Therefore:
Treat interchanges as primary and transportation lines as secondary. Create incentives so that all the different modes of public transportation—airplanes, helicopters, ferries, boats, trains, rapid transit, buses, mini-buses, ski-lifts, escalators, travelators, elevators—plan their lines to connect the interchanges, with the hope that gradually many different lines, of many different types, will meet at every interchange.
Give the local communities control over their interchanges so that they can implement the pattern by giving
I 6 WEB OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
contracts only to those transportation companies which are willing to serve these interchanges.
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Keep all the various lines that converge on a single interchange, and their parking, within 600 feet, so that people can transfer on foot—interchange (34). It is essential that the major stations be served by a good feeder system, so people are not forced to use private cars at all—mini-buses (20). . . .
A PATTERN LANGUAGE
want to solve the problem. In this sense, we have tried, in each solution, to capture the invariant property common to all places which succeed in solving the problem.
But of course, we have not always succeeded. The solutions we have given to these problems vary in significance. Some are more true, more profound, more certain, than others. To show this clearly we have marked every pattern, in the text itself, with two asterisks, or one asterisk, or no asterisks.
In the patterns marked with two asterisks, we believe that we have succeeded in stating a true invariant: in short, that the solution we have stated summarizes a froferty common to all possible ways of solving the stated problem. In these two-asterisk cases we believe, in short, that it is not possible to solve the stated problem properly, without shaping the environment in one way or another according to the pattern that we have given—and that, in these cases, the pattern describes a deep and inescapable property of a well-formed environment.
In the patterns marked with one asterisk, we believe that we have made some progress towards identifying such an invariant: but that with careful work it will certainly be possible to improve on the solution. In these cases, we believe it would be wise for you to treat the pattern with a certain amount of disrespect—and that you seek out variants of the solution which we have given, since there are almost certainly possible ranges of solutions which are not covered by what we have written.
Finally, in the patterns without an asterisk, we are certain that we have not succeeded in defining a true
XIV
| 17 RING ROADS |
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. . . the ring roads which this pattern specifies, help to define and generate the local transport areas (ii); if they are placed to make connections between interchanges (34), they also help to form the web of public transportation (16).
❖ -h
It is not possible to avoid the need for high speed roads in modern society; but it is essential to place them and build them in such a way that they do not destroy communities or countryside.
Even though the rush of freeways and superhighways built in the I950’s and 1960’s is slowing down, because of widespread local protest, we cannot avoid high speed roads altogether. There is, at present, no prospect for a viable alternative which can provide for the vast volume of movement of cars and trucks and buses which a modern city lives on economically and socially.
At the same time, however, high speed roads do enormous damage when they are badly placed. They slice communities in half; they cut off waterfronts; they cut off access to the countryside; and, above all, they create enormous noise. For hundreds of yards, even a mile or two, the noise of every superhighway roars in the background.
To resolve these obvious dilemmas that come with the location and construction of high speed roads, we must find ways of building and locating these roads, so that they do not destroy communities and shatter life with their noise. We can give three requirements that, we believe, go to the heart of this policy:
1. Every community that has coherence as an area of local transportation—local transport areas (11)—is never split by a high speed road, but rather has at least one high speed road adjacent to it. This allows rapid auto travel from one such community out to other communities and to the region at large.
2. It must be possible for residents of each local transport area to reach the open countryside without crossing a high speed road—see city country fingers (3). This means, very roughly,
TOWNS
that high speed roads must always be placed in such positions that at least one side of every local transport area has direct access to open country.
3. Most important of all, high speed roads must be shielded acoustically to protect the life around them. This means that they must either be sunken, or shielded by earth berms, parking structures, or warehouses, which will not be damaged by the noise.
Therefore:
Place high speed roads (freeways and other major arteries) so that:
1. At least one high speed road lies tangent to each local transport area.
2. Each local transport area has at least one side not bounded by a high speed road, but directly open to the countryside.
/
noise shield
3. The road is always sunken, or shielded along its length by berms, or earth, or industrial buildings, to protect the nearby neighborhoods from noise.
ring road
VJi
access to countryside
, i
❖ ❖ *5*
Always place the high speed roads on boundaries between subcultures—subculture boundary (13) and never along waterfronts—access to water (25). Place industry and big parking garages next to the roads, and use them, whenever possible, as extra noise shields—industrial ribbons (42), shielded parking (o'!....
98
| I 8 NETWORK OF LEARNING* |
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. . . another network, not physical like transportation, but conceptual, and equal in importance, is the network of learning: the thousands of interconnected situations that occur all over the city, and which in fact comprise the city’s “curriculum”: the way of life it teaches to its young.
•J* -k *2*
In a society which emphasizes teaching, children and students—and adults—become passive and unable to think or act for themselves. Creative, active individuals can only grow up in a society which emphasizes learning instead of teaching.