When a friend from Norway first visited us she saw the big flaw in the design of our cities almost immediately. “My God, you people have to get in the car for everything.” she said. What she didn’t notice until later was the havoc wreaked upon our urban public spaces as almost all of it was sacrificed to the movement and parking of King Car. A city for pedestrians, which is what all the great cities were, is now remote from our thinking. Indeed, many of our “traffic experts” view the pedestrian as the major problem in urban traffic flow.

Can the invasion of and take-over by the automobile be reversed? It has been done and is increasingly pursued in many cities throughout the world. Copenhagen, Denmark may be the most illuminating case. The turnabout there was inspired by the rebuilding of German cities after World War II. In them, several “pedestrian streets” (no cars at all) were created and were successful. Copenhagen decided to follow that lead. Of course there was opposition: “We’ve never had anything like that!” “No cars means no customers, means no business!” “There’s no tradition for outdoor life in Scandinavia!”

“We’re Danes, not Italians!” But the movement proceeded…slowly.

Since 1962, parking in the inner city has been reduced 2-3% every year. By the year 2000, Copenhagen’s inner city boasted 100,000 square meters of car-free streets. Today roughly a third of the residents drive cars, a third use public transportation, and a third ride bicycles. Copenhagen has 2,000 bicycles which may be borrowed at any of the 126 racks throughout the city. The city is now one of the most livable urban centers in the world. It was all done slowly, in incremental steps which allowed people to get used to the transformation.

Victor Gruen imagined this sort of thing when he championed the first shopping mall in the United States, but it failed miserably because the emphasis was entirely upon consumer spending and not at all on community building. The typical American mall does far more to kill the city it feeds on than it does to make it an enjoyable place to live.

Recently, Jan Gehl, a leader in the “pedestrianization movement” spoke to officials in New York City and a bicycle lane on the city’s 9th Avenue has resulted. A beginning. Let us hope. Portland, Oregon has taken several steps toward “livability” or the extent to which citizens may enjoy living in their city.

The “pedestrianization” of American cities will be difficult for at least three reasons.
First, our cities are the most accommodating to automobiles in the world. Second, America’s traffic engineers are the most unscientific, most unable to learn professional group in the country. (See Ch 4 of The Dark Age Ahead by Jane Jacobs, the ultimate expert on our cities). Third, the people will have to want it and the people will probably resist anything that might curtail their “right” to drive anywhere.

Next time you see an obese person (it’ll be soon, they’re all over the place) be reminded that they don’t walk enough. Next time you’re bored, think how pleasant it would be to enjoy an hour or so in a sidewalk café, sipping something pleasant and watching the passing parade. Next time, you’re fighting heavy traffic when all you want to do is get home and relax, think about the possibility of a livable city.