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  • Published: 29 August 2003
  • ISBN: 9780262600583
  • Imprint: MIT Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 268
  • RRP: $59.99
Categories:

The Boulevard Book

History, Evolution, Design of Multiway Boulevards




A celebration of the multiway boulevard and an argument for its revival, with design guidelines and historic examples.

First built in Europe and grandly imported to the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, the classic multiway boulevard has been in decline for many years, victim of a narrowly focused approach to street design that views unencumbered vehicular traffic flow as the highest priority. The American preoccupation with destination and speed has made multiway boulevards increasingly rare as artifacts of the urban landscape. This book reintroduces the boulevard, tree-lined and with separate realms for through traffic and for slow-paced vehicular-pedestrian movement, as an important and often crucial feature of both historic and contemporary cities. It presents more than fifty boulevards—as varied as Avenue Montaigne, in Paris; C. G. Road, in Ahmedabad, India; and The Esplanade, in Chico, California—celebrating their usefulness and beauty. It discusses their history and evolution, the misconceptions that led to their near-demise in the United States, and their potential as a modern street type.

Based on wide research, The Boulevard Book examines the safety of these streets and offers design guidelines for professionals, scholars, and community decision makers. Extensive plans, cross sections, and perspective drawings permit visual comparisons. The book shows how multiway boulevards respond to many issues that are central to urban life, including livability, mobility, safety, interest, economic opportunity, mass transit, and open space.

  • Published: 29 August 2003
  • ISBN: 9780262600583
  • Imprint: MIT Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 268
  • RRP: $59.99
Categories:

About the authors

Elizabeth MacDonald

Ken Brown is an award-winning author and illustrator, having created many picture books for Andersen Press. His books have been translated into many languages all over the world. He is married to fellow picture book illustrator Ruth Brown, and they have two sons.

Praise for The Boulevard Book

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