Many downtown city streets started with lots of room for pedestrians, and it took a while for street planning to adapt to motorized traffic. In the pre-tarmac days of the private automobile, vehicles could get stuck in muddy quagmires that were better for horses than for autos. But once cars were embraced with new engineering standards for street design, the pedestrian era began its decline. As pressures increased to fit increasing traffic volumes between downtown buildings, pedestrians were relegated to narrower sidewalks, and crossing these busy streets became a growing challenge.
In other parts of many cities, the battle for automobile supremacy was won and lost long ago, but downtowns have remained a site of struggle because of the sheer number of pedestrians jostling for space. Downtowns are also environments where it is clearer than anywhere else that car drivers become pedestrians after parking.
Los Angeles is trying to reverse the historic trend with its Downtown Urban Design Guidelines and Standards that not only require wider sidewalks and consistent pedestrian treatment within a district, but - more importantly - recognise that different circumstances call for different pedestrian treatments. The process of developing these standards has required addressing the perennial challenge of demonstrating to city transportation officials that the objective is not to exile cars, but to create better environments. By engaging in the debate between planners and engineers, the city has also made it clearer to developers what is expected of them. And that, I am sure, is good for business.
Here's a blog dedicated to downtown LA issues.
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