What makes strolling down a particular street enjoyable? The authors of "Measuring Urban Design" argue it's not an idle question. Inviting streets are the centrepiece of thriving, sustainable communities, but it can be difficult to pinpoint the precise design elements that make an area appealing. This accessible guide removes the mystery, providing clear methods to measure urban design. In recent years, many "walking audit instruments" have been developed to measure qualities like building height, street length, and pavement width. But while easily quantifiable, these physical features do not fully capture the experience of walking down a street. In contrast, this book addresses broad perceptions of street environments. It provides operational definitions and measurement protocols of five intangible qualities of urban design, specifically: imageability, visual enclosure, human scale, transparency, and complexity. The result is a reliable field survey instrument grounded in constructs from architecture, urban design, and planning. Readers will also find a case study applying the instrument to 588 streets in New York City, which shows that it can be used effectively to measure the built environment's impact on social, psychological, and physical well-being. Finally, readers will find illustrated, step-by-step instructions to use the instrument and a scoring sheet for easy calculation of urban design quality scores. For the first time, researchers, designers, planners, and lay people have an empirically tested tool to measure those elusive qualities that make us want to take a stroll.

About the Author
Reid Ewing is Professor of City and Metropolitan Planning at the University of Utah and the author of Best Development Practices (9781884829109) and Growing Cooler (9780874200829). He is co-editor with Arthur C. Nelson of the Island Press series in Metropolitan Planning + Design. Reid lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. Otto Clemente is a senior transportation planner working and living in the Washington, DC region.


Book Information
ISBN 9781610911948
Author Reid Ewing
Format Paperback
Page Count 200
Imprint Island Press
Publisher Island Press