The advantages of the cul-de-sac

“The advantages of the cul-de-sac over the through street are that they are quieter and safer for children; they provide the potential for more neighborly interaction; there is a greater sense of privacy; residents have a greater ability to distinguish neighbors from strangers; and there are generally lower burglary rates. “... Combing the new urbanist literature, the only reference to space shared by a group — and not fully public — is the alley, a design device to ensure that curb cuts and garages to not mar the streetscape and that houses can be sited closer together. While these are laudable goals, it seems unlikely that a sense of local identity can be facilitated as much by these utilitarian passageways as it is by the provision of common greens bounded by the (dwelling) units they serve.” — Clare Cooper Marcus, professor emerita at the University of California Berkeley’s architecture and landscape architecture departments, quoted in The San Diego Union-Tribune.