WHAT IS A WOONERF?
BY WILL ISERN
Pensacola’s first living street has come to life in front of the downtown YMCA on Intendencia Street. The “woonerf,” as it’s called, is a Dutch term for a street designed for pedestrian traffic first. As opposed to the average American street with raised sidewalks on either side of a sunken driving platform, a woonerf is level from side to side, the driving area narrower and the whole street designed to be aesthetically pleasing. Many woonerf have separate lanes for automobile, bicycle and pedestrian traffic.
16 | Business Climate | nwflbusinessclimate.com
Having recently completed and filled the Southtowne apartment complex, Studer Properties wanted to rebuild Intendencia Street, which had been torn up by the heavy machinery used to build Southtowne. Proponents of the walkable cities concept, Studer Properties saw an opportunity in Intendecnia Street to demonstrate what a living street – a woonerf – could look like in Pensacola, said company president Andrew Rothfeder.