Frematle's endangered High Street mall, photo courtesy of http://john.curtin.edu.au/fremantle/lawrence.html#sixAcross Australia, business owners have been calling for pedestrian malls to be reopened to traffic - a slap across the faces of the planners who fought for the creation of these malls in the 1970s. After all, don't malls create a safe environment for shoppers to stroll at will, without the hassle of noisy and smoky cars, obstacles and greatly-reduced pavement widths?
Towns in question include Townsnville, Fremantle, Wooloongong, Darwin, and many others. At least six have already been reopened to traffic in Sydney. Opening malls to traffic has generally led to a reduction in crime and anti-social behaviour, and a decrease in the number of vacant shops. Of course, the lack of diversity of land uses in these mainly-retail malls contributed to a decrease in activity after hours, as well as the opening of suburban shopping centres as a major competition for these malls.
An interesting parallel is the market failure of San Diego's Uptown development, a new urbanist neighbourhood with pedestrian-friendly streets and carparking located out of sight at the rear of buildings, and mostly underground. Touted as a leading example of new urbanist design, the neighbourhood has seen a lot of businesses fail on its main street, including a yogurt shop, women's clothing store, coffeehouse, Italian restaurant, chicken rotisserie restaurant, local clothing designers' store, evening gown rental shop, and travel agency, all of which have gone out of business since the district opened.
The failure could be attributed by the district's willingness to cater for the car, by providing its ample parking underground, conveniently linked to the shops on the main street, but separated from the pedestrian environment.
All of this seems too familiar - where else have we witnessed attempts to separate car and pedestrian movements? This was one of the critical design elements of the Radburn new town, which influenced the design of many Australian suburbs in the 1960s. The practice of pedestrian open space links entirely separated from the road network was intended to provide safety - ironically it had the complete opposite effect. It didn't help that many Australian versions turned their backs to the open space, creating spaces almost entirely unsurveilled.
Only in areas where there is a high density and a diverse mix of uses can pedestrian-only environments flourish - even then cars and delivery vehicles should be incorporated - otherwise there will again be the risk of creating vehicle spaces that are unsafe, for all the same reasons.
Towns in question include Townsnville, Fremantle, Wooloongong, Darwin, and many others. At least six have already been reopened to traffic in Sydney. Opening malls to traffic has generally led to a reduction in crime and anti-social behaviour, and a decrease in the number of vacant shops. Of course, the lack of diversity of land uses in these mainly-retail malls contributed to a decrease in activity after hours, as well as the opening of suburban shopping centres as a major competition for these malls.
An interesting parallel is the market failure of San Diego's Uptown development, a new urbanist neighbourhood with pedestrian-friendly streets and carparking located out of sight at the rear of buildings, and mostly underground. Touted as a leading example of new urbanist design, the neighbourhood has seen a lot of businesses fail on its main street, including a yogurt shop, women's clothing store, coffeehouse, Italian restaurant, chicken rotisserie restaurant, local clothing designers' store, evening gown rental shop, and travel agency, all of which have gone out of business since the district opened.
The failure could be attributed by the district's willingness to cater for the car, by providing its ample parking underground, conveniently linked to the shops on the main street, but separated from the pedestrian environment.
All of this seems too familiar - where else have we witnessed attempts to separate car and pedestrian movements? This was one of the critical design elements of the Radburn new town, which influenced the design of many Australian suburbs in the 1960s. The practice of pedestrian open space links entirely separated from the road network was intended to provide safety - ironically it had the complete opposite effect. It didn't help that many Australian versions turned their backs to the open space, creating spaces almost entirely unsurveilled.
Only in areas where there is a high density and a diverse mix of uses can pedestrian-only environments flourish - even then cars and delivery vehicles should be incorporated - otherwise there will again be the risk of creating vehicle spaces that are unsafe, for all the same reasons.
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