Here’s what New Yorker architectural critic Paul Goldberger listed as No. 2 in his summary of the Ten Most Positive Architectural Events of 2009:
2009 really was a good year for public space in New York, since it also brought the conversion of Broadway in midtown into a pedestrian mall, thanks to the city’s extraordinary transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Kahn, who seems able to accomplish in a brief time what has frustrated others for a generation.
The key here wasn’t just closing a portion of Broadway, it was in recasting the entire street before the closure for a mix of cars, bicycles, and pedestrians, phasing out the cars block by block. New York may yet become a bicycle-friendly city.
One of our most popular (and positive) lectures in the “Shifting Gears” series on transportation was Janette Sadik-Kahn’s presention. In this video of her lecture last October 19, find out how she transformed New York.
UPDATE: More on New York’s public spaces in Lisa Rochon’s column in the Globe and Mail.
The pedestrianization of Broadway at Times Square is part of a massive initiative that has affected 50 acres throughout New York City. Janette Sadik-Khan, appointed NYC’s Commissioner of the Department of Transportation (DOT) in 2007, is driving the change hard and fast to satisfy Bloomberg’s mission to dramatically reduce the city’s carbon footprint.
“I’ve been a New Yorker for more than 30 years and there’s nothing more satisfying than contributing to a better city,” she says, during our meeting at her Lower Manhattan office. That’s an interesting piece of motherhood, but here’s what else she says that actually astounds me: “Eight-five per cent of the public space in New York is taken up by roads. Roads are our most valuable space.”
I have an idea. Let’s take one of the most congested areas in New York City and make the congestion even worse, so that rich people, tourists, and the homeless can sit on lawn chairs.
Most problematic is “bus bunching,” as various bus routes are now literally stacked on top of each other to make room for the No Car Zone. So much for people who don’t have time to sunbathe on Times Square and actually have to get somewhere (like work). And if you’re a taxi rider, you’ll just have to pay a higher fare.