partially in the right-of-way of city streets. These systems could be called trams by Europeans and Australians but are generally not known by that name within the US, where the term light rail is generally applied. Edmonton, Alberta was the location of one of the earliest of these new systems, which substantially utilised European technology, and was soon followed by similar installations in San Diego, California and Calgary, Alberta (see Edmonton Transit System, San Diego Trolley, and C-Train). In 2001, Portland, Oregon became the first city in North America to build a new streetcar system since the heyday of the PCC. The Portland Streetcar serves as a downtown circulator between the central city core, the trendy Pearl District and Northwest Portland, Portland State University, and a new mixed-use development along the Willamette River shoreline.

Heritage streetcar systems

Willamette River still running in Oberbozen, South Tyrol, Italy.]] Heritage streetcar systems are used in public transit service, combining light rail efficiency with America's nostalgia interests. Proponents claim that using a simple, reliable form of transit from 50 or 100 years ago can bring history to life for 21st century Americans. Systems are operating successfully in over 20 U.S. cities,and are in planning or construction stages in 40 more. Heritage systems currently operate in Little Rock, Arkansas, Memphis, Tennessee, Tampa, Florida, Kenosha, Wisconsin, and New Orleans, Louisiana are among the larger. Vancouver, Canada also has a heritage streetcar system that will be expanded to cover the south downtown area. Over 50 years after the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire opened on Broadway, the revival of streetcar operations in New Orleans is credited by many to the worldwide fame gained by the streetcars made by the Perley A. Thomas Car Works. These cars were operating on the system's Desire route in the 1947 play and later movie of the same name. Some of the original cars have been carefully restored locally and continue to operate in 2004.

External links

- [http://www.zeljeznice.net/galerija/categories.php?cat_id=89 Pictures of trams in Croatia] (HR)
- [http://www.lucajuventino.altervista.org/tram/ Trams in Turin] (IT)
- [http://www.geocities.com/alextracks/ Trams in Alexandria] (EG)
- [http://tramwaje-warszawskie.pol.pl/ Trams in Warsaw, Poland] (PL)
- [http://www.tram-ffo.de/ Tram of Frankfurt (Oder), Germany] (DE)
- [http://www.lrta.org/ Light Rail Transit Association] (GB)
- [http://lightrail.com/ Light Rail Central] (US/CA)
- [http://www.lightrailnow.org/ Light Rail Now advocacy] (US)
- [http://www.lightrail.nl/ Light Rail Netherlands] (NL)
- [http://www.xs4all.nl/%7erajvdb/lra/ Light Rail Atlas "Holland's Light Rail-pages for a world audience"] (NL) varying content in multiple languages
- [http://www.lostnewyorkcity.com/buildingphotos/Plate-51-b.html The Cable Building] Broadway Cable car line (US/NY)
- [http://villamosok.hu/ Trams in Hungary] (HU)
- [http://www.streetcar.org Market Street Railway] (US/CA)
- [http://public-transport.net Tram in Europe] (EU, Europe)
- [http://www.tramwajewcieszynie.prv.pl History of trams in Cieszyn, Poland] (PL)
- [http://www.dctrolley.org/ National Capital Trolley Museum] (US/MD)
- [http://www.heritagetrolley.org/existNewOrleans.htm APTA Heritage Trolley Systems New Orleans page]
- [http://www.wehmingen.de/ German National Tramway Collection, Hannover Tramway Museum Wehmingen](DE)
- [http://www.tramway.co.uk/ British National Tramway Museum, Crich](GB)
- [http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_072005_theelectrics.htm Reader's Companion to American History, Public Transportation: The Electric Streetcar]
- [http://www.tramways.freeserve.co.uk/ Tramway Information] Including TLRS and Festival of Model Tramways
- [http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/tramways/Articles/Compair.htm Compressed Air Trams]
- [http://www.mashke.org/kievtram/en/ In Memory of Kiev Trams]
- [http://www.mlyniec.gda.pl/~mach/index.html Trams in Poland; site in Polish and English] Category:Passenger equipment Category:Street railways Category:Electric railways Category:Electric vehicles ko:노면전차 ja:路面電車

