ABSTRACT
The public environment includes all areas of a city or town that are publicly owned and open to the public: streets, parks, government buildings, bridges, airports, and transit stations. Streets can represent something like a quarter of urban land area, and are almost always the most important part of the public environment. People who accept the theory that walking is a prime means of creating community in urban places also accept that pedestrian routes should be primarily on sidewalks along streets. The minimum width for an urban sidewalk is about 13 feet, enough to leave a comfortable clear area for pedestrians and a five-foot band adjacent to the curb that can accept the trees, as well as the parking meters and other necessary street furniture elements. The 100-foot-wide arterial streets that border a neighborhood can be designed as boulevards, as in these designs by the ROMA Design Group.
