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photo: Matthew McDermott

Make More Pedestrian-Friendly Areas

If there’s a person in the world that doesn’t like good pedestrian infrastructure, nice outdoor plazas, and a pleasant walking environment, I haven’t met them. I’m pretty sure that person doesn’t exist. But just because your city was built post-automobile addiction pushed pedestrians to the fringes, doesn’t mean your city is out of luck.

I was convinced of this over the past weekend when I saw the effect in Times Square of blocking off traffic from whole blocks: Congestion on the sidewalks was eased, people ambled about in an area previously crushed by congestion. Farther down Broadway in Herald Square, blocks were closed off around an existing park which, though it’s a bit rough still, made the entire area decidedly more calm and peaceful.

Now, there are plenty of places in the United States which have pedestrianized areas. But what we need are more of them. And not just in areas that are surrounded by shopping—the idea isn’t to just create outdoor shopping malls—but to fill more residential and mixed use areas with pedestrian zones as well.

-Treehugger.com