The quick way to make new pedestrian plazas
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- Thank you for submitting your pedestrian plazas! We have closed submissions momentarily while we develop a new survey.
I’m on Patreon! Consider supporting this channel: / citybeautiful
Cities across the United States have developed programs to close streets to cars and turn them into pedestrian plazas. For example, LA’s People Street program was created by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) in 2014. Closing off sections of underutilized streets and refocusing them as hubs for community activities has allowed the City of Los Angeles to expand their walkable spaces which were previously filled with vehicle traffic. Moreover, these pedestrian spaces provide vibrant places for people to interact. This video tours some notable pedestrian plazas from programs in New York, Boston, Seattle, and Atlanta.
This video is a synthesis of several sources, including:
Los Angeles:
ladot.lacity.o...
New York:
www1.nyc.gov/h...
Boston:
www.boston.gov...
Seattle:
www.seattle.gov...
Atlanta:
www.atlantadow...
Produced by Dave Amos in sunny San Luis Obispo, California.
Co-authors: Tim McBirney and Nishita Kandikuppa in San Luis Obispo, California.
Edited by Ryan Alva in Los Angeles, California.
Audio by Eric Schneider in cloudy Cleveland, Ohio.
Select images and video from Getty Images.
Black Lives Matter.
Thanks to those who submitted plazas! I hope to make another video in the future about more cool pedestrian spaces.
Stop dictating how people live. Stop ruining our lives to fit your vision of a utopia. I want to be able to use my car. Stop making people feel unsafe.
Do you only want newer plazas, or do you want just any street-to-pedestrian plazas that we know of?
Also, do you only want permanent plazas, or are temporary ones also okay?
@@TheApollotd Stop projecting your fears on him. He's a researcher/educator, not a civil engineer. He doesn't dictate how people live, he's not ruining your life, he's not preventing you from using a car. He's just gathering research. If you want people to stop making pedestrian plazas, go talk to your local city council.
@@CreepyBlackDude The more the better at this point. Just let us know that they're temporary or older in the comment box.
Thank you for not having a sponsor this week. Awesome way to make up for cutting the lesson short last week.
In Sweden, specificlly Malmö, we have "Summer streets" that during the summer months are closed for trafic and are filled with chairs, trees and open spaces to meet and hang out with friends. some of these streets get used by cafes and resturants and its honestly lovely seeing streets used this way.
Same in Stockholm. This year they opened 6 in my neighbourhood alone. Last year it was 4
That's really a good idea. The northern cities in the US should follow that.
Theirs some in Canada too, mainly Montreal.
I lived in Spain for 2 years and I loved how, in summer, all the outdoor eating areas suddenly popped out. It was a sad sign summer was ending when they disappeared again.
We have the opposite thing in Vienna: Sleighing Streets: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:20130119_Rodelstrasse_Schwenkgasse.jpg
"This man said that a cycle path would spoil the village-like atmosphere, but it was hard to hear him over the roar of traffic."
Jay foreman?
@@gorg8882 Ding ding, correct
@@StratosTitan Yes! Now where's my 1990 alpha romeo with a vaguely attractive woman standing beside it?
Astonishing :) Jay Foreman is amazing.
This man has singlehandedly made me passionate about zoning ,city planning and transportation.I cant thank you enough
I wish you uploaded more often tho
I do find his bias against vehicular roadways and low-density planning to be a bit off-putting, though.
@@kelaarin It's understandable why tho
I'd recommend you check out "The Suburban Wasteland"series by Eco Geeko
His videos are quite insightful and dig deeper into the problems associated with low-density housing as a priority
@@gidd Seen it. And lived the high-density life when i lived in Russia - what a nightmare. Utterly dehumanizing.
@@kelaarin That might just be a personal experience
I live in a single family house ,but it isn't on an acre of land , wasting a sh!t ton of space
If single family is done well it works great
it affects all of us so we should be passionate and involved in city planning! the public creation of place and use of space is arguably one of the most important ways we can practice democracy
I really like that you call your intro "the bike bell", but I loved it even more when you called it "some _swooshy_ buildings" that one time
I'll have to bring back "swooshy buildings"
Salt Lake City, Utah is currently contemplating permanently closing Main Street in the downtown area to cars, leaving it entirely for pedestrians and the light-rail system.
