Even though I live in a small town, I’m definitely an urbanist at heart. And I have to say that I’m extremely grateful that even though I do live in a small town, I am able to live an urban lifestyle. Which is the point of this blog. Small towns
I led a Walk Audit in downtown Sebastopol May 13th. The walk was part of the Sebastopol Walks series. Nine people showed up on a Saturday morning. The walk began with a presentation at the library about what makes a good walking environment and what to look for on the
There are many components of our built world that can support or detract from a place’s walkability. Much of the public realm has been designed with a primary focus on automobile travel with pedestrian needs often secondary or even a complete afterthought. A walk audit is a way to analyze
Sebastopol is a great case study in what makes a successful walkable people-oriented place. Sebastopol is a small town with a traditional commercial Main Street. Unfortunately, our Main Street is also a state highway and as such it is designed for the most-efficient throughput of vehicular traffic. For much of
The temporary parklet permits issued by Caltrans during the early months of the pandemic have expired. Because of this, two of the three parklets in Sebastopol have been dismantled. The city council decided that the third parklet should be allowed to convert from a temporary parklet to a permanent one.
Sebastopol has been fortunate to have had 3 parklets installed during the pandemic to help support downtown businesses and social distancing. Parklets have been discussed around town for probably about 10 years in one form or another. The Core Project participated in several park(ing) days. The Core Project did a
If you haven’t heard the name before, beg buttons are the push-buttons you have to activate in order to get a walk signal allowing a pedestrian to cross the street. There has been much written about them and how they really are one more instance of our circulation systems prioritizing
We have a couple of commercial buildings that are currently for sale on Main Street in Sebastopol. 110-112 North Main Street is a single-story commercial building with two tenants. Portico is an Italian restaurant and Sagestown is a gem shop. The building is about 4,000 sf, and so is the
Since November of 2020 Sebastopol has had 3 parklets installed as a response to the pandemic to allow for more outdoor options for the public to congregate downtown. Because all 3 parklets are located on Caltrans right-of-way, an encroachment permit was required from Caltrans. And in order to expedite the
Today is Park(ing) Day! Started in San Francisco in 2005, Park(ing) Day has turned into a global phenomenon to highlight the need for more people space in our communities by repurposing a parking space and turning it into a parklet for the day. These have become very popular during Covid
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FRITZ ARCHITECTURE-URBANISM
small town urbanism
urban design thoughts through the filter of living in a small town
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