Wanted: Car-free North American urban commons

[marmar]

from OurWorld 2.0:




Wanted: Car-free North American urban commons
by Jay Walljasper on July 27, 2011


A spot where young folks gather, lovers linger, kids romp, women show off their new clothes (and discreetly admire passers-by), men admire passers-by (and discreetly show-off their new clothes) and everybody feels part of the wider community. This is the urban commons at its best.

I am perplexed by the almost complete lack of pedestrian streets in North America. Why is it that car-free commons — designed for pleasurable strolling, shopping and hanging out — which have become as typical as stoplights or McDonalds in European city centers, are almost non-existent here?


Stephen Ave., Calgary

I’ve only seen a few — a couple of blocks in downtown Boston, Rue Prince Arthur in Montreal, Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and short stretches of downtown streets in college towns like Boulder, Ithaca, Iowa City, Charlottesville and Burlington, Vermont. (A glance at Wikipedia turns up a few more, although I notice many on the list, like the Nicollet Mall here in Minneapolis, are not truly car-free.)

Look what we’re missing. The heart of many, if not most, German, Italian, Dutch, Scandinavian and, increasingly, South American big cities are bustling pedestrian zones that have become favorite spots for young people to gather, lovers to linger, kids to romp, women to show off their new clothes (and discreetly admire the looks of passers-by), men to admire the looks of passers-by (and discreetly show-off their new clothes) and everybody to feel part of the wider community. This is the urban commons at its best. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/wanted-car-free-north-american-urban-commons/

[geckosfeet]

1. Agreed. At least a few square miles in a relevant portion of every metro area.

[taterguy]

2. What's good for General Motors is good for America

Or something like that

[O_a_DEMorDINO]

3. It will not happen here any time soon

why?

Because of Cheap Gas, America became a car culture.

Arrogant American Exceptionalism

If America Woke the F up and adopted many European ideas America can become a great place to live, but instead people have been voting to make America into a fascist nation instead.

So we are slowly evolving into the very country that we supposedly hate and are against.

In other words America has become the enemy of freedom.

[Obamanaut]

6. And yet, many people from other countries come here to live - some of them

legally, others not so much. But come here they do.

Maybe it isn't as bad as the 'gloom and doom' crowd want us to believe. Or perhaps it is somewhat better than what the immigrants (both legal and non) are experiencing currently in their own homes.

[O_a_DEMorDINO]

8. The people comming here are from countries

so f-ed up that any place other then where they are at is better.

Look closely at immigration demographics, people from liberal and democratic socialist nations are not coming to America in large numbers anymore. In fact European Immigration is way down. Even illegals from Mexico, Central America and South America are not coming and are going back because where they came from is now better than America.

American Propaganda is very popular all over the world.

Do some research and see what US TV shows are popular in other countries, that is the perception of what America is like for the vast majority of the world.

[Obamanaut]

11. Does this look familiar? It is from the post you responded to ->

"Maybe it isn't as bad as the 'gloom and doom' crowd want us to believe. Or perhaps it is somewhat better than what the immigrants (both legal and non) are experiencing currently in their own homes."

I'll separate it "Or perhaps it is somewhat better than what the immigrants (both legal and non) are experiencing currently in their own homes."

[marmar]

10. And most of these immigrants are from well-to-do places with vibrant common spaces.....

...... like Denmark, Sweden, France and the Netherlands, right?

[O_a_DEMorDINO]

14. I know if I had a REAL choice as to where I could live

I would not pick America, in fact America would not even be in my top 10 places to live in the world today.

[Obamanaut]

16. Well, gee, I don't know. Enlighten me. nt

[CottonBear]

4. Most Europeans take public transit or walk to these urban common areas.

Most Americans would still have to drive there and park in a pay lot or deck and then go and enjoy the car-free zone.

[JVS]

5. We have something like that. It's called a shopping mall.

[Fumesucker]

9. Shopping malls are private property..

Not really part of any definition of "commons" which basically refers to publicly owned spaces.

[canoeist52]

7. When you consider where protests are held...

Maybe there are many reasons why these are not in our cities. Can't have gathering places where the people might get any ideas.

Only places to shop are allowed.

[IndyPragmatist]

12. They tried to do this in Indianapolis and it failed...

Excuse me, it never got started. For those of you not familiar with Indianapolis, we have a circle in the heart of downtown with a very nice monument in the middle. It's completely paved in bricks and is a beautiful area of downtown.

Less than a year ago, the city says that they are considering shutting the circle down to traffic and making it pedestrian only. People freak out about this. People are on the news saying that they wont be able to get where they need to be downtown (using the circle is by far the most inefficient way to get anywhere in downtown Indy...by far!), or that they wont be able to enjoy the Circle of Lights (they make the monument look like a Christmas tree in December, where they shut down the circle for the ceremony that draws hundreds of thousands), or that it will destroy business downtown (that makes no sense to me).

So the city backs off and says that they want a trial before they do anything permanent. They plan to shut the circle down to traffic for 3 weeks to test things. They still had plans to temporarily allow traffic on the circle so that elderly and handicapped people could be dropped off at the front of the Circle Theater. But people freak out about that too and the city is forced to scrap the plans for a test.

People ignored the fact that numerous firms had done reports saying that closing the circle would be a huge boom for downtown. It would draw more small restaurants and cafes to the circle area, increase pedestrian traffic throughout downtown, and allow for more special events to be held on the circle.

But people didn't want change. And don't think this was a Republican or Democratic split...the polls done by the news stations showed between 60-80% opposed to shutting it down. It's sad to me. There is not an outdoor area in the immediate downtown to relax and hang out with friends. This would have been great for the city, especially leading up to the super bowl. But oh well, people want to drive their cars around the circle once a year and thats more important than anything else.

[marmar]

13. "people want to drive their cars around the circle once a year and thats more important "

That's really sad. A person I work with drove four short downtown blocks for lunch because it was "too hot to walk" and got a $20 ticket for an expired meter -- for a $10 lunch. I really just don't get it.

[MineralMan]

15. Both Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota have shut down

a downtown street to auto traffic. Other cities have similar pedestrian districts.

[shraby]

17. The malls have take the place of a commons. In many areas

that's where people go to hang out like that..in hot summers and cold winters.

[Marrah_G]

18. Its because much of our country was settled with cars in mind

We "grew up" in a different era.

I would like to see more communities working to create such areas, but our people in power are more interested in war, money and power.