They should do it
I hope it happens would be a good start
Could you imagine how great that would look with the archway they have near the capital? I hope they do it, I grew up there.
As a European this video reminded me that our cities are really pedestrian-friendly in comparison to the cities in the states
For real. Some those triangles made me thing "how's a plaza gonna be nice if there are car fumes from two sides", but then again, it's a massive improved for them
@@jezusbloodie Thank you for understanding the fact that it's an improvement. Many people would usually bash it because it's so far below Europe's standards. That attitude is very discouraging towards change. Every step forward, even if it's small, is good.
And also in Europe cars still dominate public space. There's much to do here as well.
@@crazy808ish it's always important to keep things in context
@@herreichhorn0.0 There's some new movement called slow city where some cities are really ambitious in making cities pedestrian friendly. I think both Barcelona and Paris are making big moves. Until that has happened Im camping out here in Lucca :)
As a European, I am stunned by how little pedestrian space there is in US cities, and how little people care for it. Some of my favourite places to go in my city are pedestrian plazas. The food is great, the atmosphere is calming, and it is beneficial to local business'.
its because we are just used to not having any places to hang out as a pedestrian lol
Ditto kimchii boiii, but also (not to be too big of a downer) we don't have as much free time or money, on average, as most Europeans. Even when we do have the time and money to go hang out somewhere, we often have to drive to the place we want visit, as our public transportation system is very weak compared to yours. Picking public transportation over driving often still involves quite a bit of driving, and the journey could be more than three times as long as it would have been in a car.
Also remember, European cities grew to size long before cars were invented and as such had to be pedestrian friendly.
American cites in contrast grew substantially after cars were invented and suburbs were built in the relatively cheap and available lands near cities. So many American cities were built with a fanatic obsession with cars which don't belong in cites. (Simple geometry)
Now the consequences of this is that American cities generally are much less pedestrian friendly than European cities, however, local policy on mass transit is the final straw.
@@jasonreed7522 That's a very good point
@@hardyorange I have a friend who moved to Phoenix, some suburbia. He asked the local council to have a bus stop near by. He was told they will not do it because all the people have cars. How stupid is that? So what about the low income people or people who just don't want to travel everywhere by a car?
"Los Angeles is build as much for cars as it is for people." Where can I see the "for people" part of LA exactly? It must be hiding somewhere, beneath all those urban freeways
They're all in the cars.
For real, it's all for cars. Driving across town takes hours.
@@delicious619 it does because car is the default mode of transportation and people use them even when they really shouldn't
@@delicious619 it's a big city. it's kind of expected :D I live in VIenna, Austria and going to otherside of the city takes half an hour or so. (i.e. 2mil citizens)
🤣 Depends on the city. Where I live in Bell Gardens is somewhat pedestrian friendly but is close to a gym, lots of supermarkets, banks, etc. walking distance. Then there's cities like Downey where most of its neighborhoods lack pedestrian walkways (meaning the front yard of the house lacks a walkway the only way to move is by car).
This video made me really miss Europe. More pedestrian friendly cities in the states, please!
There's nothing like walking through the city center and spotting a nice spot in the shade to sit down, eat, and relax. Glad the US is starting to catch up in this respect.
@@awrybowtie5591 The difference that in Europe those places almost always are planned from the beginning and are in place of buildings not in place of streets. Maybe just have less density, fewer apartment and office buildings to leave some space for public spaces.
Labas Labas No, less density just encourages car usage. The massive, sprawling US suburbs full of twisting dead-end streets are a nightmare for anyone who doesn‘t own a car. Instead, walkability must be improved and cities need to encourage walking through attractive shopping streets, not malls. Retail development must be concentrated along streets, not within huge centres at the edge of town with one square mile of parking spaces. That will make people come and walk. Couple that with lining streets with trees and you have very attractive spaces for pedestrians.
@@bahnspotterEU I just don't believe really meaningful and attractive spaces are created with these few tables and chairs. Overall streets are not for that. Way better and larger public spaces could be in place of buildings. Maybe if low density is a problem than in place of 10 2-story buildings just build 5 4-story buildings and you get tons of space. I don't really need retail because cafes and bars seem like a waste of money, while to buy other things online shopping or malls with huge variety in one place are more convenient than small shops located all over the place.
