The New York City Department of Transportation has released a plan to make the streets of the Big Apple more walkable. The plan, World Class Streets: Remaking New York City’s Public Realm by Gehl Architects/Urban Planning Consultants studies the issues surrounding pedestrian traffic and outlines new city policies regarding the function and design of public spaces to better accommodate that traffic in NYC.
The main finding of Gehl, a Danish firm credited with turning Copenhagen into one of the most walkable and bikeable cities on earth, was that - surprise, surprise! - New York City sidewalks are too crowded. The solution? Devote more public space to pedestrian traffic and less to automobile traffic. Given that tearing down privately owned buildings or converting already scarce public park space weren’t viable there wasn’t really anywhere else to turn.
The report and policies fall directly in line with Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s vision for a cleaner, greener with less cars. After seeing his Congestion Pricing initiative stonewalled in the New York State legislature, Bloomberg has consistently moved toward cutting down the access of automobile traffic in Manhattan on his own, using measures that do not require State approval such as mandating more bus lanes on Broadway in Lower Manhattan and creating a Pedestrian promenade on the Great White Way south of Times Square. This report represents the further evolution of the Mayor’s vision for a cleaner, greener city that uses less fossil fuels and relies more on people power and public transit.
You can takepart in learning more about this green vision of the future of NYC by checking out the Sustainable Streets Plan.
LINKS:
NY Times: Green Inc.: Taking the Woe Out of Walking in New York City
NY Daily News: International Urban Whiz would ban cars in Times Square
Crains New York: NYC will close two lanes to cars on Broadway
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