For decades now, “attrition of the automobile” has occurred around city centers all over the world. Rome, London, Barcelona, Mexico City, and others have taken steps to return urban plazas, public spaces, and important avenues back to the pedestrian. With great success, these changes have created a less hectic and more livable streetscape as well as a more sustainable (and pollution free!) lifestyle. Anyone who has been to the Colleseum in Rome recently, walked the streets of old Barcelona or Vienna, taken a romantic stroll through old Florence, or enjoyed a night out right here on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach can appreciate the changes that a properly placed and designed pedestrian environment can generate.
While I wrote yesterday about a case of automobile attrition, the real news comes out of New York City which has begun to implement an ambitious plan to convert parts of Broadway Avenue into a walkable pedestrian mall or promenade. After redesigning two lanes of Broadway for bikes as well as a public esplanade between 35th and 42nd streets last year, New York City has finally made good on an announcement to close both Times Square and Herald Square to traffic. As of Memorial Day Sunday, these two iconic spaces from 42nd to 47th streets and 33rd to 35th streets, will be closed to vehicular traffic until the end of the year. If all goes well, these changes could be made permanent.
Just like the urban plazas in Europe, Mayor Bloomberg hopes that these new spaces will create lively, active, sustainable, less hectic, safe, and livable urban spaces. To make that happen nevertheless will mean success of the pilot program and the reconfiguration (which is short for ripping out the automotive streets and concrete) of the space to more pedestrians uses. Simple marking off some streets will not suffice — street furniture and other pedestrian details and elements are needed to compliment the space. Being that this is New York (and Times Square!) I also hope that any redesign of the space harnesses the unique urban locus of the site to create a truly singular pedestrian space.
Architecturally and urbanistically, these spaces are also well suited for the task because they are created by “buildings that contain space”, not “buildings in space”. In other words, Times Square and Herald Square are not delineated by a fence or a sign – rather they are visually and physically bounded by the buildings that make up the space. Much like in the traditional European city centers, or famous spots such as Piazza San Marco in Venice, or St. Peters Square in Rome, the building’s function the same way walls do in an interior room. Walls usually contain the spaces we inhabit and create the physical volume we call a room. Much like a cozy room, these urban spaces (Times Square and Herald Plaza) spaces create a sense of protection and enclosure that is typical of many successful pedestrian spaces around the world.
This movement away from the automobile is actually part of a broader move across New York City by Mayor Bloomberg to green the city and return urban spaces to pedestrians. The following is a video from Brooklyn is from a couple years ago. It highlights yet another case of “automobile attrition” in the New York City.
It is nice to see a case of “attrition of the automobile” in action at such a large scale in one of America’s iconic cities. While I doubt the plan is perfect, (these types of plans are usually tweaked and re-tweaked), I for one can’t wait to go check how these reconfigured spaces in the city have been transformed when I go this summer. I’ll make sure to report back and bring some images!
Related posts:
- People of Times Square
- Automobile Attrition in Brickell
- Images of St. Peter Basilica and Square
- St. Peter’s Basilica and Square – An Influential Urban Space
- World’s Busiest Intersection – The Pedestrian Scramble
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