Labas Labas But then what will you do in these public spaces if there aren‘t any shops or restaurants? You need to attract people with something. And sure, malls might be more efficient and centralised, but that’s a sacrifice we need to make. Just because it takes longer to potentially reach a shop along a street doesn’t mean the overall shopping experience will be worse.
Another benefit I've noticed with the boardwalk raised to curb level is the way water drains. Because there's a deeper area for water to flow under the main walking surface, it doesn't tend to see much puddling, meaning it's still pretty easy and comfortable to walk in even fairly heavy rain. Perhaps future projects like this can adjust some of the drainage systems in the underlying road and surrounding sidewalks before installing the boards and make this effect even more prominent.
That's what I was thinking as well! Especially useful in the PNW
There's a city near me that shuts off a pretty large section to cars every Saturday for their weekly farmer's market. It's fantastic.
London Ontario?
Ciclovía! A practice that started in Bogotá, Colombia.
In most mexican cities it is called Tianguis and is so old as Mexico itself
@@ratgr translating for anglophones: tianguis is basically an outdoor flea market, or a swap-meet, or a farmers market.
@@ChangeUrAtOnYT.comSlashHandle hahah sure, that's why I responded its basically a weekly farmers/flea market and it is pretty nice to have fresh stuff, adding context, Tianguises are all around the city and are even on weekdays one day or 2 a week
My home city of Cork (Ireland) temporarily pedestrianised many of its city-centre streets to facilitate outdoor dining during COVID and recently many of these were made permanent. Let's hope that a silver lining from the pandemic will be an improvement to the liveability of cities.
I like visiting Cork but used to loath some of those streets and being crammed onto tiny footpaths while cars crawl along the road. Looking forward to my next trip down
And this, is why we're better then Dublin.
@@gorg8882 I’m from the Peoria, IL(2 SW of Chicago) and the first time I felt good walking was when I went to Dublin in 2019. Didn’t feel like I had to constantly worry about getting hit by a car! I guess I’ll have to visit Cork next time.
@@dragonofepics7324 oh no you'll feel like you're gonna get hit, just not because the roads aren't safe, mostly because everyone is high, drunk, or wants to do your knees in
I hope these pedestrian plaza's stick around and help push the need for good public transportation around the US. After living in Tokyo for a few years it was depressing to move back into urban sprawl in Dallas.
I agreed tho in NY we neglected our metro system
@@USSAnimeNCC- true unfortunately
You’re gonna need them in Texas with all those immigrants
I would like to see it here but the NIMBY is too strong for good public transportation in Detroit.
@@agent807 I think you mean the auto industry, lol
That's something here in Europe we have experience, we have lots of cases were the pedestrianizationof an area makes the commercial around it a lot more profitable.
It's a pity that some cities (as t least here in Italy) are more and more trying to replicate commercial car-centric districts.
that's the no car-no business theory, it sucks for city-centers.
I'm so excited about how the whole world is learning by trial and error about urbanism and how it's gradually improving.
we already know what makes a great city (e.g. Venice, Amsterdam, Singapore), but many places struggle to implement these positive changes due to third-party actors looking for commercial gain. A great example is architecture in cities. Rarely beautiful these days (relative to older buildings), because beautiful buildings cost more to make.
@@flick6291 why should buildings be beautiful though, why can't they just be utilitarian
~ yours sincerely
a brutalist architecture fan
@@narsimhas1360 Beauty isn't opposed to being utilitarian. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and although I don't particularly agree with the brutalist architecture style, there is definitely some nice brutalist architecture, and some bad, and I'm sure we can agree on nice ones such as the barbican in London, and horrible ones like in much of the Soviet Union during the Stalin era. I also don't think it is necessarily the individual buildings that are important, but the collective. London today is filled with different architectural styles in the same area, there is no harmony. Compared to NYC or Amsterdam, where it is more uniform in style, but still creative to not be boring.
- yours sincerely,
A fan and a hater of London
@@narsimhas1360 Simple answer : human scale and human attention span. Would you rather walk down :
- a street with ornate, different size and styles buildings, shops on street level, with people stopping there, talking and living, or even a residential neighborhood with colorfull house ornements, bikes parked, people sitting on a fronch porch...
