MANY cities have turned to banning vehicles from sections of their streets, creating pedestrianised malls. However, this frequently fails to revive an ailing downtown.
Neil Fraser
June 6, 2005
Places and spaces 2
I will include a bit of our history regarding these issues. The City of Buffalo (population 300 000) closed about 10 city blocks of its Main Street in 1984 to create a pedestrian-transit mall in conjunction with the extension of an existing light-rail rapid transit system. The pedestrian mall proved not to be an economic success and, in fact, may have contributed to the broader economic decline experienced in downtown Buffalo.
Since 1987, property values in the Main Street pedestrianised mall decreased by 48 percent; occupancy rates decreased by 47 percent, vacancy rates increased by 28 percent. Surveys indicated poor access and perceived safety concerns as the most negative aspects of the downtown area.
There are a number of lessons that can be learned from the research undertaken by Buffalo into the pros and cons of reopening the mall to vehicular traffic. An environmental assessment produced as part of the research sets out the three purposes against which a decision to reverse the previous pedestrian scheme should be tested. Would reopening stimulate economic development; increase multi-modal access options; and improve the quality of life for users of downtown?
In looking at quality of life it was felt that it would be critical to economic success that access be simple and understandable that, to attract more pedestrians, it would be essential to improve streetscape appearance and to make it a more attractive destination for downtown employees and residents. Main Street should be made more animated and lively.
In addition to the environmental assessment, Buffalo researched the experiences of 72 other cities regarding pedestrian malls. While acknowledging that each city was unique, it found that there was a consistency in the experiences gained by other cities.
- 83 percent (60) have completely or partially reopened the pedestrian malls to vehicular traffic;
- 6 percent (4) are considering reopening their pedestrian malls to vehicular traffic; and
- 11 percent (8) consider their pedestrian malls to be successful.
From the research it appears that pedestrian malls have generally only been successful in three settings.
- Tourist destinations (Aspen, Colorado);
- University towns with large numbers of people without vehicles (Charlottesville, Virginia); and
- Large cities with large numbers of employees and residents within walking distance of the pedestrian mall (Minneapolis, 160 000 employees and 30 000 residents within a five-minute walk of the pedestrian mall.)
Retail
The research also highlighted certain issues regarding retail, namely that downtown pedestrian malls are much more dependent on consumers in the immediate vicinity than retail areas open to vehicles.
A pedestrian mall changes the economy of downtown commercial areas, firstly by shrinking its market base from the overall community to just the downtown commercial area itself and secondly by shifting the retail focus from comparison and destination goods and services, to convenience goods and services.
If the concentration of workers, residents and visitors is not sufficiently large, vacancies increase, the image of downtown deteriorates and the city suffers from the presence of the pedestrian mall.
I found another interesting comment in Cities Back from the Edge by Roberta Brandes Gratz, with Norman Mintz. The authors stress that, "Downtown needs cars", and go on to say, "Recognition of the necessary 'role reversal' or balanced transportation policy can go too far. Cars should not be banned from a downtown. Handled properly, cars can be a positive thing.
"They provide action and movement. They belong downtown. Cars are essential for some pickups and deliveries and, certainly, for servicing downtown merchants. But regulation of hours for car use, slowing traffic to a pedestrian pace, locating parking lots behind stores and not in front, instituting angled and parallel street parking instead of prohibiting on-street parking, and placing great value on sidewalk amenities - all can go a long way to keeping the car from undermining a downtown street," write Gratz and Mintz.
"Streets should almost never be totally closed to traffic. This might work on some short, narrow streets that would not attract much traffic anyway. Closing streets to all traffic for the sake of creating a pedestrian mall has proved unsuccessful in most places for this very reason. Many pedestrian malls have been reopened to vehicular traffic. Oak Park near Chicago; State Street in Chicago; Riverside, California; Milwaukee, Dubuque and Burlington Iowa and others have put the street back but added amenities and traffic calming ... slowing cars is a centerpiece of the multiple efforts.
"Numerous people walking on the sidewalk and slow cars passing by can be signs of downtown health. Similarly, cars parked along the street provide a frame for the streetscape and a barrier between moving vehicles and people walking on the sidewalks. Wide streets offer the opportunity for angled parking, giving the street a narrower appearance, providing more spaces than parallel parking and slowing passing traffic."
Kalamazoo
The first pedestrian mall in the US, in Kalamazoo, reopened to traffic some five years ago. I received the following email from Kenneth Nacci, the president of Downtown Kalamazoo Inc, in response to a question about the success of the reopening.
"I would say that the opening of the Kalamazoo Mall to vehicular traffic was quite successful. It was done in a very pedestrian friendly way. One vehicular lane, one-way with very, very wide walkways on both sides and a few parallel parking spaces. Both road and walkways are constructed of brick pavers with fairly intricate patterns that give you a sense of a special place. Both the road and walkways have a snowmelt system under them.
"Having said all that, I have no retail sales or square-foot rental rate comparisons pre- or post-opening to document 'success' but rather anecdotal reports and observations. The mall has been nearly 100 percent occupied at ground level for the past three years. With the ability to drive down the mall, it is much more visible to many more people than just those who work downtown and use it during their lunch hours," he wrote.
"The mall also is closed to vehicular traffic and uses a special event space for things such as sidewalk sales and new car shows. And while the opening of the mall was a very divisive issue in Kalamazoo five years ago, I believe that both sides are quite pleased with the outcome."
Johannesburg
So, where are we regarding such issues?
