Archinect - News

Where the sidewalk (ext)ends: Gensler reveals updated plans for Hollywood Walk of Fame pedestrian improvements

2022-08-04T19:28:00-04:00

Two years after its initial announcement, Gensler has shared updated project renderings and new site plan details for its pedestrian enhancement of LA's Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The project entails a number of hastened improvements to the road surface and overall streetscape. Construction is expected to begin next summer and take $7.2 million to complete its first phase through the end of 2024. Gensler is the prime consultant for this segment of the larger $60 million comprehensive plan authored by Los Angeles Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, while full design details are still being finalized.

Image courtesy Gensler

As reported by Time Out, the construction will affect a segment of Hollywood Boulevard between Gower Street and Orange Drive. Among the upgrades, added planters and outdoor dining areas will feature prominently alongside new shade trees, kiosks, and spaces dedicated to temporary art installations. The project will also include a bus stop consolidation and important traffic la...

Alphabet launches smart infrastructure investment company

2019-09-06T19:54:00-04:00

The technology giant is teaming up with its subsidiary, Sidewalk Labs LLC, and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to launch an infrastructure holding company that is being spun out of Sidewalk. Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, as the new firm will be known, will focus on investing in what the group calls technology-enabled infrastructure, the partners said.

The firm, according to The Wall Street Journal, will target its investments on "advanced mobility, energy, water and waste, digital infrastructure, and social infrastructure" projects that require more than $100 million in equity.

Desire paths as urban 'civil disobedience'

2018-10-08T15:47:00-04:00

Desire paths have been described as illustrating “the tension between the native and the built environment and our relationship to them”. Because they often form in areas where there are no pavements, they can be seen to “indicate [the] yearning” of those wishing to walk, a way for “city dwellers to ‘write back’ to city planners, giving feedback with their feet”.

Ellie Violet Bramley pens an ode to "desire paths"—organically grown foot paths off the prescribed paved sidewalks; pedestrians' yearning for urban movement outside of the planned city order.

Example of an urban desire path getting paved in Chicago. Photo: Paul Sableman/Flickr.

Los Angeles selects HDR to manage its $1.4 Billion Sidewalk Repair Program

2016-07-08T14:14:00-04:00

The city of Los Angeles has selected HDR to serve as program manager for the next three years for its robust Sidewalk Repair Program. The 30-year, $1.4 billion program aims to repair sidewalks to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and ensure universal access for all Angelenos. The second largest city in the U.S., Los Angeles is home to roughly 11,000 miles of sidewalks, many of which hinder passage because of cracks, buckles and bulging tree roots.

Sidewalks, New York's "most desirable real estate"

2016-03-09T13:02:00-05:00

New York collects about $60 million annually for allowing signs, ornamental lampposts, stand-alone clocks, benches, bollards, planters, permanent trash receptacles, delivery ramps and just about anything else imaginable on, over or under the city’s 12,000 miles of sidewalks. [...] Overall revenue from sidewalk-permit fees has risen by about 50 percent in the past decade, the bulk of it from utility companies for pipes and transformers below ground.

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Google Street View captures beautiful public space transformations

2015-09-02T20:02:00-04:00

A Brazilian urban planning collective called Urb-i...scoured Google Street View images to find the most stunning public space transformations from around the world. The results give us hope that our cities are becoming more beautiful places to live.

Cheer up: not everything is getting worse, at least not if you check out these comparison shots of real places from around the globe captured on Google Street View. Compiled by Urb-i, these 41 intersections and urban streets are studies in pedestrian-friendliness; as the years melt by, many of the municipalities and cities strip away traffic lanes and replace them with sidewalk planters, pavers, and other traffic-calming elements. In some cases, cars are removed entirely, letting people (and greenery) retake the streets. Here's a view of Hungary:

A street in Detroit:

Also in Montreal:

Not all sidewalks are created equal in D.C.

2015-05-26T15:59:00-04:00

Instead, he lives on Buena Vista Terrace SE, a grim stretch of low-rise apartments pushed up against the Maryland border. And on Buena Vista Terrace, just standing outside can get you in trouble. [...] The law is meant to fight disorderly conduct, but some lawyers and the people arrested for the “crime” say it’s routinely used to harass people seen as undesirable: protesters, the homeless, and black men.

Why Los Angeles is struggling to fix thousands of miles of sidewalks

2015-01-02T13:49:00-05:00

The city estimates that some 4,500 of its total 10,750 sidewalk miles are in disrepair. According to a 2007 USC study, the city repaired a grand total of 64 miles of sidewalks, or 1.4 percent of damaged sidewalks, improving the city’s backlog to 72 years. The reasons for this civic embarrassment go back even longer than 72 years. They are twofold. One is political, the other arboreal.