- a street with uniform or monobloc and monochrome buildings, no windows, no ornements, empty facades and a looming mass of concrete?
This is why we hate suburbs, malls and parking lots, we walk faster in streets where there is nothing catching our eye's attention but the journey still seems longer. Our brain is made to be intrigued by signs of life, by beautiful details, colourful curtains, or weird shapes and random things. Otherwise we feel unconfortable.
Brutalist architecture and utilitarian buildings might look nice on an architecture model, but the lived reality is much different. Architecture and urbanism models deal with the city scale, but they don't often deal with the scale of the single human walking at the feet of the building they are designing.
Also, utilitarian architecture developped at the same time as the car, its design is meant to be admired from a car, at speed and from a distance. We kind of forgot we have a human size, walk at human speed, and have a human brain that likes shiny stuff.
I love brutalist buildings on their own, as objects, but they are NOT helpful in creating a living urban fabric from the streets.
@@flick6291 Beauty absolutely isn't in the eye of the beholder.
It's not USA, but the Grass Market in Edinburgh has been transformed into a wonderful area for pedestrians. It used to be an area police feared to tread, with pubs that women were not allowed in. Now it is a vibrant area, with outdoor seating.
He gives me friendly math tutor vibes
Well math tutors are just diet adjunct professors.
This made me realise how much London has done in its major areas to help pedestrians
My city's making more patio space for restaurants and shops for the first time. The streets still feel mostly dead in 90% of places but in the other 10% you actually have a chance of seeing people milling about!
It is quite interesting that pedestrian spaces like these appear to be such a new thing in the US, because it is just so common here in France. Pedestrians have a lot of space in most cities.
In Europe the old city styles make urban areas a lot more communityesque. The cities were not made with cars in mind unlike America
Actually America has lots of cities that were pedestrian including LA . That's right Los Angeles. This delicate is no accident. They deliberately made the country auto dependent.
Here in Montréal, we have one such plaza: Place des Arts. It's downtown, it has little patios for people taking lunch breaks, lots of space to walk dogs, lay on the grass, etc.
We also have the pedestrianized section of Rue Ste Catherine every summer. That's a bit like these plazas but on a bigger scale. We also experimented with a bunch more summer street closures during covid. I live on Avenue du Mont-Royal and the massive plaza that they built over the summer was awesome. I hope they become permanent summer fixtures but my understanding is the businesses generally didn't like it so who knows.
I remember seeing one near Avenue Duluth E when I visited. Also Montreal has way more regular squares and is more European in feel than the rest of Canada. Quebec even more so, but I always felt less dense, also Montreal is flatter like Amsterdam.
@@alexjgray100 I liked what the city did on Mont-Royal last year even though it was more complicated to get around by car. Did you tried the velo-taxi on Blvd Saint-Laurent last year? I thought it was a great idea. I also like the little sitting spaces the city has installed on parking spaces.
In Denver, we've blocked off Larimer St between 14th and 15th to make Larimer Square a much better pedestrian experience in front of downtown's oldest buildings. Its been extended through 2022 and may well become permanent, it's so popular. Planners also created an alleyway plaza called the Dairy Block in a redevelopment in Lower Downtown. It's a popular tourist destination now.
This is one of the things that makes NYC what it is. I can’t imagine living in a city where I can’t survive without a car. I absolutely adore this city
I remember when Toronto, Canada closed the streets which intersected Ryerson University's downtown campus, turning them into pedestrian plazas. It changed the entire feeling of the campus for the better.
Last year in Vilnius (Lithuania) the whole city centre was turned into a massive plaza, lots of restaurants and cafes had seating in the open spaces (because of the pandemic). This year the same is happening, several streets were closed to cars and turned into nice plazas.
Before the pandemic I was in Italy for months exploring Europe and when returning when resturants were opening up to outdoor eating I found it fascinating how in America it was becoming common to take places of the road for dining. This was such a common practice in Europe and specifically Italy. I am very happy it seems to be staying and will become a common thing.
Finally I see something good made in the States! I hope these projects will be sustained long term!
I am so spoiled. I live in the Netherlands and basically all our city centers are one big "plaza." The tables and chairs set up is basically what every single café has out front.