Alley

] An alley or alleyway is a type of road found in densely populated urban areas. Alleys usually run between or behind buildings to allow for delivery and collection. Originally they were required for waste collection, delivery of coal (before the widespread adoption of central heating), or rear access for fire engines and parking. Blind alleys have no outlet at one end. The reduced usage of alleys has resulted in their decline. Under use, poor maintenance, poor night time illumination and narrow width has contributed to an increase in anti-social or illegal activities such as:
- dumping of rubbish
- sexual assault
- consensual sexual behaviour and/or prostitution
- urination
- burglary
- robbery
- illicit drug use
- murders (See Gail Miller) Modern urban developments rarely incorporate alleys. Installation of gates to restrict alleyway access have significantly reduced burglary rates. Andrés Duany, American architect, urban planner and a leader in the New Urbanism movement, an effort to end suburban sprawl, has long espoused the use of alleys as leading to a better integration of automobile and foot traffic in a neighborhood. His firm Duany Plater-Zyberk (DPZ) included alleys in their design for Prospect New Town, a New Urbanism project. The term service road is also used in the United Kingdom for alleys which are roads. Alleys which are narrow pavements between/behind buildings are known as alleyways or ginnels. In Australia the terms lane, laneway and serviceway are used. In the United States alleys are sometimes known as rear lanes because they are at the back of buildings. A bowling alley is a straight narrow lane or track used in the game of bowling. Category:Road transport

Gated community

)]] In its modern form, a gated community is a form of residential community characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences, and controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles. Gated communities usually consist of small residential streets and include various amenities. For smaller communities this may be only a park or other common area. For larger communities, it may be possible for residents to stay within the community for most day-to-day activities. Gated communities are a type of Common Interest Community (CIC) or Common Interest Development (CID), but are distinct from intentional communities. Some gated communities, usually called guard-gated communities, are staffed by private security guards, often with CCTV and other electronic aids. Most gated communities in a civilized society are for disavantaged persons; some retirement villages boarding schools, hospitals, nursing homes, psychiatric and social treatment centers and all correctional places (including prisons).

Amenities

The amenities available depend on many factors. If there are sub-associations that belong to master associations, the master association may provide many of the amenities. In general, the larger the association the more amenities that can be provided. Amenities depend on the type of housing. For example, single family communities many not have a common area pool since the individual owners may want their own pools whereas a condominium may offer a pool since the individual units cannot have their own pool. Typical amenities offered can include:
- Pool(s)
- A Community Center or club house
- Play areas
- Exercise areas that include exercise machines
- Spa(s)
- Sauna(s)

A worldwide phenomenon

A limited number of gated communities have long been established for foreigners in various regions of the world. Some examples include, the worker compounds in the Middle East, built largely for the oil industry, or the compounds built under apartheid in South Africa. Related are the closed cities of Russia. In more recent times, a much larger number of gated communities has rapidly developed in various regions throughout the world, especially in China, Mexico, Brazil and the United States. Especially in China, the trend towards gated communities is accelerating, in response to changing laws and economics. In 2000, eight million U.S. residents lived in gated communities. In many parts of the world, buyers are expressing a preference for gated communities. While many see living in a gated community as offering increased security, this has not been shown to be the case. Walls are frequently low enough for someone to climb over them. Gates can be bypassed by tailgating cars and, for those willing, access through the sewer system. In Brazil, the most widespread form of gated community is called "condomínio fechado" (closed housing estate) and is the the object of desire of the upper classes. Such a place is a small town with its own infrastructure (backup power supply, sanitation and security guards). Some even have schools for the children so that they will only need to leave the community after the first five years of elementary school. The purpose of such a community is to protect its residents from outside violence. The same philosophy is seen on closed buildings and most shopping centres (many of them can only be accessed from inside the parking lot or the garage). The boom of "condomínios fechados" has been receding lately due to the general perception that it is useless to fence the world outside to escape violence, as violence will eventually find its way in. In China, all new residential developments are required to be gated.

Analysis

Real estate developers design and build gated communities because buyers want them; the existence of walls and gates around a community enhances the value of the homes located there. Many homeowners prefer to live in gated communities, just as many apartment dwellers prefer secured buildings, not only as a deterrent to crime, but also to enjoy privacy and peace of mind. Physical walls, in some cases fortified and surveilled, give the inhabitants a sense of security. Some sociologists have criticized the creation of these type of walls as fortressing and have compared them to historical fortifications. Opponents of gated communities argue that physical segregation is not always necessary to create defensible space, that is, to establish control over a particular space. They claim symbolic barriers can be sufficient. Another attribute of gated communities is that, in many cases, their population is homogeneous, that is, grouped along boundaries of social class, race/ethnicity or culture. White flight is often a factor in this respect.

