Urban design

Kevin Klinkenberg is a KC-area designer and architect. In a recent opinion piece in the KCStar, he lists a variety of "simple things . . . that really make a difference". Things we could do tomorrow, if we just had the will:

• Plant trees along streets
• Put windows at street level
• Make on-street parking ubiquitous
• Encourage sidewalk cafes and street life
• Clean up
• Get rid of one-way streets

All these ideas would help calm traffic, get people out, and make the city friendlier for bicycling and walking.

Mike Hendricks, in a recent KCStar column, discusses the debate about cul-de-sacs in Lenexa--the "Battle over Dead-ends", as it has been described:

Cul-de-sacs are one reason we build those wide, fast- moving traffic arterials every mile in suburbia. Most residential streets don't connect. To drive to your backdoor neighbor's house, it sometimes requires a roundabout trip onto a traffic artery.

Several cities out of state have outlawed cul-de-sacs to help end the cycle of building wider and wider arteries. Developers don't like this, as it's cheaper to build cul-de-sacs than connecting through streets.

This kind of design--concentrating heavy traffic on a few through streets--is one reasons our cities end up being unfriendly for bicycling and walking.