Really good to see the US is starting to do it too, because it makes for very livable and comfortable cities.
Thank you, once again, for an impeccable, informative video. Pedestrian plazas allow people to interact joyfully without having to deal with ubiquitous automobiles. If cities create lush, creative, inviting spaces, the people will come! I am fortunate to live in the Netherlands where most city centres are closed off to automobiles. Plazas abound, and Europeans delight in watching passers-by and spending time with others. The ensuing result is one of pure bliss.
The things you discuss are things I actively use for my papers (in reference to my country, of course).
So thank you, and may you continue making more of these amazing videos.
as a civil engineering major, i love your videos so much
In Denver, we now have the Bannock Street Plaza on the west end of Civic Center Park and several scattered blocks of Larimer, which i honestly think should be a pedestrian mall (like the 16th St Mall) from Tivoli Square to Downing St
I love what they've done with larimer square and definitly hope it sticks around.
Not sure if anyone mentioned the “Open Streets” program in NYC many streets were blocked off to through traffic with gates and most of these closures are in the process of becoming permanent. City has also announced 10 new “Open Boulevards” spaces two days ago.
That's the reason why I like Europe's cities so much. Public pedestrian plazas and streets everywhere.
Europe's cities are among the happiest in the world.
SLC is looking at turning 4 blocks of Main Street into a plaza. It's a pretty massive area with a lot of business. It also leads right up to City Creek Mall. I would definitely take a look at that. It's been closed a few times in COVID and now a group is trying to make it permanent
👏👏👏
Sundance Square in the middle of Downtown Fort Worth is a great example. The city really cleaned up downtown and made it extremely pedestrian focused.
So crazy to see two places I frequent a lot in a video! Chicago has done some great things.
Chicago JUST missed the cut for this video. I'll be in Chicago to do a video this summer, though, so stay tuned.
Florence, OR. As a response to Covid, our small-town coastal community approved the temporary conversation of parking spaces in front of main-streat restaurants into seating for dining. The street experience has been greatly improved. It is such a joy to sit on our small "old town" riverfront mainstreet and sip a craft beer and watch the tourists go by. We have a historic bridge and sand dunes and the river for views, and good local personalities for flavor
Never clicked so quickly on a new video.
i'm generally pretty dissatisfied with how my home city handles pedestrian spaces, but seeing americans fawn over a few tables definitely puts things into perspective
In Mexico we build the street underground and then use the entire former street as a plaza, its expensive but it works great, also during the summer some streets are closed on the weekends for public markets, kind of like flea markets but they sell everything from plants to clothes to shops that repair computers, phones or watches and of course food, also some streets are closed on the weekends to be used for cycling.
I advise US citizens in liveable locations to watch the 'Not Just Bikes' channel, so much information of what works and what doesn't. It started with Dutch cycling infrastructure pearls of wisdom and now extends into the horror of car-dominated suburbs.
West St. Julian Street in Savannah, GA is a great example of giving the street back to the people. What started out as a temporary project soon turned into a permanent one.
Nice video! Here in Santiago, Chile, a few years ago there was an iconic proyect at the downtown, the Bandera street (historically a main car street for the neighborhood) was turned into a fully pedestrian street, and the results were amazing. I really hope they keep doing this kind of urban interventions.
Here in Milan, the city are implementing some extensive urban tactics plaza. Since the program was initiated 4 years ago some of the first example are being transformed permanently.
Burlington VT has a huge pedestrian section! It's lovely.
Do the sunset neighborhood in San Francisco! I’d love to see you talk about the Great Highway debate!!!
+ JFK
THANK YOU for considering traffic flow and access to businesses. Too many people don't consider this while this is SO important.
West Main Street in Spartanburg, SC was temporarily closed to thru traffic and converted into a plaza at the start of Covid. City council voted to allow it to continue to stay a plaza through the end of summer. Goupstate has a story from April on this. Hope this is helpful!
Never thought I'd see another person from the Hub City on RUclips, hey there haha! I was annoyed when they got rid of the Main Street space, but if I understood it right, business owners weren't 100% on board. I might be wrong on that though. One thing I do miss was music on main every Thursday, good memories. The sad thing about Spartanburg is that its downtown is that it's compact, the only other space I can think of that has potential is Wall Street. I don't live in Spartanburg anymore, moved out after high school and successfully avoided it for 4 years. But things like that I appreciate and I may have to visit more often.
