I'm doing research for a blog entry on the connection between the design of a street and its impact on the kind of development that it attracts. I'm going to check out some books at the library, but it's weird that I'm having a hard time finding articles online that discuss this particular phenomenon. It's easy to cite the fact that all of the pedestrian friendly streets in Columbus have pedestrian-friendly development, but I want to know to what extent the street influences development and vice versa. I'm rather certain if more streets were converted to be pedestrian & cyclist-friendly we would see development that would be attracted to that and take root on these streets, rather than the other way around.

I have read some books that touch on street design and New Urbanism.  Not sure if you are going that route with it though.

 

They are:

 

Community by Design by Kenneth B. Hall and Gerald A. Porterfield

 

and

 

Suburban Nation by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck.

 

Hope this helps!

 

    Something to keep in mind is that many areas, especially suburban areas, are zoned for a certain kind of development in terms of use, setbacks, and density.

 

  For example, the traditional storefront with 2 or 3 stories of residential on top is banned in most suburban areas. The area is zoned either residential or commercial. If it is zoned residential, the code probably calls for a minimum lot size, say, 1 unit per half acre. If it is zoned commercial, the parking is usually dictated by the code as one space for every 500 square feet of retail floor area, or something like that.

 

    The zoning concept is built into the developer's plan to such an extent that it is rarely challenged, or if it is challenged, it is only changed in some minor detail.

 

    So, if you are in the development, real-estate, or construction industry, this is nothing new to you. In general, few people are aware of zoning and what a big impact it makes on development.

 

    That being said, if the street is automobile oriented, the development will likely be automobile oriented. If the street is pedestrian oriented, the development will likely be pedestrian oriented. Few streets do both well, and somewhat ironically, narrow streets that are congested with automobiles are often oriented toward pedestrians.

 

   

Good question, but it sounds more like a Master's Thesis than a blog entry!

 

Offhand, I can't think of any auto era streets that were made to be pedestrian friendly and that then spurred pedestrian friendly development, though often the two are planned together in neighborhood plans or New Urbanist developments.  Usually it seems to be the other way around- an area has a built form and density that allows for pedestrian activity, and so pedestrian enhancements are made to the street. 

 

Considering how much of Euclid Ave's built form has been lost, the recent improvements to it's pedestrian realm might be a test of this, but there is also form based zoning backing it up.  Are you looking for a pure market reaction to a public investment?