#open streets

[fuckyeahtravelphotos]

Street scene during Columbus Ave’s “Open Streets” fair, early fall, NYC

[atlantathecity]

Streets Alive on Peachtree Street today! What beautiful weather we had for it. I wish Atlanta would close Peachtree to cars like this every Sunday.

[alive-and-clicking]

A couple wrasslin’ photos from October’s Open Streets Lyndale in Minneapolis.

[archi-playground]

NYC Open Streets - Slate | Kohn Pedersen Fox Architects

https://slate.com/business/2021/03/new-york-city-transportation-roads-bicyles-cars.html

[hclib]

Franklin Avenue Then and Now

Open Streets Franklin Avenue is coming up this Sunday, July 10, 2022. During Open Streets, the street is temporarily closed to car traffic, and open to people biking, walking, rolling, and connecting with neighbors and local businesses. If you're heading down Franklin Avenue, stop by the Franklin Library for a variety of activities including a Franklin Ave then and now display featuring photographs from the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections. Then spot the buildings in real-life as you stroll the street.

[route22ny]

I drove east into downtown Detroit along Michigan Avenue (US Route 12) and didn’t encounter much traffic.  I think it’s significant to remember that Detroit has shed much of its population, affecting land use as well as revenues and services.  Modern Detroit was made by the American automobile industry, so the irony of its streets relatively devoid of cars is unavoidable. 

I’ve often thought that what makes suburban environments impersonal and even sterile is the extent to which they’re dependent on the personal automobile.  People leave their single-family home to go into their personal car, drive to a parking lot, and go about their business.  Where’s the community in that? 

The auto-based model has served cities poorly, resulting in congestion, pollution, and endless roads to maintain (or repurpose).  The most vibrant cities today, IMHO, are the ones with the best public transportation--allowing city streets (some, at least) to be returned to the people as pedestrian malls and public spaces occasionally (i.e. the Open Streets program) or permanently as seen in Manhattan & elsewhere.  The scene below shows the same street, Michigan Avenue, during an Open Streets Detroit event.  Much better than the ghost town look of the top photos.

[bigboxcar]

Too soon?

[bikedweeb]

I was educated analyzing this urban crisis [the rise of the automobile and the suburb]. When I came back home to Bogotá, I was shocked to see that we Colombians were following the American path of urban development. Cars and more cars. One person, one car. It was obvious that this was not going to lead to a livable city. So I became a radical. I knew how to do it: I was trained by the best American counterculture radicals. And the bicycle quite naturally became a symbol of revolution. The bicycle symbolizes individuality, civil rights, women's rights, urban mobility, simplicity, the new urbanism, and, of course, environmental consciousness.

Jaime Ortiz Mariño, quoted via Bicycling Magazine at Vox: Bogotá closes its roads every Sunday. Now everyone wants to do it.