In response to COVID-19 restrictions, many of California’s local jurisdictions quickly implemented a variety of initiatives focused on the use of public streets in an effort to give residents and businesses more outside space on sidewalks, curbs, and streets to safely use while abiding public health guidelines. Looking beyond temporary, emergency measures, TPR interviewed architect, urbanist, and Chief Urbanist to the Dutch Board of Government Advisors on the Built and Rural Environment, Daan Zandbelt, for a master class on the Dutch approach to balancing mobility planning and placemaking on city streets. Through the Dutch tradition of design thinking, centering pedestrian use, and prioritizing public space, Zandbelt shares how Dutch streets were “reclaimed” from cars from the 1970s and transformed into the multi-modal hubs as we know them today.
Read more at the Planning Report.