The street of the 21st Century is FLAT.
Flat as in leveled, equalized, accessible to all, providing a common background for healthier lifestyles. It is all about real shared space. True sustainability will arise when the community spirit is revived towards the building of a future, fit for all stakeholders, through mass participation and collaboration. The street should serve as the potentiator, the setting and the result of this renaissance. It is unrealistic to regard current city conditions as acceptable. We are living a schizophrenic dream. Cities as they are nowadays are planned in function of the car. A machine. Express ways, avenues, streets, parking spaces, garages... All serving one GOD.

ALDEIA concept is based on mobility rationalization. Multi-layering. Multi-modality. Car from product to service. Through road transit offset from the street level, where the pedestrian acts freely: “In a street where there are no roads, there is no car traffic”. Walking and bicycling encouraged, not constrained. The need rises for environments to be created, establishing different perceptions through their communication rather than rules. Driving mustn't be a continuum from highways to the inside of our living spaces. With passing transit terminated, the logic of connection to car land is focused on access points. Frontier nodes, creating a barrier perception and marking the separation of worlds, will enable fluid transfer between modes. For Brooklyn, specifically, these transition zones blend with the subway network, encouraging a multi-modal grid. Within borders, circulation becomes seamless, fading modes' incompatibilities. The stations complex, our nucleus node, while working as a technical answer to its interface properties and representing the proposal's geocenter, brings underground activity visible, communicating among levels, acquiring natural lighting from the street above and overseeing the flow of cars underneath.

Liberation of the street offers endless opportunities. The fabric of the street itself, its pavement, becomes one more tool, responsive to all dynamics now imposed by the people's need for appropriation of their living space. A permanent dialog, with and among all users, is allowed by this modular concept's versatility and innovation potential. Within this new setting, we envisioned some possibilities, taking advantage of unused allotted space, including freed street area. The CSA Market's comprehensive proposal is such an example, exploiting our street's new take on public space.

ALDEIA brings about major impacts. Community building and bonding leading to participation and citizenship. Health improvements deriving from reduced local pollution and a constant appeal for more fulfilling lives, both physic and psychologically. A new paradigm of global safety, reflex of a flat world. Climate change mitigation efforts represented by ALDEIA's reduced energy and natural resources consumption hand in hand with a cut in CO2 emissions. And the setting for continuous improvement.

The street of the 21st Century is livable by PEOPLE.
People are THE reason for this project. Their lives, their needs and concerns must be the main focus of urban planning. Mobility should be optimized for all modes, but never at the expense of the pedestrian. All of us, then.