Join visionary urban designer Dan Burden in an engaging course. What are the keys to building award-winning streets? Dan Burden, a compelling visionary and achiever known for building America’s best-designed roads, will guide participants through a comprehensive, well-illustrated, well-documented, historic, and holistic exploration of how transportation is shifting from building more at great expense to creating roads that generate economic value by fostering vibrant communities. This course highlights the paradigm shift toward designing streets that prioritize people and place, making cities livable, lovable, and healthy. Through case studies of transformed cities like Lancaster, California, and Hillsborough Street in Raleigh, North Carolina, participants will learn how to reimagine streets as thriving public spaces that enhance walkability, safety, and economic vitality.

Participants will explore practical strategies to create streets that support active transportation, reduce crashes, and promote healthier lifestyles. Drawing on decades of experience and insights from Blue Zones principles, Dan will share proven techniques for designing walkable, bike-friendly, and transit-oriented communities that maximize social and economic exchange while minimizing travel. The course will cover innovative tools such as roundabouts, narrower lanes, and enhanced pedestrian infrastructure, alongside land-use planning concepts like connectivity, density, and form. By examining real-world examples and participating in interactive discussions, attendees will gain the knowledge and inspiration to transform their own cities into healthier, more sustainable, and economically vibrant places.

Learning Objectives

1. Understand the Principles of People-Centered Design: Learn how to prioritize people and place over vehicular traffic to create streets that foster community engagement, safety, and economic prosperity.
2. Apply Walkability and Connectivity Strategies: Develop skills to design street networks with enhanced connectivity, appropriate density, and mixed-use development to promote walking, biking, and transit use.
3. Implement Traffic Calming and Safety Measures: Master techniques such as roundabouts, narrower lanes, and high-visibility crossings to reduce crashes and create safer, more inviting streets.
4. Integrate Blue Zones Principles: Explore how to incorporate health-focused urban design principles from Blue Zones to create environments that support longer, healthier, and happier lives.
5. Leverage Economic Benefits of Place-Making: Understand how well-designed streets can increase property values, attract businesses, and boost local economies by creating vibrant, walkable public spaces.