Nigel Mandy in his book, A City Divided - Johannesburg and Soweto, provides a fascinating overview of the changes made to Eloff Street. He records that the City council of the time - 1973 - unilaterally tried to convert Eloff Street into a temporary pedestrian mall from 10am to 2pm, Mondays to Fridays.
There was no proper consultation either in planning the intervention nor in its implementation. There were no changes made to street furniture, flowerbeds or pedestrian activities other than at 10am portable "No entry" signs were erected where Eloff intersected with cross streets. These were supervised by "whistle blowing traffic policemen".
Mandy comments, "The result was disastrous. Retail turnovers dropped sharply. People stayed on the narrow pavements because the street's tarmac surface clearly identified it as the natural habitat of the motor vehicle ... The concept of a pedestrian mall was discredited and the project was hastily terminated."
In 1974/5 a group of architects, planners (including some from the City council) and property owners formed the Johannesburg Downtown Improvement Group and recommended that Eloff Street should become a transitway for buses only.
Mandy records, "The council was in fact keen to create a bus priority route or transitway through the heart of Johannesburg in a north-south direction, to which the east-west transit services would also be linked."
But a few more years were to pass until, in August 1977, the Johannesburg CBD Association (CBDA) was established under Nigel Mandy's chairmanship. It resolved that, "An Eloff Street Busway concept offered a good opportunity for rapid material input in conditions in the CBD." The busway was predicated on Minneapolis's Nicollet Mall, interestingly one of the few dedicated busways evidently still operating in the US.
Eloff Street
The CBDA and council officials undertook extensive consultation with all parties and the scheme was approved in June 1978 and inaugurated on 23 September 1979. It was completed within its budget of R600 000 - but then that was 25 years ago. Clearly the scheme was a success for quite some time and I don't have a record of exactly when it started to deteriorate.
I imagine, though, that it would have been in the late 1980s or early 1990s when the council of that time turned a blind eye to informal trading. The high pedestrian traffic of Eloff Street attracted hawkers like bees to a honey pot. Formal retailers fled the street and the city. From being recognised as the most exclusive retail street in South Africa (Remember the phrase, "I'll buy you a farm in Eloff Street"?) it had become a total disaster.
Today it is dirty, filthy and unkempt and the time is ripe for an upgrade - provided that the hawker issue can at least be ameliorated.
Hill Street, Randburg
In 1978, another portion of a roadway was pedestrianised - this time totally so. Hill Street, in Randburg was closed to traffic and became a pedestrian mall, stretching across three large blocks. This was largely an attempt to shift the activity patterns in the area by taking advantage of the relatively flat topography in the east-west direction.
This made the success of the mall at the time heavily dependent on a strong anchor at its western end, a function that was filled for some time by a large supermarket. Over time, however, the anchor tenant moved out.
By the late 1980s the Randburg CBD was negatively affected by the same property trends that had come to dominate the landscape of Johannesburg just as they had in American cities.
These were, firstly, the development of large enclosed malls under single ownership with well-maintained internal pedestrian environments. This made the outdoor Randburg Mall seem increasingly unfashionable and progressively less attractive. This perception was reinforced by the failure of the council to maintain or upgrade the public environment within the mall.
Secondly, the development of office parks in other suburban locations within greater Johannesburg had an effect. Whereas Randburg had initially enjoyed an advantage as one of the few decentralised office nodes, other suburban office parks soon provided stiff competition to Randburg. Significantly, these new developments offered the convenience associated with a new commercial typology - the "office park" included enhanced security, privately landscaped surroundings and generous parking provisions.
Randburg's standalone office buildings, located within a poorly maintained public environment, could no longer compete. The whole Randburg CBD has deteriorated considerably over the past decade and one of the interventions under consideration is the possible reopening of Hill Street.
Kerk Street
Kerk Street was partially pedestrianised at the same time as the Eloff Street busway was created. Mandy records, "One block of Kerk Street east of its intersection with Eloff Street has been closed to traffic to become a fully pedestrianised mall. That was possible because Kerk comes to a dead end at Von Brandis Street in front of the Supreme Court building, instead of being a cross-town thoroughfare."
I seem to remember that the Kerk Street Mall was extended westwards right down to Bank City again by the last non-democratically elected council, probably in 1989 or 1990. A council official at the time told me that it was motivated in the council as a solution to getting rid of a huge pile of paving bricks that were redundant from another project!
Again hawkers were allowed to move in en masse and the street deteriorated dramatically as no enforcement regarding either hawkers or vehicles was instituted.
Smal Street
The only success story that emerges from this old tale of woe was the pedestrianisation of Smal Street. Discussions had been initiated way back in 1983 by property owners, the council and the CBDA. The street was eventually pedestrianised in time for the centenary celebrations in 1986 and the retail attracted the highest rentals in the city for many years. It still appears to be going strong.
But the mall is unrecognisable as a street - the first section is enclosed and greatly narrowed so that it is far more like an arcade than a pedestrianised street.
To round off, a quote that relates to the planning and design of urban streets and their function in the complex city of today.
"Since around 1980, we have seen a renewed interest in planning and design of urban streets. Urban streets are probably a key element of a humane city with encounters among strangers in public space and with differences, as well as the possibility of unforeseen events taking place.
"The understanding of humane aspects of street life has been hampered by fear of urban complexity. The physical complexity of the city, first of all has to be seen as a street phenomenon. Streets are at the same time the general ordering structure of the city and the kind of space where urban encounters can take place on a wide scale in everyday life.
"Physically complex urban space in the form of urban streets increases 'outwardness', the meeting of strangers, coincidence of trajectories, etc. The complexity of urban streets contain the possibilities of incremental change and thus economic development."
Ciao till next week, Neil
