It’s always gratifying to see a planner’s sketch of the ideal city street materialize in concrete, steel, and vegetation. These photos of Dronning Eufemias Gate in Oslo, Norway taken recently by a colleague (alas, I wasn’t there) show how a multimodal boulevard (vehicles, transit, bike lanes, enhanced pedestrian realm, landscaping) can look in real life. The street in question is part of a redevelopment scheme colloquially called the “Barcode Project” for the geometric profile of its high-rise buildings.
This particular street follows the mandates of the Oslo Street Design Manual (available here), which is worth a look by anyone grappling with urban design issues. The Design Manual is notable, among other things, for insisting that street design support the city’s goal of zero emissions: “In 2030, Oslo aims to be a city almost without any emissions of greenhouse gases. The transformation of Oslo into a climate-adapted zero-emission society will help to create a healthy, pleasant and efficient cityscape without extensive social differences and with cleaner air and water.”
The Design Manual also notes, by the way, that it is much easier to fit all these desirable design elements into a new street, rather than retrofitting them into an existing one. Don’t we know it!
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