Maine to create car-free town with ‘really narrow streets’

[n2doc]

BY CHRISTOPHER MIMS
31 JAN 2012 1:05 PM


Residents of the yet-to-be-built town of Piscataquis Village, Maine, will keep cars from overrunning their town by making their streets too narrow to shove any but the cutest vehicles down them, reports Market Urbanism.
A group of Maine residents wants to start a Kickstarter-style funding project for the village, where interested parties will pledge to buy some portion of the necessary 125 acres of land. If the group reaches critical mass, construction of the town’s tiny streets will get underway.

Rules for building in the village will be strict.

The development would use covenants to limit building to require attached buildings, arcade sidewalks, and a building height limited to four stories based on the Really Narrow Streets model of dense low- to mid-rise buildings.

http://grist.org/list/maine-to-create-car-free-town-with-really-narrow-streets/

[Confusious]

1. We should all go back to that

Make a community again.

[Old and In the Way]

2. Thanks for the post.

I live less than 20 miles from where this village is being contemplated and I love the concept. I really think it could be a real interesting economic opportunity for the area. Finding the space wouldn't be much of a problem. I found the website of the person who is promoting this and found a basic layout of the proposal-

https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dfxsxhdw_251f75rgsg4

[silverweb]

3. Great concept, but...

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]How do people get major grocery shopping done, and furniture or other large items delivered?

I eliminated my need for a car 5 years ago and I continue to be very happy with that decision, but I still have to rent one every 2 or 3 months for shopping that I can't do without it.

If even the streets are too narrow for a standard-sized car, let alone a truck, won't that create some serious logistical problems??

[christx30]

4. My car died

Three months ago and I miss it. Takes me 5 hours to do a round trip to the grocery store. A bike helps, but not much. There are things that simply require a car to do. Like finding new things on craigslist. I guess if you've made the decision to give up your car, that's great. But it's not for everybody.

[silverweb]

5. Of course it's not for everybody.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I live in an urban environment and work on line at home. Without those two circumstances, there's no way I'd be able to do without a car. I certainly didn't mean to imply that everyone could or should.

My question regarding this car-free village with narrow streets is focused on how the residents will manage to get large items or large volumes of things to their homes. The narrow street thing would seem to make it logistically difficult.

[TupperHappy]

8. What about firetrucks and ambulances?

So, there's never going to be a broken hip or a house fire in this town?

[silverweb]

12. Of course.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I don't recall saying access for large vehicles should be limited to furniture deliveries. Emergency vehicles are necessary, too.

I'm concerned about logistics, but I wasn't exactly trying to make a comprehensive list of who would need access.

[Old and In the Way]

10. He addresses these concerns on his facebook page

There are lots of open questions, obviously...and there will be compromises to deal with regulatory concerns - like fire, ambulance, etc. But the vision he has is based on very livable cities throughout the world that have dealt with these same issues...there are downside negatives obviously, but they should be outweighed by the positive aspects that such a community design would create.

[silverweb]

11. Thanks.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I don't do Facebook, but I'll see if I can at least read his page.

[Old and In the Way]

14. I don't do Facebook either.

And I read through 10 minutes of comments and then Facebook demands that I log in to continue. Bastids. You ought to check the link I provided upstream...he's got 130+ page Google Doc slide presentation. Page 3 has the village layout...he's obviously a world traveler as he's got 70-80 pages of pics that show various cities around the world that incorporate what he's trying to do here. Boy, howdy, I hope he succeeds...this region could use some serious economic stimulus.

[silverweb]

16. Yes!

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I'm doing the slide presentation right now and enjoying it thoroughly.

[OKIsItJustMe]

20. I grew up in a small town

A round trip to the grocery store meant walking a short distance. If necessary, a little red wagon could be pulled there and back.

[christx30]

26. It takes me

5 hours to go to the store on 3 buses. The trip in a car is a 20 minute round trip. And Austin has a good bus system.
I have a black grocery cart. I take that with me, but it's so bulky, I'd rather just carry cloth grocery bags back with me. If you get on Google earth, look at the Austin airport. I live in the neighborhood on the other side of the highway from there. Other than a gas station 1/2 a mile from me, there is NOTHING close.

[OKIsItJustMe]

27. Right. I understand.

It used to be that even in cities there were “Neighborhoods,” and those neighborhoods had stores.
http://www.modernluxury.com/san-francisco/story/cornering-the-market


The assumption was not that everyone would climb into a car and drive across town.

True, the neighborhood store might not carry the variety that the ultra-super-mega-mart does today, but like “Ralph’s Pretty Good Grocery,” “if we don’t have it, you can probably get along without it.”

My assumption is that this car-free town will have a neighborhood grocery.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. In the middle east they use hand carts

I also have to wonder if they will need waivers for state building codes. They should also not expect any Federal funding.

[silverweb]

13. There are a lot of potential snags, I imagine.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]It will be a very interesting project to follow.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

17. There is a very limited market for such enclaves

If is is successful more will follow until the market is flooded and then the pricing for all of them will collapse and they will start to resemble tenements rather than upscale environmentally conscious enclaves.

The other potential bad outcome could be what some air parks have experienced. Non aviators buy in and then complain about the airplane noise. An example of the original vision being lost along the way.

[TheMadMonk]

6. Firefighting should be fun. As will be heart attacks. /nt

[Dead_Parrot]

9. London used to have very narrow streets...

...until most of it burned down in 1666. Then they made them wider, so it wouldn't happen again.

Those who don't learn from history are doomed to carry lots of buckets.

[cprise]

18. Probably Venice and Amsterdam are closer to the inspiration here

...not medieval London (which is silly).

To anyone wishing to learn more about the 'carfree' concept, I recommend "Carfree Cities" by J.H. Crawford. http://carfree.com/

[zbdent]

15. cars don't kill people ... people driving cars kill people ...

[hunter]

19. You don't need narrow streets to exclude cars.

I'm thinking of most any college campus. Cars are excluded, but there's plenty of room for the occasional emergency, delivery, or construction vehicle.

[DetlefK]

21. WTF?! Why don't they just block the streets leading into the village???

A removable barrier with a lock and only officials (police, fire department, hospital...) get a key.

[wtmusic]

28. No kidding.

The "promenade" has been a popular urban model and seems a lot more practical.

[Po_d Mainiac]

22. Narrow streets meet major snow storm.

What could be the problem?

[jpak]

23. That's why Teh Goddess made snowshoes and cross country skis

[Po_d Mainiac]

24. No problem clearing out the doorway

As long as the folks next door leave a window open

[Odin2005]

25. I'd love to live there!