Archinect - News

New York City considers making Grand Army Plaza car-free

2022-11-15T09:00:00-05:00

The city’s Department of Transportation is considering making Grand Army Plaza car-free and connecting it to the Open Streets on Vanderbilt and Underhill Avenues, officials said this week.

The NYC Department of Transportation is currently seeking the public’s feedback regarding improvements to an area that’s been defined by constant traffic, disrepair, and hazardous conditions for pedestrians and cyclists. The agency hopes it can access the $904 million that Mayor Eric Adams pledged to tackle the city’s traffic violence and improve public transportation infrastructure.

The Department is expected to draft plans within the year. Last Saturday, November 12th, they hosted an outreach session, which will be followed by a virtual online workshop on November 16th.

Oslo's city center goes (almost) car-free

2019-07-11T07:30:00-04:00

[Oslo] has just phased out the last on-street parking spaces in the city centre, giving an edge to transit, pedestrians and cyclists without banning cars. The initiative included incentives for cyclists such as new bike lanes, including better lighting and snow removal, along with subsidies for electric bikes and cargo cycles. Council also expanded transit services and lowered fares.

London, Berlin, Paris, Toronto, and an increasing number of cities are aiming to reduce traffic congestion, polluted air, and valuable urban space occupied by parked cars through policy changes that promote walkability, pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly (and in certain cases, car-light or even car-free) city centers, and an overall improved quality of life.

Oslo became a closely monitored model of a hybrid approach: after the proposal of a complete ban of cars in the capital's center was met with fierce opposition from business owners, who feared decreased commerce, the city decided to close off only certain streets to motor traffic but replace the more than 700 downtown parking spots with bike lanes, greenery, and pedestrian-oriented infrastructure.

"Cities, like Oslo, have been built for cars for several decades, and it’s about time we change it," Hanne Marcussen, Oslo’s vice mayor of urban development, told Fast Company. “I think it is important that we all think about what kind o...

No more personal cars will be allowed in Madrid's city center

2017-01-10T19:03:00-05:00

Madrid's mayor, Manuela Carmena, is serious about kicking personal cars off the road in the city center. On a November 5 show on Spanish radio networkCadena Ser, she confirmed that Madrid's main avenue, the Gran Vía, will only allow access to bikes, buses, and taxis before she leaves office in May 2019, as noted by CityLab.

Are people in love with not having to drive to dense urban locales? (Answer: for the most part, yes.) Following the lead of numerous cities that are seeking either to reduce car traffic or obliterate it altogether, Madrid's mayor actually outlawed personal vehicles from the city's main thoroughfare during the crucial days before Christmas (and later discovered that merchant profits were up over the previous year).

The latest updates in global car culture:

Paris pulls off an (almost) car-free day

2015-10-01T15:38:00-04:00

Paris’s car-free day was not without controversy, not least because it wasn’t a totally carless day and was limited to only around one-third of the city. After a standoff with police, authorities were only able to make car-free certain parts of the city centre, stretching between Bastille and the Champs Elysées, and the outer Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, and only between 11am and 6pm. In the rest of the city, cars were allowed but at 20km an hour.

Paris, which had a mostly car-free day on Sunday, September 27th, experienced smog-free blue skies and a largely smiling populace, but it's not the first major metropolis to sort of go pedestrian. During a July weekend in 2011, famously car-centric Los Angeles shut down one of its main transit arteries, the 405 freeway, for infrastructural modification in what was nicknamed "Carmaggedon." The stay-off-the-roads frenzy leading up to the closure was so successful that most people took a staycation in their homes, leading city officials to play down the threat the next time the 405 needed to be shut down. (People still needed to spend money to stimulate the local economy, after all.)

Pedestrians and light rail retake Sydney (well, George Street at least)

2015-07-28T19:28:00-04:00

The transformative effect of removing cars from a dedicated street or urban center and creating a pedestrian-friendly area isn't a new idea, but it's a popular one. Sydney, Australia has decided to repurpose its relatively trafficky George Street into an elegant shopping and walking area bisected by light rail, with design input from French architect Thomas Richez. According to The Sydney Morning Herald Richez, who has overseen the development of numerous public spaces in Africa and Europe, is now working with the city to create a zone that would foster a more relaxed vibe among pedestrians. As he explains, "The idea is, a good tramway line is like a reserve, a pleasant place, whether people use the transportation system or not."

The tramway in Reims, with the cathedral in the background. (Photo: Richez Associes)

Even in car-centric Los Angeles, institutions as varied as The Getty Center and commercial shopping cluster The Grove have employed similar non-pedestrian design strategi...