Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution

It’s a great read with history, anecdotes and really useful suggestions on urban design. There's a lot of backstory behind one of the most interesting urban design projects in modern times. Although it is the story of New York, there is plenty of relevance for people anywhere interested in remaking their cities from car-dominated spaces to places for people. I'm in Melbourne, Australia, and many of the arguments and much of the data is really useful for me and my advocacy.

Janette Sadik Kahn was Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Transportation Commissioner between 2006 and the end of Bloomberg's term in 2013. She was best known for throwing out the accepted engineering manuals, the "Manual of Traffic Control Devices" and the "Policy on the Geometric Design of Streets and Highways," (the Greenbook) both developed over the decades for rural highways. She also helped form the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) as an alternative to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). AASHTO is the publisher of the Greenback, and as the name suggests, is comprised of state department of of highway officials. The system was structured that way in 1921: the feds tell the state DOTs what to do, and the states tell the cities what to do. The system was predicated on the assumption that city administrations were (and are) too incompetent and corrupt to run their own affairs. On the other hand, most state DOTs carry an implicit (and often explicit) bias: from a transport point of view, cities are irrational. They should go away. The job of the transportation planner and engineer to assist in that process. Suburbs are okay, but only a half-way measure. Total dispersal is the goal.The book is mostly a memoir, and a pretty good one. It's also a fairly good introduction to the philosophy behind the two NACTO guides, for bikes and for livable streets. My biggest complaint are the selective omissions. Khan, in the introduction, corrects a Bloomberg aide who describes the position as "traffic commissioner." "I'm the transportation commissioner," she corrects. Well, not so fast. At this time, NYC was embarking on the biggest transit project since BART, 45 years ago: the 2nd Avenue Subway Line. Not a word about it. Why? "Transportation Commissioner" doesn't run transit in NYC. Not surprising: not even Robert Moses was bold enough to take on NY Transit. And that still leaves out PATH, Long Island RR and the suburban bus lines (16?). Not mentioned is the fact that NY Transit is the largest bus system in North America without a single bike-on-bus rack. That's why she only talks about bus rapid transit: her definition of BRT is limited to the modified rights-of-way, not the bus operations. Go talk to transit about that.Similarly, her much heralded "pocket parks" in odd-shaped intersection triangles were found through an inventory of sites to store snowstorm salt. There were some high profile exceptions (Times Square, the Flatiron Bldg.) but most were in old industrial/warehouse neighborhoods. Her "blitz 'em overnight" tactics worked because the building occupants were tenants, not owners, and didn't really care, except for the lost parking, which was often mitigated. When the condo boys move in, those odd lots will disappear or become walled off plazas.If you are mostly interested in the bikey stuff, great. But if you want some perspective, I highly recommend a 1965 book by Henry Barnes called "The Man With Red and Greens Eyes." A small-town engineer from the sticks who works his way up to public works director in Denver gets the attention of the New York City Mayor in 1959, and is hired as traffic director to everyone's surprise: "who he?" He discovers a traffic nightmare. Resisting the calls of the daily newspapers to do something drastic, Barnes implements a series of odd-ball, cutting edge improvement, we would today call TSM. He makes every east-west street one way. He allows left turns only on signals. He installs the "Barns Dance," an all-red traffic signal phase just for pedestrians, letting them even cross diagonally. Oh, and the biggest single thing: "The first thing I did is get rid of those Godawful trolley buses and replace them with modern diesel buses." The more things change, the more they stay the same. Sorta.

An amazing trip through the design challenges and political challenges facing New York's most creative transportation commissioner. The clear and consistent theme is that urban transportation should focus on getting people where they want to go quickly and safely not on how to move cars. The surprising result is that her policies managed to greatly improve transportation for riders of transit, pedestrians, and bikers while increasing the average speed of cars on previously congested streets. Sadik-Khan's clear clear narration makes issues like designing intersections and crosswalks a fascinating exercise in creative design. This is not a textbook on urban transportation design, but it does manage to cover the whole landscape of modern planning concepts -- many of which she helped invent, in a lively and engaging narrative. Making dramatic changes to road designs in what is surely one of the most argumentative places in the world, requires an equal amount of ingenuity. It also takes a lot of patience and, as it turns out, superb data and analysis. All of this is explained with an accurate and compelling narrative. Closing iconic areas like Times Square to traffic seemed absurd when it was first proposed, but her superb planning and careful navigation of business and other interests in the area paid off. Traffic actually moves faster in the area, businesses who feared losing customers had an increase in sales and rents increased as people came to understand that the new design brought more people to shops formerly hemmed in by fuming, honking traffic. Yes she does occasionally give herself a pat on the back but she deserves it. What she managed to do in a short time is nothing short of breathtaking. And she tells the story well.

Although I have been engaged in transportation reform and financing advocacy for over three decades, I learned many things from this book that I had not understood before. Ms. Sadik-Khan did a masterful job integrating discussions on public policy, technology, operations, and the change management everyone trying to change how we live and move around has to do well.Her underlying premise, that we have given over control of the precious and foundation streetscape to those who drive cars and trucks and have left behind bicyclists and pedestrians is exceptionally well documented and explained. She also manages to humanize those on both sides of the contentious debates that occurred repeatedly on a variety of issues during her tenure as New York City Transportation Commissioner. She also evidences an acute understanding of when and how to fight battles and, equally astutely, when to back off and wait for another day to engage in the fight.What was particularly revealing was the degree to which even small steps, like placing a bike rack on a portion of a block could draw out adversaries who would fight ferociously against even this small change in the use of urban space. Her account of the many initiatives she undertook and what she and others had to do to succeed in them communicates both the good and the bad in representative democracy.She is to be commended for what she accomplished for New Yorkers and the effort she made to share her learning with others. This is truly a landmark book in the field!!

This is a hands on and thought provoking manual for those conscious enough about what issues we are being forced to consider.

The book was new and of superb quality. It also reached within the stipulated time, as mentioned by the seller on Amazon. Thank you.

Esperando, desesperando, deseando... que algo de esto ocurra en Madrid. Tuvimos un pequeño avance con Madrid Central, peleamos para que se quedase... Pero seguimos instalados en el paradigma del siglo pasado: la calle es del coche y para el coche.Seguiremos pedaleando mientras tanto.

Criatividade, busca por dados, persistência, aberta a dialogo... ensinamentos de quem fez uma revolução urbana orientada para pessoas. Vale muito a leitura!

An inspirational book. Have had the pleasure of visiting New York City to see the street changes this book describes, and the work required to make the changes happen. Data driven to improve the urban environment. A very readable, worthwhile book. Highly recommended for anyone who dreams of liveable cities with more socialisation, improved business opportunities, less pollution, and a more pleasant urban landscape.