Mor Temor

f. The Pedestrian Street

  Back to index

In today's society this situation, and therefore this glue, is largely missing. It is missing in large part because so much of the actual process of movement is now taking place in indoor corridors and lobbies, instead of outdoors. This happens partly because the cars have taken over streets, and made them uninhabitable, and partly because the corridors, which have been built in response, encourage the same process. But it is doubly damaging in its effect.

It is damaging because it robs the streets of people. Most of the moving about which people do is indoors – hence lost to the street; the street becomes abandoned and dangerous.

And it is damaging because the indoor lobbies and corridors are most often dead. This happens partly because indoor space is not as public as outdoor space; and partly because, in a multi – story building each corridor carries a lower density of traffic than a public outdoor street. It is therefore unpleasant, even unnerving, to move through them; people in them are in no state to generate, or benefit from, social intercourse.

To recreate the social intercourse of public movement, as far as possible, the movement between rooms, offices, departments, buildings, must actually be outdoors, on sheltered walks, arcades, paths, streets, which are truly public and separate from cars. Individual wings, small buildings, departments must as often as possible have their own entrances – so that the number of entrances onto the street increases and life comes back to the street.

In short, the solution to these two problems we have mentioned – the streets infected by cars and the bland corridors – is the pedestrian street. Pedestrian streets are both places to walk along (from car, bus, or train to one's destination) and places to pass through (between apartments, shops, offices, services, classes).

To function properly, pedestrian streets need two special properties. First, of course, no cars; but frequent crossings by streets with traffic: deliveries and other activities which make it essential to bring cars and trucks onto the pedestrian street must be arranged at the early hours of the morning, when the streets are deserted. Second, the buildings along pedestrian streets must be planned in a way which as nearly as possible eliminates indoor staircases, corridors, and lobbies, and leaves most circulation outdoors. This creates a street lined with stairs, which lead from all upstairs offices and rooms directly to the street, and many entrances, which help to increase the life of the street.

Finally it should be noted that the pedestrian streets which seem most comfortable are the ones where the width of the street does not exceed the height of the surrounding buildings (Christopher, 1977).

There is also considerable pressure to make the centers of cities more comfortable by removing or restricting automobiles from them, widening sidewalks, creating pedestrian malls, and reducing the amount of parking space available as well as improving public transit options. The goal is to make high-density environments more comfortable for pedestrians. Few cities in the world have pursued aggressive policies to achieve automobile-free environments on any large scale in comparison to the European efforts in cities such as Copenhagen(Jon, 1994). 

Arch. Mor Temor