Super cool to see you feature the one in downtown Boston
There's a great plaza at Woodward and Jefferson in Downtown Detroit and at Capitol Park Historic District, just West of Woodward.
In Times Square there is a sign for The Good Place. I love that show! It was so amazing!
Lived in Tokyo for a few years. Something they'd do in Akihabara, the anime and electronics area of the city, is close the main road that runs in the middle of the area on Sundays from 10 AM - 4 PM. This was so the max amount of people on their day off on Sunday could shop in the area. This is something I think should be implemented in different areas in the US. Close off roads in shopping areas on Sundays so people can actually walk around on their day off.
I love your mission of humanising cities through putting people, not vehicles at the centre of urban spaces 👏
i went to new york recently and my favourite spots were definitely the plazas where broadway intersected the other streets on the grid
One thing we are doing in NYC is the Open Streets program. It was started to give more ppl open spaces during covid. Essentially, bunch of streets all around NYC are closed to cars. This turned out to be very popular (duh) so ppl are asking for it to be permanent (specially during the summer).
We need more of these pedestrian plazas across the US.
In my local city of Malmö, Sweden we have these so called summer streets. Some streets often used by pedestrians are closer for cars during the months of April-October. I really like this concept because having more space dedicated for pedestrians is always great, but utilizing the street for cars when there are less pedestrians is also good
I enjoyed this video, it's the first time I've seen you ask for help identifying places (albeit I haven't watched all your videos to see if this is a common occurrence or not).
I will be actively watching more of your videos because urban planning is so fascinating!!
While not in the US, I do live in a city that had converted many streets and squares into pedestrian plazas. When I first moved to Turin, Italy, it was dominated by the car, even in the historic center. However over the last twenty years, the Commune (city) has done a lot to claw back space for people. Historic piazzas like Piazza Castello and Piazza San Carlo are now pedestrian areas that swarm with tourists and locals alike. Many of the major shopping streets are now pedestrian zones. Cars are not completely banned, residents who live along those streets can still access their apartments with their cars however they are also know that they are not the primary users of those streets.
These pedestrian zones really help make the city feel more vibrant. On a sunny Sunday, it is not uncommon for those areas to be full of people shopping, drinking coffee at the many cafes, eating at the outdoor terraces, etc.
Hi, love your videos. For young planner these concepts and their implications is very helpful! The 15 min city concept needs to be more widely accepted. Cars should not dominate our landscapes. Tactical urbanism is a great way of reclaiming public space!
We have a plaza here in Downtown Detroit (by the way, which is the background map in the credits). Originally, the street was closed due to large street concerts that took place but the change was made permanent a couple of years ago.
While neither new nor technically a "plaza," Bethesda Row in Maryland is a fine example of pedestrian- and bike-friendly street design that embodies many of the key concepts you discussed.
My city in Switzerland has plenty of plazas, although there is just one that used to be a car street. As you mention, the street was a shortcut between two other streets at an awkward intersection (roundabout). They closed the shortcut street and raised it to the level of the sidewalk. It now serves as a terrasse for the café/bar that was on that street. It's right next to the uni, so that bar is making bank now :)
Part of the downtown pedestrian mall in Eugene, OR (which I think you've mentioned before) is pedestrian only again temporarily, mostly to provide out door seating for the restaurants and bars.
I bet if people rally for its permanency, the city can make it so.
@@MoPoppins Are you familiar with Eugene? It used to be permanent and a bunch of people and business owners rallied to open it back up to cars.
The Spirit of Detroit Plaza is the best example that I can think of here in the Motor City. They created it by blocking off Woodward Ave. between Jefferson Ave. and Larned St.
Piazza della Famiglia in San Diego’s Little Italy neighborhood is a great example. There’s also two high-profile proposals in the works here: the Normal Street Promenade in Hillcrest and the Gaslamp Promenade in Downtown.
We have one of these in Silver Spring, MD too. It is well loved and enjoyed, even in the winter. It's gorgeous, and one of my favorite places to be. The only problem is, there's nothing to do there except spend money. Only shopping and movies.