Examples

Some of the newest gated communities in China include:
- Riverside Garden [http://218.25.39.149/74598586884554752/20021226/1045557.shtml (more info)], (Shenyang city, Liaoning province) A luxury development with over 1,000 housing units, a supermarket, business center, laundry delivery service, tennis court, and fitness club.
- Beijing Riviera [http://www.bjriviera.com/select.html (more info)], (Chaoyang District, Beijing) This multi-faceted development includes hundreds of apartments, condominiums, and villas, along with an onsite water treatment plant, an office center, sports and recreation facilities (including swimming pools, tennis courts, a skate park, and a golf driving range), a supermarket, a beauty salon, and a travel agency.
- Oriental Grand Garden [http://www.moveandstay.com/shanghai/apartments_description.asp?id=1451 (more info)] (Pudong District, Shanghai) The facilities at this gated community include a swimming pool, spa, gym, tennis court, a hair salon, and a 24-hour convenience store.
- Vanke Garden City [http://www.vanke.com/main/defaultEnglish.aspx (more info)] (Wuchang District, Wuhan) is a new gated community on the southern side of the Wuchang District of Wuhan City in Hubei Province, which currently (May 2005) is awaiting its first new occupants. Some residential buildings are still under construction, but most have already been built, with apartments being decorated prior to the new owners moving in. Facilities(not restrooms) already up and running include the "Cross Country Jeep Bar" bar/restaurant. Facilities normally expected of such a community are expected to open once the new residents arrive. A similar Vanke development already exists in the northern Hankou area of the city, near the Tian He Airport expressway and the new racecourse. Some of the gated communities in Mexico include:
- Bajamar [http://www.bajaexpo.com/cities/bajam.htm#anchor234567 (more info)], Baja A gated complex of homes and condominiums, with a view of the Pacific Ocean, centered around a 27-hole golf course.
- Chula Vista Norte [http://www.mexconnect.com/amex/cvn/ (more info)], (San Antonio, Jalisco) This secure development overlooks Lake Chapala, and offers various sizes of lots on which to build homes. Examples of gated communities in the United States include Seagate in Brooklyn, New York and Coto de Caza, in Orange County, California. The perpetrators of the famous $17 Million Loomis Fargo heist [http://www.rhinotimes.com/greensboro/archives/091902/story03.html] moved from a mobile home into the gated Cramer Mountain community in a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina, NC following the theft in the hope of keeping the authorities at bay. Consequently, the gang became known as The Cramer Mountain Hillbillies. In the United Kingdom, gated communities can usually be found in London, especially in the Docklands, such as New Caledonian Wharf, Kings and Queen Wharf and Pan Peninsula and East London, for example Bow Quarter in Bow, London. Brazil also has many gated communities, particularly in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. For example, one of Sao Paulo's suburbs, Tamborei, has at least 6 such compounds known as Tamborei 1, 2, 3, and so on. Each consists of generously spaced detached houses with very little to separate front gardens. Thus many of the city's suburbs resemble wealthy suburbs in North America, Europe and other wealthy countries. Because of the high crime rate, Manila in the Philippines also has a large number of gated and heavily defended communities. There is an increasing number of gated communities in Poland.

Gated communities in fiction

J.G. Ballard has examined the phenomenon in his novel Super-Cannes and in his novella Running Wild. T. C. Boyle's novel The Tortilla Curtain is also set in and near a gated community in California. Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash depicts a future where gated communities are mass-produced by franchising systems and operate as sovereign city-states.

External links

- [http://www.gated-communities.de/Abstracts%20New%20Orleans.htm The Privatization of Urban Space: Gated Communities - A New Trend in Global Urban Development?]
- [http://www.lincolninst.edu/pubs/pub-detail.asp?id=971 Land Use and Design Innovations in Private Communities]
- [http://www.cfr.org/pub6442/elizabeth_c_economy_john_pomfret_deborah_davis/chinas_transition_at_a_turning_point_session_ii.php China's Transition at a Turning Point]
- [http://www.popcultures.com/reviews/rev_0035.htm Fortress America: Gated Communities in the United States]
- [http://www.gated-communities.de/ Gated Communities] Category:Real estate

