Start with the Social Life of Sidewalks: A Sidewalks Resource Guide

A guide to our best articles on sidewalks

The most overlooked and simultaneously most important public spaces are sidewalks. When people wonder why public life is suffering and why community is in crisis, we've been known to respond with "it's the sidewalks, stupid!" because the answer feels so obvious. Sidewalks are the largest, most extensive public places we have and they are our main platforms for social and commercial life. Cities that have wide and active sidewalks like Paris and Barcelona are considered among the most beautiful and interesting cities in the world. Despite that, the norm in the United States and in many other countries is to sideline the sidewalk in favor of the street and to prioritize traffic flow over pedestrian activity. In a grid system like New York's, this means wide, fast moving streets lining large blocks of often generic buildings without a connection to sidewalk life.

Cars and drivers get the VIP treatment wherever they go – given as many lanes as it takes to cater to increasing traffic volumes that demand more capacity (volumes that also expand in response to that increased capacity in an overlooked phenomenon called "induced demand"), with added turn lanes and bulky intersections. But pedestrians, shoppers, and businesses are pushed to the margins and disconnected from each other and important amenities.

Years ago, I did a study of platooning on Fifth Avenue and found that the lights were set so groups of pedestrians/platoons would go one block, stop and have to wait for the light to turn green, then go to the next intersection and wait again. The flow of foot traffic was constantly interrupted. It added about 30% more time to walk from Rockefeller Center to where Lord and Taylor used to be on 38th Street. Cities' lights have been designed to enable traffic flow rather than to support the natural desire to stroll, window shop, and travel on foot.

The entire Midtown in New York City is about enabling/pushing through as many cars as possible to the point where the whole area is saturated with traffic, creating a business district that practically goes dormant after the work day ends because it isn't a pleasant place to linger. Congestion pricing could open the door to reviving Midtown as the vibrant shopping and business center it used to be. Unfortunately, the congestion pricing plan has been "indefinitely postponed" as New York finds itself desperately stuck in car culture.

To reverse so many of the problems our cities are facing today, from an epidemic of loneliness to struggling economies and a climate crisis exacerbated by constant driving, we need to shift our focus to sidewalk life and the kind of activities that our sidewalks support. We need to stop putting cars and traffic at the forefront and start putting people first. As we always say, "we need to turn everything upside down to get it right side up again, to go from inadequate to extraordinary." The compilation of articles below shows how.

Main Takeaways

It's the sidewalks, stupid.
Streets are overly wide and over-designed. They need to be redefined by the larger purpose they carry out in a neighborhood – supporting social, community, and commercial life.
Our biggest opportunity for creating communities are changing the design of streets to slow vehicles, create shared streets in downtowns and residential areas, and support sidewalk life.
"Turning everything upside down" is what needs to happen first before everything else can right itself.
Sidewalks need to become vibrant places where people naturally come together to promenade, observe, shop, eat, drink, show off, sit, play, and just exist joyfully to experience and connect with the wealth of social life in their community.
When there is a lot going on on the sidewalk, it gives people the feeling of being where the action is and draws them in naturally.
Sidewalks should feel like destinations at the center of life and activity.
Main streets and Central Business Districts with great sidewalks should be restored as the key places people go to shop, work and gather.
Double-loaded sidewalks give a sense of separation from cars and traffic, where people feel more relaxed and children can roam free.
Businesses should not be isolated from each other but should be woven into social and commercial hubs and act as their stewards.
Improvisation is an ongoing community-led process that leads to creative and original outcomes in public spaces which can't be matched by top-down design.
Reciprocal gestures, where a business replicates and adds on to something that its neighboring business has done, creates a kind of friendly competition that leads to the organic development of hubs of activity.

Main topics for creating great sidewalks

Intersections
Inside Out design (architecture of place)
Community social hubs
Focal points
Corners
Double loading
Amenities
Food/ice cream/cafes/kiosks/food trucks
Shade
Assets
Bollards
Porches/stoops/terraces
Promenading/Passeggiata

Our Sidewalk Articles

Creating the Streets and Sidewalks We Love

A look back at how our streets became the hostile and unpleasant places we have today, and an overview of the different kinds of streets we need to create more of, including promenades, grand boulevards, narrow European-style streets, shared streets, and welcoming residential streets.

Creating the Streets We Want

A collection of examples from world-class streets full of vibrant life, bustling business activity, and countless social interactions. Every town and city needs streets like this because of how they support community, strengthen the local economy, and create rich, memorable experiences.

Turn Places Inside Out

To create vibrant sidewalks that draw people in, we need to make them interesting. The best way to do so is by allowing the things that go on within the buildings lining the sidewalk to spill out onto it. By putting out displays of goods like books and clothes, adding outdoor seating, mannequins, sample tables and more, sidewalks become fun and lively destinations.

Two case studies that show how harnessing the power of inside out design can work wonders on the vibrancy and activity of a city. The best sidewalks are those that are "double loaded," meaning that activities and amenities are placed on both sides of the pedestrian walkway, creating a space that feels comfortably enclosed, safe, interesting, and vibrant.

The intersections we have today are overly wide, hostile, and focused on moving vehicles through, not on what happens on the corners that bookmark them. Because of this, the corners wither away and nothing of interest takes place there. If we can shift the attention from the cars moving through intersections to the people gathering at the corners, we can redefine and revitalize cities.

A collection of amazing corners from eight cities that demonstrate how an activated corner can completely transform the feeling of a block and intersection. Activating corners to optimize social and commercial life should be a key strategy to revitalizing cities.

Killer Intersections vs. Shared Space: From Intersections that Divide to Those That Connect

Two corners in Delray Beach, Florida demonstrate the stark difference between a hostile intersection where no one wants to be and an intersection that constitutes "shared space" where everyone feels welcome. The latter kind of intersection builds community whereas the former destroys it.

The Best Sidewalks in North America

A look at Saratoga Springs in New York which has some of the best sidewalks in the United States. The sidewalks here are wide, shady, characterized by inside out design, and full of amenities like benches and kiosks. They are enjoyable and welcoming and an example to follow for other cities.

What Downtowns Can Learn From New Haven

New Haven was suffering from overly wide streets and intersections in one of its key areas which was negatively impacting businesses and pedestrian activity in the area. To address this problem, they expanded their sidewalks with paint and bollards – a simple solution that every city can and should replicate.

Streets as Places to Come Together: The Next Evolution for the Transportation Revolution

An in-depth overview of the transportation landscape and the role of streets in our communities over the past few decades. While there is still a long way to go to make our streets vibrant channels for social and community life, we have made great progress that should be recognized as we move forward.

Start with the Social Life of Sidewalks: A Sidewalks Resource Guide