Transportation
Introduction
Transportation
affects almost every aspect of resource use, air and water quality, and
urban livability. Reducing the need for automobiles has major environmental
benefits and is one of the most important urban planning strategies. Building
designers and planners can help reduce automobile use in three ways:
- Integrate complementary
occupancies within building projects.
- Encourage pedestrian,
bicycle and transit use.
- Reduce the environmental
impacts of parking facilities.
Complementary
Building Occupancies
Separation
of commercial, retail and residential areas; availability of efficient
and reliable public transit; and the dangers of cycling and other human-powered
transportation all affect the need for automobile commuting and storage.
Parking spaces in mixed-use buildings and developments can often be
shared between occupancies with differing schedules, reducing the area
of impervious parking pavement, stormwater peak flows and pollution.
As well, locating several complementary occupancies within a project
– housing, services, retail, commercial and/or light industry –
often eliminates the need for many automobile trips, encouraging more
low-impact transportation modes, such as biking, walking and mass transit.
Pedestrian
and Bicycle
Amenities
making streets safer and more attractive to pedestrians, providing bicycle
facilities at destinations and creating safe, continuous bicycle paths
also reduce the need for automobiles. Santa Monica is already a good
example for many cities to follow.
Bicycling,
walking and even in-line skating are alternatives to the car for shorter
commuter distances, and for greater distances when combined with public
transit. Building design strategies can encourage these options by providing
secure bicycle parking, shower and changing facilities. These are a
powerful complement to the network of safe bicycle-ways in Santa Monica’s
Bicycle Master Plan.
Encouraging
pedestrian activity is not only a way to decrease automobile use, with
its fossil fuel dependence, air and water pollution, it is also a way
of bringing life to the streets and increasing the safety of the community.
If people feel safe on the sidewalks, they also feel safe in the city.
Buildings can improve the comfort and safety of pedestrians with appropriately
scaled and detailed facades and views of the street for building occupants.
If pedestrians are also provided with a choice of sun or shade, they
are more likely to use these outdoor spaces. An attractive street generates
places for social interaction, increasing the vitality of the neighborhood
and providing improved commercial opportunities.
Development
projects designed for pedestrians and cyclists are increasingly valued
places to live, work and visit. Examples in Santa Monica are the Third
Street Mall and Main Street in Ocean Park. Owners of buildings that
enhance the quality of the neighborhood will benefit both directly and
indirectly – increased pedestrian traffic is better for retail
businesses, and people are attracted to vital areas, enhancing the market
value of the buildings.
Reduce
the Environmental Impacts of Parking Facilities
Urban
runoff from paved surfaces carries with it pollutants such as fuel,
oil, paint, heavy metals, pesticides, human and animal wastes, and trash.
By reducing surface car parking areas, increasing the permeability of
surfaces not used for car movement, and integrating natural landscaping
into car parking areas, urban runoff can be naturally treated, groundwater
supplies replenished and pollution entering Santa Monica Bay reduced.
Trees
and other vegetation adjacent to building or parking areas offer welcome
shade and lower outdoor air temperatures in the summer, creating more
comfortable transition spaces between indoors and outdoors for building
users and visitors. Shading of parking areas and building surfaces reduces
the amount of solar radiation reaching them, which significantly lowers
building cooling loads and operating costs. Furthermore, natural landscaping
within the city provides habitat for many plant and animal species,
and green areas are more attractive to building users and pedestrians
than hard
