Streets & Blocks: The rear alley

New Urban News Technical Page by Andres Duany, Michael Morrissey, and Patrick Pinnell

The practice of having different ways into buildings for different kinds of activities is age-old. Consistent provision of service-ways within an overall urban plan, however, dates only from the mid-19th century, with the coming of water and sanitary sewers. The rear lane is the older, more informal version that today exists mostly towards the rural ends of the Transect. It will be discussed in the next Technical Page. Like the lane, the alley is a multipurpose, mid-block service route, but occurs towards the urban end of the Transect.

In cities unequipped with alleys, all users — parked cars and street sweepers, mail delivery and dog walkers — compete for the same frontage. Access management becomes critical. In New York, which has few alleys, the average building supervisor has the space-time skills of an air traffic controller. Without alleys, the complex vitality of city life too often becomes an aggravation.