New Urbanism

New urbanism is an urban design movement that became very popular beginning in the 1980s and early 1990s. The goal of new urbanists is to reform all aspects of real estate development and urban planning. These include everything from urban retrofits, to suburban infill. There are some common elements of new urbanist design. New urbanist neighborhoods are walkable, and are designed to contain a diverse range of housing and jobs. New urbanists support regional planning for open space, appropriate architecture and planning, and the balanced development of jobs and housing. They believe these strategies are the best way to reduce the time people spend in traffic, to increase the supply of affordable housing, and to rein in urban sprawl. Many other issues, such as historic preservation, safe streets, green building, and the renovation of brownfield land are also covered in the Charter of the New Urbanism, the movement's seminal document.

About new urbanism

(Adapted from "The New Urbanism: An alternative to modern, automobile-oriented planning and development" by Robert Steuteville, editor and publisher, [http://www.newurbannews.com New Urban News], 2004.)

Background

Through the first quarter of the 20th century, the United States was developed in the form of compact, mixed-use neighborhoods. The pattern began to change with the emergence of modern architecture and zoning and ascension of the automobile. After World War II, a new system of development was implemented nationwide, replacing neighborhoods with a rigorous separation of uses that has become known as conventional suburban development, or sprawl. The majority of US citizens now live in suburban communities built in the last 50 years. Although conventional suburban development has been popular, it carries a significant price. Lacking a town center or pedestrian scale, conventional suburban development spreads out to consume large areas of countryside even as population grows relatively slowly. Automobile use per capita has soared, because a motor vehicle is required for the great majority of household and commuter trips. Those who cannot drive are significantly restricted in their mobility. The working poor living in suburbia spend a large portion of their incomes on cars. Meanwhile, the American landscape where most people live and work is dominated by strip malls, auto-oriented civic and commercial buildings, and subdivisions without much individuality or character.

Trends

The new urbanism is a reaction to sprawl. A growing movement of architects, planners, and developers, new urbanism is based on principles of planning and architecture that work together to create human-scale, walkable communities. New urbanists take a wide variety of approaches—some work exclusively on infill projects, others focus on transit-oriented development, still others are attempting to transform the suburbs, and many are working in all of these categories. New urbanism includes traditional architects and those with modernist sensibilities. All, however, believe in the power and ability of traditional neighborhoods to restore functional, sustainable communities. Early in the 1960s, Jane Jacobs authored The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which set the precendent for the new urbanist trend by condemning the accepted planning theories of the time; calling for an increased effort by planners to reconsider the failing single-use housing projects, large car-dependent thoroughfares, and segregated commercial centers that had become the "norm" of civic planning and zoning thought. Today's popular trend of new urbanism had its roots in the work of maverick architects and planners, like Jacobs, who believed that the conventional planning thought was gradually failing in one way or another. In the 1970s and 1980s, these new ideas emerged, and eventually coalesced into a unified group in the 1990s. From modest beginnings, the trend is beginning to have a substantial impact. More than 600 new towns, villages, and neighborhoods are planned or under construction in the U.S., using principles of new urbanism. Additionally, hundreds of small-scale new urban infill projects are restoring the urban fabric of cities and towns by reestablishing walkable streets and blocks. On the regional scale, new urbanism is having a growing influence on how and where metropolitan regions choose to grow. At least 14 large-scale planning initiatives are based on the principles of linking transportation and land-use policies and using the neighborhood as the fundamental building block of a region. In Maryland and several other states, new urbanist principles are an integral part of smart growth legislation. Moreover, new urbanism is beginning to have widespread impact on conventional development. Mainstream developers are adopting new urban design elements such as garages in the rear of houses, neighborhood greens and mixed-use town centers. Projects that adopt some principles of new urbanism but remain largely conventional in design are known as hybrids.

