Citichat Places & Spaces 3 June 2005

CITICHAT 14/2005 - 10 June 2005




PLACES AND SPACES - 3 - The pedestrianisation plot thickens!



Last week’s Citichat was completed at Heathrow whilst waiting for a flight to Newcastle. I had flown in from Gothenburg Sweden where I had been invited to make a presentation at a conference, “Life in the Urban Landscape”, and had a couple of hours spare between flights. During my few days in Sweden I had managed to get to Stockholm, just for a day, so let me tell you what I learnt at the conference and then found in those two cities, and later in Newcastle, in relation to pedestrian streets.



Gothenburg (locals pronounce it something like ‘Yettiesboig’), with a population of 500 000, is the second largest city in Sweden and is situated on the west coast of the country. Whilst part of the Scandinavian group of countries, it is very European in character. Wide boulevards, low-rise buildings, great public transport and lots of bicycles, very clean and very green at this time of the year and very, very ordered – as the whole of Swedish society appears to be.



The main streets generally have two lanes for trams in the centre (buses augment the trams and drive on the same path) flanked either side by lanes for cars then by pavements that are themselves wide and clearly demarcated for both pedestrians and bicycles. The effect of these wide roadways/footways/cycle paths edged with the low-rise, six storey, buildings that flank them, is one of superb human scale. The city is very green, it is well treed but, more than that, every available open space is like a mini-park. There are also some large parks right in the heart of the city all immaculately maintained and dotted with couples and families enjoying the sunshine while they can.



Running parallel to one of the main thoroughfares through the downtown I found a narrow pedestrianised street right through the middle of a retail area widening out at its one end into a paved square ringed around with “pavement cafes”. The street and square were very active. In the time that I had available I wasn’t able to explore the whole downtown so this was the only pedestrian space I was aware of.



I played hookey from the conference for a day and took the high speed train to Stockholm which lies on the east coast of Sweden, 450 kms from Gothenburg, a trip precisely achieved, each way, in two hours and fifty-five minutes!



Stockholm, the biggest city in Sweden, is very different from Gothenburg in both looks and feel. Whilst Gothenburg feels like a placid, self-contented rather provincial matron, Stockholm is the bold, loud and rather beautiful big sister. Beautiful in that it is spread over more than a dozen islands providing many kilometers of water edge whilst the city is the showcase for some absolutely magnificent historic buildings. Bold and loud as all large cities - I stepped off a pavement when the pedestrian light was against me and was immediately targeted by a fast moving taxi - the driver hooting and gesticulating. Lots of graffiti and whilst clean in comparison to ourselves was not nearly as pristine as Gothenburg. In my one day I saw no police and no street cleaners but I did see a few hawkers and quite a few grungy teenagers. The historic ‘old city’ was founded on one of the islands known as Gamlastan The beautifully maintained historic buildings line mainly very narrow pedestrian passageways again providing that wonderful sense of scale, whilst the absence of vehicles, except for deliveries at certain times, adds to the overall sense of place.



I was in Newcastle for just an afternoon and caught the underground from the airport to the stop nearest the Civic Centre where I had an appointment. I emerged from the underground directly into Northumberland Street – the main pedestrianised street flanked by retail and markedly crowded. Later I was walked through the centre city – Newcastle is relatively small, population 300 000 – and saw the extensive pedestrianisation that has been in place for some years. This of course is the case in many UK cities, I particularly remember Birmingham for its high quality pedestrian environment.



Back to Newcastle - apart from the retail area around Northumberland Street, a contiguous area known as Grainger Town contains an excellent example of vehicle free streets. Grainger Town covers about 90 acres and has some fine examples of 19th century buildings and structures which line the edges of three pedestrian streets that converge at a focal point or circus. Built in the 1830’s by Richard Grainger the buildings are of elegant neo-classical proportions and include offices and shops and major public buildings all clad in a warm, yellowish coloured polished stone. The overall effect caused Prime Minister William Gladstone to call one of the streets, Grey Street, ‘Britain’s best modern street’ way back in 1837. By 1997 however the area was in major decline with massive vacancies and a number of buildings declared at risk. Only the dedicated efforts of a the Grainger Town Partnership established in 1997 dramatically reversed the area’s fortunes. Office rental values doubled between 1997 and 2003 and retail increased by 60% between 1997 and 2001 against the UK average of 24.3%.



So, with all that background, why is the European and UK experience so different from that of American cities? I think there are a variety of reasons. Firstly, the motor car is not nearly as dominant as it is in the States. Secondly there are excellent public transport facilities in place and a culture of using them. Very many families spanning from lower to upper income groups prefer the convenience of public transport. Usually the bus and underground train stations are well situated in relation to the heart of the city making purchasing convenient as well. Thirdly, there doesn’t appear to be the retail competition offered by suburban shopping centres – they do exist courtesy of Maggie Thatcher’s relaxation of traditional planning norms (now largely reversed) and the main streets thus have been able to retain major departmental and even town centre shopping centres. Finally, there are large numbers of inner city residents who provide additional support for the retail. So, all very different to our situation and reason to still view pedestrianisation with something of a jaundiced eye!



But here’s the twist! The keynote speaker at the conference in Gothenburg was Dr. Enrique Penalosa the President and Founder of an organization by the interesting name of “The Foundation for the Country We Wish and Want” and a former mayor of Bogota, the capital city of Colombia. In his address entitled “Social and Environmental Sustainability in Cities” he stressed the great need in developing countries and cities for democratization of the public realm. Bogota suffers from a surfeit of motor vehicles on its streets and the Council sought various solutions for the resultant grid lock and pollution. The solution favoured by most of the council was a Japanese proposal to build a massive multi-layered multi lane concrete highway slashing through the centre city at an astronomical cost. Dr. Penalosa, mayor at that time, decided that the money would be far better spent on providing amenities for the urban poor, amenities that would move the city to greater urbanity. How can you justify spending billions on providing better roads for a minority of wealthy car owners when the vast majority of citizens are handicapped due to a lack of access to most forms of transport? So the money was used to provide a network of pedestrian/bicycle paths, a bus transportation system based on the highly successful Curitiba model, primary schools, libraries and parks. In addition, cars were banned entirely one day per week forcing rich and poor alike to travel on the new bus transportation system. His approach resulted in an enormous empowerment of the urban poor- whilst few owned bicycles previously due to lack of facilities, now even the poorest family has at least one bike and an ability to get wherever is needed, cheaply. He didn’t altogether neglect cars. A vehicle lane was also provided next to the bicycle/pedestrian path – even if it wasn’t tarred!



Regards, neil





Neil Fraser is a partner in ‘Neil Fraser & Associates trading as Urban Inc.’ an urban consultancy dedicated to the revitalisation and regeneration of cities and of the inner city of Johannesburg in particular. He can be contacted at (083) 456 0242 or (011) 444-4895 or by e-mail at neil@urbaninc.co.za



Citichat is a free weekly publication concerning cities generally and Johannesburg specifically. Please forward Citichat to your colleagues who may wish to be placed on the subscription list. To subscribe please contact us at info@urbaninc.co.za