Thanks to Streetfilms!

August 9, 2008 will go down in history as the beginning of Manhattan’s transformation in becoming a truly pedestrian-oriented city. Through their Summer Streets program, they held the first of three street closings to cars along seven miles through the heart of the city. How’d it go? Read the quotes below from participants (shown in the film) below and decide for yourself! Once again, any city that has a DOT (Dept. of Transportation) like New York City will be attracting hordes of creatives - Summer Streets is their idea. See the quote by the Commissioner of the DOT below.

“Every day should be Summer Streets day!”

“This is ridiculously fun. They should have done this a long time ago.”

“We’re so lucky to live in a city where Mayor Bloomberg and his team want to show the world that New York city is a sport capital of the world and a model city for healthy living,” Mary Wittenberg, President, New York Road Runners.

“This is utopia New York.”

“The general interest as we can see is that people want to take over the streets. People want to have fun, and people want to meet out as equals, and this creates a sense of belonging, and this is what makes New York the greatest city in the world. I think we have to applaud the Mayor and the [DOT] Commissioner for having the guts.  Sometimes it’s much easier to do nothing, and then when you do nothing no one complains. But they are doing things in making the city more human-scale, and I think that’s what’s exciting.” Gil Penalosa, Former Parks Commissioner, Bogota, Columbia, responsible for Ciclovia, the event that started the street closing movement in the U.S.

“The best part is watching people look up, and enjoy buildings from the safety of the street instead of avoiding looking up because they’re trying to avoid collisions with motorists.”

“For eight years we’ve been anxious to come out of the house and sit on the grass. You can sit here and have lunch. It’s a wonderful place to be, but it’s terrible during the day with the cars going along and the fumes, and the noise, and the horns and everything, but today, it’s incredible!”

“We’ve got two more Saturdays to go, and it’s my hope that this becomes an iconic event for New York City for the next 100 years.” Jannette Sadik-Khan, Commissioner, NYC DOT (Department of Transportation)

Tomorrow marks the first day of NYC’s Summer Streets program when 7 miles of downtown Manhattan are completely closed to cars for six hours. Check out the official PSA above, edited by Streetfilms. Check out this map for other streets that will be closed on the Saturdays of August 9, 16, 23 between 7am - 1pm.

Motivated by NY’s program, Seattle will have Car-Free Sundays during the afternoons in three different neighborhoods at a time on August 24, 31 and September 7. The buy-in by businesses isn’t quite there yet, mainly because the mayor was a bit flippant in his announcement, so it’ll be interesting to see how it all turns out in the end.

Also following with enthusiasm, San Francisco just announced car-free Sundays on August 31 and September 14 from 9 am to 1 pm, covering six miles from the Bayview neighborhood, along the Embarcadero waterfront and ending in Chinatown.

All of these programs were inspired by the Ciclovia Sunday street closings in Bogota, Columbia.

Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn’s main street, is pedestrian-only on four Saturdays from July 19th to August 9th, 2008, noon to 7 pm. Check it out at Wiliamsburg Walks. Those in the know are aware this is a NYC DOT led effort through their streets to plazas program, though heavily supported by the local businesses and residents - some quotes:

“It feels a lot more peaceful, people are spread across the sidewalk and road, vs everyone crammed onto the sidewalk.”

“Definitely good for business, brings people here, now we get more customers, new customers, people try us out.” Erica Goepel, Business manager

“Tables out, people hanging out in the street… fantastic!”

“When they find out it’s just a fair and it’s whatever they want to make it, they get really excited and ask questions. Can I bring a chess set? Can I bring a picnic? The answer is yes, it’s your street, it’s your space, it’s your happening.” Teresa Toro, Community Board

“We hope that the community wants to see it happen again. Whether it happens again next summer or extended… the end goal for a number of us is that it can be done permanently on Saturdays, and then maybe be a permanently closed pedestrian street one day.” Business owner Jason Jeffries.

