Global Street Design Guide

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Table of Contents

Global Street Design Guide

Existing Conditions


This example illustrates a main street with two travel lanes in the same direction and unregulated parking on both sides.


Instead of serving the many functions that a neighborhood street should, the entire right-of-way is dedicated to moving and parked vehicles.


Pedestrians have little choice but to walk on the roadbed and are exposed to unsafe conditions, as they weave through fast-moving traffic and face cars turning at high speeds.



Prishtina, Kosovo

Design Guidance


Reduce parking and replace it with extended sidewalks and intermittent parallel parking to make the street more inviting.


Lower parking demand can be encouraged by area-wide demand management strategies, including parking pricing.


 Following larger network analysis, convert this one-way street into a two-way street, to improve transit connectivity and to reduce speeds. Free turns may be restricted to certain corridors to reduce risk of conflicts for pedestrians crossing the street.


 Add curb extensions to provide additional public space and create pinchpoints at intersections, which slow turning traffic. See: Sidewalk Extensions.


Add road markings to indicate shared travel lanes with priority for cyclists.


Plant trees strategically such that they do not impact visibility for pedestrians or obstruct the clear path.


Over time, consider removing private cars to transform this narrow street into a transit mall that prioritizes transit, pedestrians, and cycles.



San Francisco, USA


Adapted by Global Street Design Guide published by Island Press.

Example 2: 22 m

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Example 2: 22 m