Old and new urbanism

The new urbanism trend goes by other names, including neotraditional design, transit-oriented development, and traditional neighborhood development. Borrowing from urban design concepts throughout history, new urbanism does not merely replicate old communities. New houses within neighborhoods, for example, must provide modern living spaces and amenities that consumers demand (and that competing suburban tract homes offer). Stores and businesses must have sufficient parking, modern floor plans, and connections to automobile and pedestrian traffic, and/or transit systems. With proper design, large office, light industrial, and even "big box" retail buildings can be situated in a walkable new urbanist neighborhood. Parking lots, the most prominent feature of conventional commercial districts, are accommodated to the side, the rear or basement of new urban businesses. The size of lots are reduced through shared parking, on-street parking, and shifts to other modes of transportation. Another difference between old and new urbanism is the street grid. Historic cities and towns in the US employ a grid that is relentlessly regular. New urbanists often use a "modified" grid, with "T" intersections and street deflections to calm traffic and increase visual interest. That blending of old and new is the basis of the adjective neotraditional, a term that carries a lot of baggage, especially with modernists, who see it as an architectural "style." However, it is more of an urban design approach that borrows from the past while adapting to the present and future. The very fact that new urbanists must meet the demands of the marketplace keeps them grounded in reality. Successful new urbanism performs a difficult balancing act by maintaining the integrity of a walkable, human-scale neighborhood while offering modern residential and commercial "product" to compete with conventional suburban development. New urbanists who cannot compete with conventional development or find a niche that is poorly served by the real estate industry are doomed to failure. The difficulty of that balancing act is one reason why many developers choose to build hybrids, instead of adopting all of the principles of new urbanism. Some new urbanists think that hybrids pose a serious threat to the movement, because they usually borrow the label and language of the new urbanism. Other new urbanists believe that hybrids represent a positive step forward from conventional suburban development.

Defining elements

The heart of new urbanism is in the design of neighborhoods, which can be defined by 13 elements, according to town planners Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, two of the founders of the Congress for the New Urbanism. An authentic neighborhood contains most of these elements: #The neighborhood has a discernible center. This is often a square or a green and sometimes a busy or memorable street corner. A transit stop would be located at this center. #Most of the dwellings are within a five-minute walk of the center, an average of roughly 2,000 feet. #There are a variety of dwelling types—usually houses, rowhouses and apartments—so that younger and older people, singles and families, the poor and the wealthy may find places to live. #At the edge of the neighborhood, there are shops and offices of sufficiently varied types to supply the weekly needs of a household. #A small ancillary building or garage apartment is permitted within the backyard of each house. It may be used as a rental unit or place to work (for example, office or craft workshop). #An elementary school is close enough so that most children can walk from their home. #There are small playgrounds accessible to every dwelling—not more than a tenth of a mile away. #Streets within the neighborhood form a connected network, which disperses traffic by providing a variety of pedestrian and vehicular routes to any destination. #The streets are relatively narrow and shaded by rows of trees. This slows traffic, creating an environment suitable for pedestrians and bicycles. #Buildings in the neighborhood center are placed close to the street, creating a well-defined outdoor room. #Parking lots and garage doors rarely front the street. Parking is relegated to the rear of buildings, usually accessed by alleys. #Certain prominent sites at the termination of street vistas or in the neighborhood center are reserved for civic buildings. These provide sites for community meetings, education, and religious or cultural activities. #The neighborhood is organized to be self-governing. A formal association debates and decides matters of maintenance, security, and physical change. Taxation is the responsibility of the larger community.

Examples

Seaside, Florida, the first new urbanist town, began development in 1981 on 80 acres (324,000 m²) of Florida Panhandle coastline. Seaside appeared on the cover of the Atlantic Monthly in 1988 when only a few streets were completed, and it since became internationally famous for its architecture and the quality of its streets and public spaces. Seaside proved that developments that function like traditional towns could be built in the postmodern era. Lots began selling for $15,000 in the early 1980s and, slightly over a decade later, lots prices had escalated to about $200,000. Today, some lots sell for close to a million dollars, and houses sometimes top $3 million. The town is now a tourist mecca. Seaside’s influence has less to do with its economic success than the attractiveness and dynamism related to its physical form. Many developers have visited Seaside and gone away determined to build something similar. Since Seaside gained recognition, other new urban towns and neighborhoods have been designed and are substantially built—including Haile Village Center in Gainesville, Florida; Harbor Town in Memphis, Tennessee; Kentlands in Gaithersburg, Maryland; [http://www.kingfarm.com/ King Farm ]in Rockville, Maryland; Addison Circle in Addison, Texas; Orenco Station in Hillsboro, Oregon; Mashpee Commons in Mashpee, Massachusetts; The Cotton District in Starkville, Mississippi; Celebration in Orlando, Florida; [http://www.biltmore-homes.com/c_chv.htm Cherry Hill Village] in Canton, Michigan, and the redevelopment of