The 'Fused Grid' alternative

Fanis Grammenos, senior researcher for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in Ottawa, has devised another approach to connectivity, which he calls the Fused Grid. Grammenos does not connect the streets nearly as much as new urbanists generally prefer, nor does he advocate alleys, as many new urbanists do. Rather, he proposes that many routes for pedestrians and bicyclists be installed in small parks or green spaces interspersed throughout the neighborhood. This would allow a development to have many cul-de-sacs and yet offer people on foot or bike the possibility of reaching their destinations with some directness. Such a system could have many different configurations. He calls this a Fused Grid because in his view it fuses “the conventional loop and cul-de-sac pattern of the modern suburb and the traditional grid pattern circa 1900.” The Fused Grid, he says, allows a development to have fewer paved surfaces than a new urban community containing a full network of streets and alleys. The reduction in paving may bring down the cost of development, he says. Susan Handy, co-author of Planning for Street Connectivity, says pedestrian passages away from the streets have worked well in Davis, California, where she lives. In many settings, however, pedestrian footpaths have not been as lively as sidewalks alongside streets. If the pedestrian passages are not easily seen from streets and houses, they may also become more vulnerable to crime and disorder. Peter Swift, a transportation consultant in Longmont, Colorado, argues that a new urbanist network — with sidewalks between the streets and the fronts of houses — is better, in part because it encourages sociability. “The intentional separation of pedestrians from other modes is also a measure of the failure of the design of the public realm,” he contends. Swift also notes that streets in a Traditional Neighborhood Development can be quite narrow, whereas “cul-de-sac streets must be wide to allow adequate fire and other emergency access and operation.” Grammenos says the Fused Grid is being considered for use in two Ottawa suburbs. A “Research Highlight” on his proposal is available at www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/publications/en/rh-pr/index.html. Grammenos can be reached at fgrammen @cmhc-schl.gc.ca.