Here in the little city of Northville, Michigan, they have closed off Main St that runs through the downtown area and turned it into a plaza just like this. Its a very old city, the city predates the usage of cars. It is soo nice to be able to walk around and sit at the provided tables & chairs. They even have little stands that people can rent out and sell things. Is was very welcoming to walk around where cars would've been roaring around. Compared to the non-plaza state where all you have is the little Side Walk. When its only the Side Walk, its not as welcoming as the Plaza. It almost feels as if you are not suppose to be there. Its about time we leave behind the car centered life style.
That’s my neighborhood you’re in at the open! It’s the Sunset Junction neighborhood in Silverlake (Silver Lake). That plaza has had a really nice impact on the area. The local farmers market is there twice week.
Plaza in Boston is awesome, bike line on edge is VERY useful for commuters
Eugene, Oregon had a pedestrian mall downtown that was built in the 70"s. It survived about 25 years when it was torn apart and made into streets again. Some are talking about making it a pedestrian mall again.
You are probably the best Urban planner right now. Hope you get a big department in the future ,and change the the country's landscape 🤩
My town permanently turned a church parking lot into a pedestrian market. There are also plans to build pedestrian-friendly shops on the former parking lot. My town, which is physically huge, is actually fairly pedestrian friendly compared to other American towns. There are no stroads, and there are actual sidewalks, and some continue onto the road. The town may seem dense by the sky, but on the ground, it is low dense compared to nearby cities. It still is dense compared to surrounding towns. Also public transit support.
Media, PA (suburb of Philadelphia) has had a TEMPORARY plaza of this type for many years. For a few days each week (sometimes seasonal) they close some streets to cars and those streets become gigantic outdoor dining plazas.
Not US, but Bogota, Colombia also has this thing they call the "cyclovir". Every weekend, they close down a massive network of city streets. They are open only to cyclists, pedestrians, and public transit. It's hugely popular, with people getting out by the thousands to get some exercise and explore their city.
I'm glad that you included Atlanta!
My local city is buzzing with talk of turning part of main street into a plaza, fingers crossed!
It does kind of feel like something Aldo van Eyck started in the 1949-ies in Amsterdam (Netherlands) where unused plots within the city were transformed into playgrounds for kids. With kind of a similar idea: to improve liveliness and safety in cities, while at the same time offering play facilities in very urbanised area (something large cities tend to miss)
I know of one of these plazas but it's literally the one you're standing in. Great spot! we visit it every weekend for the farmers market!
Was going to tell you about my favorite pedestrian plaza in Boston but then it starred in your video!!!
In Sydney Australia, they recently finished converting a 1 kilometre length of one of the busiest streets (George St) in the middle of the city into a pedestrian mall and light rail. At the time the usual predictions of traffic chaos were made, and yet when it opened, vehicle traffic into the city actually went down. It was so successful that the city council is now looking to convert more of the same road into additional pedestrian space. You can still see the old road with cars on google maps. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Street,_Sydney
One of the questions in your form should have been "how popular does it seem to be?"
It's just an opinion from one person, but I'm sure the info would be useful to help you categorize successes/failures in the extreme cases when they say the plaza is never used, or if there's always lots of activity in it.
Watching this video right next door to Herald Square, waiting on my bus home
It's really cool to hear what you work on in a professional setting. I'm sure lots of us have the underlying thought of "if I had to restart my career, urban planning might be my decision" so it's quite interesting to hear what an actual urban planner or educator does. You should do more videos on that.
The best time to explore plazas in Chicago is architecture weekend every October.
I had no idea this was a thing! I’m gonna have to go up to Chicago during October sometime.
i was thinking more of destroying every car in the world but this works too
Shh... don't reveal the endgame just yet.
Sheridan Park in Uptown Chicago turned a few blocks into urban culs-de-sac and turned the middle of the block into a pedway called Sunnyside Mall.
Its one of those weird moments when something urbanists typically hate, culs-de-sac, gets flipped into something that is specifically for pedestrians. Not only does it encourage walking but it makes through traffic almost impossible.
The same thing is happening in Milan. The municipality started years ago to spread these projects all over the city. The interesting part is that after a year or two these areas become permanently pedestrian with more green spaces and better urban furniture. I suggest you to follow Demetrio Scopelliti on Twitter, he shares a lot of interesting images about what's happening in our cities.
