Wide Streets

Many low-traffic neighborhood streets are remarkably wide—far wider than necessary given their usage. On the scale of a single street, it already feels like a misallocation of space. Multiplied across an entire city, the inefficiency becomes striking.

These broad expanses of asphalt are often encountered on a run, where every step pounds against the hard concrete. Dirt paths surrounded by trees and plants offer a much more welcoming and joint-friendly alternative. And it’s easy to imagine a better use for all that space. With modest changes, wide streets could be narrowed, and the reclaimed land transformed into linear parks—spaces for picnics, benches for rest, and soft, shaded trails for walking or running. Community gardens could dot the landscape, and the new green corridors could serve as natural gathering spaces for neighbors.

Beyond recreation and aesthetics, there are environmental and infrastructural benefits to this kind of reimagining. Parks and greenspaces can aid in flood control during heavy rains, help sequester carbon, and provide some mitigation of the urban heat island effect—small but meaningful improvements in a warming world.

There is no single blueprint for redesigning streets, but several options stand out. In many cases, converting the center portion of the street into parkland would be ideal. This approach avoids conflicts with driveways and provides a continuous, uninterrupted greenspace. On longer blocks, a consistent paving pattern at intersections could visually reinforce the idea of one extended park, rather than a series of disconnected segments.

Some neighborhoods already feature medians running down the center of the street. These are often underutilized, little more than strips of grass or concrete. These spaces present a perfect opportunity to pilot new designs—enhancing what already exists, rather than starting from scratch.

Rethinking the purpose and layout of wide streets offers cities a chance to reclaim valuable land for public use. By weaving greenspace into the fabric of residential neighborhoods, communities become more livable, more beautiful, and more resilient. What once was wasted pavement could become the connective tissue of a greener, healthier city.