Comments on: The Reorganized Street http://urbanomnibus.net/2009/02/the-reorganized-street/ Exploring the culture of citymaking Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:28:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: David Smiley http://urbanomnibus.net/2009/02/the-reorganized-street/comment-page-1/#comment-108 David Smiley Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:27:47 +0000 http://urbanomnibus.net/?p=2587#comment-108 The recent proposal to pedestrianize parts of Broadway is a remarkable turning of the wheels of history. In the 20s and 30s architects and planners found, like the transportation analysts cited in recent news coverage, that the scourge of traffic movement was the intersection – turning traffic slowed down cars and pedestrians. Every generation since then has proposed either to create a raised pedestrian walkway – a few overpasses or an entire network (such as H. W. Corbett's triple-decker proposal of the mid-20s) – or to close entire streets from vehicles, giving pedestrians a break, a chance to shop and better "channelizing" the moving vehicles on other routes. In 1948, Simon Breines, winner of the League's Brunner Award in the mid-40s, proposed closing Fifth Avenue to cars to create a "pedestrian island" and showed how mid-block loading and u-turn zones could work. Ever active, Breines wrote in 1970 that the City should have a "Department of Pedestrian Engineering" to address safety and movement. At about the same time, Van Ginkel Associates proposed to close off Madison Avenue and the northern end of Times Square, providing safe and happy zones for pedestrians. These proposals appeared distinctly pragmatic compared to the Franzen proposal of 1969 which, despite the logic portrayed in his wonderful film, surreally joined on-the-ground planning issues with megastructural intervention (such reconciliations being an ironic tendency of the megastructure, as Reyner Banham pointed out). And the pedestrian malls that sprouted across the country in the 60s and 70s, only to be torn up a decade or two later, should give us pause – sometimes the car is part of the show. In any case, the funny thing about pedestrianization planning is that the renderings often look oh-so festival marketplace and, dare I say it, so suburban. But before anyone screams bias, I might also point out that the pedestrian zone was also integral to a Modernist vision – that superblocks and other techniques of managing the urban system depended on a smooth separation of movement types. So take your pick, suburban or Modernist, or some mongrel combination still capable (we hope) of producing a pleasing texture. So we'll see how the 19th century plan accommodates a 20th century idea now applied to a 21st century set of users. The recent proposal to pedestrianize parts of Broadway is a remarkable turning of the wheels of history. In the 20s and 30s architects and planners found, like the transportation analysts cited in recent news coverage, that the scourge of traffic movement was the intersection – turning traffic slowed down cars and pedestrians. Every generation since then has proposed either to create a raised pedestrian walkway – a few overpasses or an entire network (such as H. W. Corbett’s triple-decker proposal of the mid-20s) – or to close entire streets from vehicles, giving pedestrians a break, a chance to shop and better “channelizing” the moving vehicles on other routes. In 1948, Simon Breines, winner of the League’s Brunner Award in the mid-40s, proposed closing Fifth Avenue to cars to create a “pedestrian island” and showed how mid-block loading and u-turn zones could work. Ever active, Breines wrote in 1970 that the City should have a “Department of Pedestrian Engineering” to address safety and movement. At about the same time, Van Ginkel Associates proposed to close off Madison Avenue and the northern end of Times Square, providing safe and happy zones for pedestrians. These proposals appeared distinctly pragmatic compared to the Franzen proposal of 1969 which, despite the logic portrayed in his wonderful film, surreally joined on-the-ground planning issues with megastructural intervention (such reconciliations being an ironic tendency of the megastructure, as Reyner Banham pointed out). And the pedestrian malls that sprouted across the country in the 60s and 70s, only to be torn up a decade or two later, should give us pause – sometimes the car is part of the show. In any case, the funny thing about pedestrianization planning is that the renderings often look oh-so festival marketplace and, dare I say it, so suburban. But before anyone screams bias, I might also point out that the pedestrian zone was also integral to a Modernist vision – that superblocks and other techniques of managing the urban system depended on a smooth separation of movement types. So take your pick, suburban or Modernist, or some mongrel combination still capable (we hope) of producing a pleasing texture. So we’ll see how the 19th century plan accommodates a 20th century idea now applied to a 21st century set of users.

]]> By: Benjamin http://urbanomnibus.net/2009/02/the-reorganized-street/comment-page-1/#comment-107 Benjamin Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:28:53 +0000 http://urbanomnibus.net/?p=2587#comment-107 It is amazing that it has taken this long to implement a plan that seems to make so much sense for all involved! Now for the rest of Broadway-- how fantastic it would be to have a pedestrian and bicycle corridor running the length of Manhattan. During last August's all-to-brief "Summer Streets" experiment that closed Park and 4th Avenues to automotive traffic, I was struck by how many NYC residents brought bikes out of the woodwork, and how many of them would likely commute on two wheels if they had a safe, quick corridor to do so in the middle of Manhattan. Here's our chance! It is amazing that it has taken this long to implement a plan that seems to make so much sense for all involved!

Now for the rest of Broadway– how fantastic it would be to have a pedestrian and bicycle corridor running the length of Manhattan. During last August’s all-to-brief “Summer Streets” experiment that closed Park and 4th Avenues to automotive traffic, I was struck by how many NYC residents brought bikes out of the woodwork, and how many of them would likely commute on two wheels if they had a safe, quick corridor to do so in the middle of Manhattan. Here’s our chance!

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