Maryland’s first pedestrian-only street in several decades, Ellsworth Drive, was profiled in the previous entry, but it’s not the only one.  In Bethesda, a town at the edge of Washington DC, Bethesda Lane opened in June 2008. If Ellsworth Drive reminds people of Downtown Disney, then Bethesda Lane conjures up Universal Studios. It features 44,000 s.f. of retail distributed through 16 shops and restaurants, mostly chains and luxury items, topped with 180 luxury apartments.

It obviously does not appeal to the vast majority of creatives and it looks like a new stage set at Universal (though a very sharp looking stage set). However, it’s an extremely favorable sign of things to come as far as pedestrian-only streets go, all but considered a pipe dream as recently as five years ago.  Plus, it has free public events, lots of outdoor seating and provides a couple hundred alternatives to commute-intensive mcmansions. So no, the average person can’t afford to live or shop there, but at least they can find opportunities to linger.

Ok, so those who’ve been down Silver Spring’s Ellsworth Drive in Downtown Silver Spring feel like they’re in Downtown Disney, but the takeaway here is that this is Maryland’s first successful pedestrian-only district (on weekends) in decades.

Ellsworth is the lone pedestrian-only street in the 22-acre mixed-use Downtown Silver Spring redevelopment, including 440,000 s.f. of retail. It’s more of a suburban shopping mall with its large-scale national retailers, but it does have a triangular plaza (left of photo above and in map) with a multitude of outdoor dining options amid a smattering of local, independent restaurants. In fact, the buzz is that as chains leave town in the weakened economy, they’re being replaced by local independents.

A popular item on many a creatives‘ wishlist is to see a car-dominated commercial street transformed into a pedestrian-only plaza brimming with outdoor diners. Some fortunate residents in NYC may not have to wait much longer.

Following a rather astounding recent track record in prioritizing pedestrians over cars, the NYC DOT (Department of Transportation) presented its latest and greatest, the NYC Plaza Program. When was the last time a Department of Transportation issued a statement like this: NYC DOT will work with community partners to create neighborhood plazas throughout the City. We will do this by transforming underused streets into vibrant, social public spaces.” It’s real, and it’s happening now.

The first round will award eight projects in any of NYC’s five boroughs by funding the redesign and redevelopment of the street into a plaza, including possible amenities such as tables and seating, trees and plants, lighting, public art, water features and drinking fountains. In addition, the NYC DOT will provide $50,000 each year for three years for a nonprofit to provide outreach, marketing and event planning. The deadline is August 19, 2008.

Looking forward to seeing the results, as well as hearing from other cities bold (and smart) enough to follow NYC’s lead.

Emerging generations want more pedestrian areas, less traffic-congested streets. In Manhattan, pedestrians are literally running out of sidewalk room. This August, New York City is conducting a ground-breaking historical experiment called Summer Streets, to provide a bold answer to this growing demand.

On August 9, 16, 23, three Saturdays between 7am - 1pm, the following streets will be pedestrian only, closed completely to auto traffic:

- Downtown Routes - 6.9 miles: Park Avenue between East 72nd Street & East 14th Street and Centre Street/Lafayette Street/4th Avenue between Brooklyn Bridge and East 14th Street.
- Central Park Route - 6 miles.
- Hudson River Greenway (between Battery Park & Inwood) - 14 miles

NY's government is taking the lead on this one, headed by the NYC DOT (Department of Transportation) and Mayor Bloomberg, "If it works, we'll certainly consider doing it again. We have never been afraid to try new ideas, especially the ones that have the potential to improve the quality of life." See the mayor's public announcement here.

The pedestrian lanes of Melbourne [Streetfilms]

As we gradually evolve from an auto-oriented infrastructure to a more pedestrian-oriented one, other of visiting the best examples around the world, a video is the next best thing to experiencing and understanding the appeal of pedestrian-only streets.

Thanks to Streetfilms, a sort of YouTube meets Discovery Channel, you'll get an excellent feel for Melbourne, Australia's myriad pedestrian-only lanes in their film, A Pedestrian Paradise in Melbourne. In the 19th century when city planners realized the city's blocks were too large for pedestrian activity, they began dividing them with lanes, many of which have become pedestrian only. Since then, even auto-oriented streets have been reduced to just one lane for cars, with the other lane transformed into a grand sidewalk for outdoor dining.

