This new publication uses evidence from existing and implemented "Complete Streets" from around the United States in order to help communities imagine alternative futures for their streets. The book does not show hypothetical street re-designs, but actual examples from typical communities to show how they did what they did and see what resulted from the change. Research included analyzing the streets design and context and compared auto mobility in order to develop a design toolbox for planners and traffic engineers.

The project received a transportation research grant from the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), formerly the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC). The Federal grant award amount totaled $122,601.

Funders always look for matching grants, and Rowell Brokaw provided part of this through its UO Student Research Fund that helped leverage the NITC funding. This supported three UO Graduate Students—Briony Walker, Laura Levenberg and Kelly Sanford. Briony, Laura and Kelly did superb work doing technical research and creating graphics for this richly illustrated guide. Other match funding came from the UO Department of Architecture and the UO Sustainable Cities Initiative.

Kelly Sanford continued on to do the final graphic layout and manage the production of the book. Thanks in part to this opportunity, she recently received a $3,500 scholarship from Women in Transportation Studies (WTS) for her outstanding current transportation work and her future interest in sustainable transportation and urban design.

As a complex cultural and technical discipline, the contemporary practice of architecture should be connected to current research. Over the years, Rowell Brokaw Architects has performed specialized research studies, and has a staff with active research interests. To expand research capacity in special areas of interest, the firm established in 2007 the Rowell Brokaw Student Research Fund through the University of Oregon. Over the past seven years, the fund has supported two graduate students per term to conduct research of the built environment related to practice.

Visit the following links for more information about the Rethinking Streets book:
UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts
Rethinkingstreets.com

Past RBA Student Research Fund projects and student participants:

Dwelling Unit Livability Research (2007-2009)
—Tracy Bacon, Sean Landrey, Britni Jessup, Brent Stuntzner, Jordan Fay

Emergence of Shopping Districts (2010-2011)
—Maurice Reid, Marc Holt

Rethinking Streets Evidence Based Guide (2012-2014)
— Briony Walker, Laura Levenberg, Kelly Sanford

"Rethinking Streets" evidence-based guide—hot off the press