Traditional pattern melds with modern cul-de-sacs
Winnipeg Free Press, Sunday April 13, 2003
RESEARCHERS at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation have come up with a brand new residential street pattern design that offers a mix of old and new.
The "fused grid" design brings together two different street or grid systems in an innovative new concept. It's the fusion of the traditional grid pattern developed in the 1900s, which you can find in any downtown, and the conventional loop and cul-de-sac pattern of modern subdivisions.
"The fused grid takes two traditional ways of laying out land and combines the best elements of the two," says Fanis Grammenos, senior researcher at CMHC in Ottawa.
So what is the fused grid? Basically, it's a pattern for laying out new residential suburbs. Under CMHC's plan, two collector streets and two arterial streets frame a quadrant of about 40 acres. Within that quadrant, residential streets are laid out in a modified grid to prevent cars from crossing the quadrant, eliminating non-resident traffic. The streets connect to a central park, which is intended to serve as a meeting place for the community.
Because they are looped and narrow, Grammenos says the streets reduce the speed of all traffic and make more efficient use of land. The quadrant also includes a continuous pedestrian footpath system through the open spaces that connect the streets and provide direct routes to parks, public transit, stores and services.
"The design facilitates traffic and allows it to flow more easily," Grammenos notes. "Research and experience also shows that where traffic goes, commerce, work and activity goes." Today's traditional street designs have outlived their usefulness, he says. The "main street concept" has become too busy with everything centred on one street, causing traffic havoc and preventing the accessibility it was intended to create. The traditional suburb concept has created large subdivisions that are too far removed from shops and services.
By blending the two concepts, Grammenos thinks they've come up with an innovative plan for new developments.
"The fused grid combines the proximity of conveniences and accessibility by foot with the delight of open spaces," he says. "We're taking elements that have been shown to have worked in the past and putting them together."
When he refers to the past, Grammenos isn't talking about a few years or even a century ago. The CMHC researcher and his colleagues took their cue from a design that was developed in the 18th century.
Back in 1735, Grammenos says, Savannah, Georgia was based on a similar principle. With no cars in sight, or even in mind at that time, everything was designed so people could get around on foot.
"The city was based on the theory of connectivity or closeness," he explains. "Planners organized building blocks around a common open space." Essentially, all of the houses faced onto an open green space, leaving the area quiet and calm. The commercial buildings were established off feeder streets around the perimeter so they were out of the way, but easily accessible.
Today, the first opportunity to test out CMHC's modern take on the street design is in Stratford, Ont. Grammenos says they have been applying their concept to 300 acres of newly annexed land in the southern Ontario city. A developer in Toronto has also allowed them to redesign a brand new subdivision, which he says has shown great improvements in the quality of the environment.
"We do want to use the land efficiently - this is one of our precious resources and it is disappearing quickly," says Grammenos. "The fused grid meets the goal of efficiency and satisfies both the developer and the environmentalist."
Now, he wants the City of Winnipeg to consider the fused grid plan for a new pocket of land that is ready for development off Waverley Street in south Winnipeg. Grammenos was in town a few weeks ago to present the design to our own city planners.
"Hopefully, we'll establish a dialogue with the city to develop that land in the south part of city," he says.
"It is possible to create communities that are efficient, viable, livable, healthy and highly marketable."
bryksa1@shaw.ca