Pedestrianizing NYC

There's something truly magical about transforming urban spaces into vibrant, pedestrian-friendly havens. Pedestrianization isn't just about closing off roads; it's about opening up opportunities for community, creativity, and connection.

Imagine strolling down a car-free street, surrounded by lush greenery and art installations, the sounds of live music filling the air. That's the power of pedestrianization.

What are your favorite pedestrianized spots and the memories you've made there?

[BobSmith-vxkn]

I’m a civil engineer in training, and specifically took a lot of interest in city planning when I was in school. If you find this cool, take a look at some European cities, they are very much so designed with the pedestrian in mind. Features like narrower roads, lack of curbs, wider storefronts/sidewalks reduce the speed of cars and encourage the use of alternate forms of transportation. The US did not start to incorporate “mixed land use” design until very recently. Pedestrians should be incorporated into the infrastructure and have their safety prioritized over the speed and volume of cars, hopefully if NY continues this it will naturally drive car traffic down.

[TheMkII]

Love those big rocks that NYC has added to spaces like this that act as barriers so cars know the area isn't for them and they're usable as seats and more pleasing to the eye than a concrete cylinder.

[jeanbolduc]

Montreal had 10 major streets closed for pedestrians all summer ... plus 400 miles of bike lanes protected

[catherineconspiracy]

This is amazing! Having people see how much of their space is taken up by people who don't live in their neighborhood can really change their mind and make projects like this take shape!

[jbrickell]

I LOVE IT. I wish Miami would do as much for us pedestrians and bicyclists as New York does. Here it’s ALL about cars

[edwardmiessner]

Reforesting New York City would be an excellent idea! Curb lanes can be taken from cars and given to trees, buildings can be fitted with tree tenants!

[marcusrawls]

I would call this Recreating the space. To open it up for recreation and leisure of all forms. Cars are very industrial. Foot, bike and different forms of human power are very life giving. Then to add space for conversation and other forms of leisure helps build relationships, gives people a place to gather and strengthens the community.

[Jayydubbz]

It’s so easy. There is a downtown here in my hometown and we only shut it down for pedestrians once a year and it’s so frustrating that we could have this everyday but choose not to

[jackbrown]

In LA most of the places that have been turned into pedestrian zones will only allow people to sit in the chairs if you buy something from the restaurants. Now some of these areas have been taken over by the homeless. The city allows this and forbids any action to be taken against the homeless.

[Nomdweb]

"Pedestrianizing" is acceptable, but wordy. We lack a concise, meaningful, catch-all word for creating better places for people... ones who aren't looking at life through a windshield. Looking at you, idle English majors! LOL.

[localnyraccoon]

It's so simple, we just need to make the stuff for PEOPLE instead of cars, so people can go out easily and live their daily lives without a car.

[laprepper]

It’s a little late for New York at this moment😂 greedy developers will never do this intentionally unless it’s part of some hundred story building

[derekjolly]

If the absolute lunacy of the government's Kung Flu dictates has positive side effects for mental health and physical health and well-being, such as with more pure pedestrian spaces, I'm happy with that. Lets all hope that in places like NYC, that doesn't translate in part to more muggings in those places.

[marekkondrad]

Nothing new for people who live in Europe. Greetings anyway ☺️😌🤗😌😌

[Colonial-lggn]

Also you'd go out of business because trucks and customers wouldn't be able to get to your store in Navy yard. Everything comes off the back of a truck, everything.

[Kaleki]

and then they all went to their 9-5 for the other 6 days of the week, buying plastic cased product and constantly invalidating all this hippie talk.

Farm, live in the wild, otherwise stop spewing ignorant lies about "muh urban climate be bad"