“Our streets used to be charming and beautiful. The public realm of the street was understood to function as an outdoor room.”  -James Howard Kunstler

 

A street wall is the part of a building that faces the street, but it generally refers to how and where several buildings line up to define a proper walking environment.  At the most basic level, buildings should be set back an equal distance so that facades are even for as far as a pedestrian can see.  An ideal street wall offers a sense of formality and includes a continuous variety of first floor businesses [1].

A well-defined street wall is considered essential for walkable neighborhoods because it forms a protected and uninterrupted pedestrian zone.  The Washington DC planning department, for instance, recommends "a continuous and active street wall of development” to improve walkability [2].

Purpose of a Street Wall

A street wall helps to promote walking over automobile use by fostering a feeling of safety.  Because the upper floors of urban buildings define an enclosed visual space for the pedestrian, they expand the view down the street and convey that one can walk for miles.  The solid upper floors also help to focus all street activity on the building’s “permeable” first floor (retail, restaurants and services), which attracts “eyes on the street”.  Furthermore, formal architectural design can add sophistication to a neighborhood, inspiring respectful behavior in urban settings [3].

 

Elements That Disrupt the Street Wall

The following should be avoided or minimized:

Off-street parking
Drive-thrus
Gas stations
Blank facades
Dead spaces – absence of shops, restaurants
Empty lots
Parking lots
Curb cuts
Driveways
Conventional suburban-type “shopping centers”
Anything that is set back far from the street
Windowless facades

How to Maintain the Street Wall

1)    Buildings should be set back from the street at equal distances; building height and design should be complementary, if not uniform. 
2)    There should be an identifiable break [4] between the ground floor and the upper floors.  This can be accomplished with a change in building material or ornamentation at about the second or third floor level. 
3)    Minimize access driveways.
4)    Direct parking behind buildings, at a few strategically placed entrances (for example, Castro Street in Mountain View, CA or College Ave in Berkeley, CA [5]). 
5)    Properly scale building size and height to street width and neighborhood context.  Very large buildings should be avoided or broken up into smaller buildings of no more than 300 feet in length [4].
6)    Avoid windowless facades and monolithic ‘slab’ building design
7)    All elements (architectural style, street trees, street furniture, building size and shape) should be ordered and unified without being monotonous or “cookie cutter”. 

 

Paris as Ideal Example

In Episode #56 of The Kunstlercast [3], James Howard Kunster and host Duncan Crary follow two Paris streets that serve as excellent examples of functioning street walls:  Rue LePic in near Montmartre and Avenue Kleber near L’Arc de Triomphe. Both streets feature uninterrupted building facades, abundant first floor retail, formal architectural design, and a clear break between retail and upper floors.

ALSO ON THE LIVABLE STREETS NETWORK

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REFERENCES

Each source is referred to by the same number every time it is cited. Please keep citation style consistent.

[1] Duerksen, Christopher and C. Gregory Dale, AICP.  Creating City Centers.  American Planning Association.  Summer 1999.

[2] Principle Three:  Pedestrian Friendly, Safe Environment (pdf).  District of Columbia, Office of Planning.

[3] Virtual Walking Tour of Paris.  Episode #56.  The Kunstlercast.

[4] Massing and Street Wall (pdf).  Chapter 6 - Downtown Design Guide. Urban Design Studio – Department of City Planning, City of Los Angeles.

[5] Jacobs, Allan.  Great Streets. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995.

PICTURE REFERENCES

Pictures are cited in the order they appear above. Please keep citation style consistent.

[1] Avenue Kléber, Paris, France.  By Chris Yunker via Flickr.

[2] Main Street in Northampton, MA.  Photo by Mr. Weeeee via Flickr.

FURTHER READING

• Downtown Design Guide.  Department of City Planning.  City of Los Angeles.
  

KEYWORDS

pedestrian design, urban fabric, parking, safety, architecture, walkability