{"id":126671,"date":"2025-10-23T10:59:03","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T09:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/landezine.com\/?p=126671"},"modified":"2025-10-27T10:41:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T09:41:05","slug":"streets-from-infrastructures-to-shared-ecologies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/landezine.com\/streets-from-infrastructures-to-shared-ecologies\/","title":{"rendered":"Streets! From Infrastructures to Shared Ecologies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Streets are among the most complex public spaces to design. By definition, public streets are a non-rivalrous and non-excludable public good<\/em>, therefore, they should grant accessibility to all. Pedestrians, cyclists, public transport, cars, fire and emergency trucks, deliveries, all stake competing claims on the same limited surface. Streets are designed under the highest constraints, yet must provide for everyone. However, the hierarchy of uses changes over time, and street profiles have undergone radical transformations based on shifting needs and the prevailing notion of who comes first.<\/p>\n

From Jane Jacobs, who recognised streets and sidewalks as the main public places<\/a> of a city and its most vital organs, to Jan Gehl\u2019s design ethos of Life Between Buildings<\/em><\/a>, streets continue to accumulate functions. Linear mobility evolves into ecological and social performance. They are expected to accommodate not only movement and encounter but also water infiltration, carbon sequestration, shade, biodiversity, and multispecies migration, while remaining safe and efficient conduits for people and infrastructure above and below ground.<\/p>\n

Streets are a local yet globally shared space, much like what Za\u0161 Brezar argues of private gardens<\/a>. Cars have long acted as extensions of private space, intruding into the collective realm. Yet there should be no privilege to buy this right over another\u2019s right to use public space.<\/p>\n