Great suggestion!! Thank you!
oh sick, didn't know you were a prof at SLO, I'm going there next year :)
There used to be one on Oak street in Wisconsin Dells from 2016 to 2018 before being ordered the removal of the plaza by the mayor cited a large boat blocking the intersection (after looking at the plaza on google street view and the boat looked like it was not blocking the intersection) and creating a challenge for locals who use the intersection to bypass tourist travel. The police department is thankful for the removal due to it hindering emergency traffic even though there are parallel streets that are about 400 ft away and Oak street is not even a half-mile long. At least the city is building a new plaza on the next block over.
SANSOME ST BETWEEN 15 AND 16. Its a active bar and restaurant community and it should stay. I couldn't be more serious that this alley st should not be active. Thank you for your content it has created a passion that will never dissipate no matter where I end up.
Argyle street in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a fair chunk of Cork, Ireland's old port, are both pedestrian only and some of my favorite neighborhoods.
Santa Barbara has closed down its Main Street (state street) to allow “parklettes” to exist. It’s amazing. The street was no fun to be on really before and now it is a pedestrian paradise and safe for kids. I hope it’s permanent!
Seattle has some really cool and creative "pocket parks" - smaller than the plazas you are discussing here. Not sure how they started but they also really add to the urban landscape.
That’s so good, i want a new pedestrian plaza at the city that i live! I get so many ideas with this video
This is happening a lot in my hometown, Buenos Aires, and in another city I visit a lot, Montevideo (Uruguay). I celebrate it. I think its totally futuristic, its nice, its easy, disincentivise the use of car and buses (which is ecological since reduces smog)... in fact they are doing it here in BA in the oldest part of the city. It totally protects it, its nicer, greener, cleaner, less noise. I dont see any con more than a pain in the neck for those who have a car or maybe the problems of making a place touristic from nowhere (prices, for instance, or insecurity, if exists).
Well, I guess that it would be a pain for those delivery trucks that need to go to those stores that are in those plazas o emergency servicies (most important firefighters and ambulances) but considering that those plazas are not that big it's not a big deal
Ps: AGUANTE EL SUBTE VIEJA, NO ME IMPORTA NADA (?)
@@arielhernansuaznabar9527 jajajaj!! si, esta bueno. Montevideo no tiene subte.
Con respecto a los camiones, hacerlo como lo hacen, con horarios estipulados, convenidos, restringidos, el microcentro es una garcha llena de smog, ruido, trafico, gente de mal humor. Hay que hacerlo todo peatonal.
Es que hablando del microcentro pense en que se pueden colocar esos postes retráctiles (que desconozco el nombre exacto) que ponen en zonas de bancos y afines. De ser necesario se retraen para que entren los vehiculos que realmente necesiten ir por ahí. Eso sí, al jeropa que solo quiera ir por ahi porque le da fiaca hacer una cuadra más que le hagan la multa como corresponde.
Pd: nunca fui pero me parece que Montevideo no es tan grande como para justificar un subte pero corregime si estoy equivocado
@@arielhernansuaznabar9527 Montevideo es chica, 1.5 millones, pero hay crecientemente mas trafico, cada vez mas gente ha podido acceder al auto en los ultimos años, todos autitos chiquitos, de estos chinos, y tambien se expandió a las afueras. Todos esos autos confluyen al centro y a hora pico se pone un poco pesado. El subte es innecesario por ahora, pero mal no le vendria tampoco.
The Central West End, St. Louis, MO, Corners of Maryland and Euclid, do this regularly for dining as there are several restaurants on that corner. It is not a permanent setup. I believe they only do it one or two nights a week. But it makes for a lovely place to sit outside in nice weather and eat.
Good luck with your research! Great idea for a data set. I hope it brings about more pandemic proof patio seating
In my birthplace of St Louis, MO, there’s ongoing construction in the Delmar Loop, Central West End, Midtown/Grand Center, Downtown (stadium, market st mall, Washington/6th st, Laclede’s Landing) areas to make pedestrian plazas.
In Atlanta, there’s many places in the suburbs, which used to be independent cities, to revitalize their town squares and make them car-free again too.