As you'll see throughout the video, who wouldn't want such a vibrant pedestrian haven, buzzing 18 hours a day and thus creating not only a welcoming, intimate dining and social gathering place, but a very safe one as well.

Distrubuted under Streetfilms' Creative Commons License.

Sign of things to come: Carfree conference comes to the U.S.

What's a carfree conference? That's probably what most U.S. citizens would wonder since the first six carfree conferences occurred only in Europe**. However, as you read through the list below, you'll see that's about to change...

Towards Carfree Cities I: Lyon, France; October 1997;
Organized by EYFA (European Youth for Action) and RVV (Regroupement pour une ville sans voiture, or Group for a Carfree City, Lyon), with 60-80 primarily young participants. This led to the founding of Car Busters, the magazine and resource centre (which later became the World Carfree Network) of the global carfree movement.

Towards Carfree Cities II: Timisoara, Romania; April 2000;
Organized with Young Romanian Nature Friends, with 60-80 primarily young participants.

Towards Carfree Cities III: Prague, Czech Republic; April 2003;
Organized by Car Busters, which became the World Carfree Network at the conference, with 60 participants and consensus to host the conference annually.

Towards Carfree Cities IV: Berlin, Germany; July 2004;
Organized with Autofrei Wohnen, Autofrei Leben!, BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany), ITDP Europe, and other German organizations, with 180 participants.

Towards Carfree Cities V: Budapest, Hungary; July 2005;
Organized by the Clean Air Action Group, Hungarian Traffic Club and Hungarian Young Greens.

Towards Carfree Cities VI: Bogota, Colombia; September 2006;
Organized with Fundación Ciudad Humana, with 120 participants.

Towards Carfree Cities VII: Istanbul, Turkey, August 27-31, 2007
Organized with the Turkish Traffic Safety Association, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Faculty of Architecture, Department of City and Regional Planning, with 200 participants from 20 countries.

Towards Carfree Cities VIII: Portland, Oregon, USA June 16-20, 2008
Organized with Carfree City USA, Shift, Portland State University, the first Carfree conference in the U.S.

This entry also signals a new category for this site: Pedestrian Only/Carfree.

**Not surprising given that most carfree cities and districts are in Europe.

NYC 'Taking Back the Streets'

Anyone familiar with New York City, especially Manhattan knows that there simply isn't enough room for the pedestrians. The NY Times takes a look at ten progressive pedestrian-oriented solutions that the city's urban leaders are suggesting:

The Woonerf - Popular in the Netherlands (translates to 'living street'), it's a primarily residential street that does not distinguish between a sidewalk and road, designed to look and feel like an outdoor living room.

Play Streets - Not only are streets temporarily closed to allow kids to play in them, but there's talk of closing some of them permanently for this purpose.

Bike Boulevards - More bike lanes to up the less than 1% of New Yorkers who commute by bike (mainly because there are too many cars).

Pavement Hierarchy - Rather than allowing every single street access to cars, have some of them reserved strictly for parks and plazas.

Green Grid - Establish a pedestrian-only zone like Temple Bar, Dublin, or a pedestrian-only boulevard like La Rambla in Barcelona, Spain.

Mental Speed Bumps - Provide social activities alongside streets (ie BBQs, micro-parks, etc.) that subconsciously slow down drivers. In other words, making something good out of rubber necking.

Swaled Streets - Landscape street edges which collect stormwater, reducing runoff by 99%.

Lanescapes - A great example of taking it up a notch, 'lanescapes' are the application of ongoing events and scenes to a 'green grid'.

Gentle Congestion - Urban micro-cars that flock like sheep using sophisticated sensors and navigation systems, even bumping one another slightly, thus the name, or even stackable cars.

Urban Acupuncture - Honestly, I don't quite understand what the NY Times is specifically talking about here in terms of practical examples, but the idea is to inject the city with green pedestrian-oriented spaces throughout its 'body'.

Image source: Chinatown by .mchung