ABSTRACT
The way in which one place is connected to others in a city is the network of streets, lanes, plazas, and roads, but also natural features such as ridges and rivers; they give spatial definition to the city. The "right-sized city" would be a medium to large city, compact enough to be able to support good multimodal transportation systems, as these are necessary to extend choices of destinations beyond walking distance. Strategic relaxation of development controls could also encourage a mix of uses where zoning has imposed a monoculture. Mixed uses promote walkability by broadening the range of nearby destination options. Portland has done some of this by up-zoning properties along designated transit corridors. The most powerful determinants of how we move through a city are street patterns and geography. In contrast to the organic forms of most European cities, Portland preceded development with a Euclidean plat of city blocks and streets.
