In coming to design the “21st century street”, we need to start seeing the space between the buildings in its entirety, without separating it into private and public, road and pavement, residential, commercial or recreational use. We need to see the street as it is experienced by its users.
Front yards, storefronts and parking garages are as present as street trees, public benches and lighting poles, if not more.
The intersection of 4th Avenue and 9th street juxtaposes different urban fabrics, requiring different approaches in designing street spaces.

The area west of the Avenue contains industry and warehouse spaces that are not all active 24 hours and generate less street activity during the evening hours. These spaces do, however, offer opportunities in the shape of expansive spaces that can be shared by other uses, such as the area underneath the subway tracks, that can be used for bicycle parking and repair.
East of 4th Avenue the streets become mostly residential, composed of different housing typologies and densities. Front yards along 9th street are often used for parking by their residents. As seen on the parallel 10th street, the same front yards, when used as gardens and not as parking spaces, add another layer that softens the street edge, and improves the quality of air and surrounding temperature. By locating a parking lane and bike path along 9th street the private parking spaces are in fact eliminated, opening the way for the front gardens to be reincorporated in the street.

Bicycle paths along 9th Street are redesigned to become physically separated from vehicular traffic by parking lanes and elevated curbs. The paths are marked with pigmented asphalt, and are incorporated with ‘bike speed bumps’ when the path intersects a bus stop, to allow for pedestrian crossing. An additional path is proposed along 4th Avenue in the south-west direction, to allow access to the bike parking below the subway tracks.

The area underneath the subway platform is perceived as dark and intimidating, especially at night. However, existing infrastructure is already in place to easily inspire an active, compelling environment by re-opening the commercial spaces facing the underpass and incorporating abundant lighting within the structural beams of the bridge – illuminating the space while using it to the extent of its potential.

Finally, hidden in plain sight above the subway tracks is a space that can be used as a neighborhood park, proposing an accessible refuge from the intensity of the streets for the residents of the surrounding blocks. The park will be accessed by wide stairs following the slope of 10th street. An elevator located close to the intersection will offer access to the park as well as the subway platforms for disabled users.

When the space of the street is seen as a whole, expanded beyond the boundaries of the pavement, we can start imagining it as a more inclusive, compelling environment, reclaimed not by traffic requirements or cost-benefit analysis, but by the actions of its users.