Pedestrian Zones

I grew up just outside of Eugene, Oregon. One thing we never did was go to downtown Eugene. In the 1970s, Eugene, like many American cities, closed their downtowns to traffic and created a pedestrian mall. It failed. By the time I was in high school in the late 80s and early 90s, you only went down there if you were looking to a place to ride your skateboard or you were looking to score drugs, not that the two were mutually exclusive. In the late 90s, Eugene again opened up its downtown to automobiles and the place took off.

But did it succeed because of automobiles or because of the timing? I'm not sure. Daniel Nairn has an interesting article about creating a pedestrian mall in Missoula, Montana. While noting the historical failures of pedestrian malls, he also shows how Burlington and Charlottesville made their malls work. Increasingly, people are coming back downtown to live. Even in Sun Belt cities like Dallas, Albuquerque, and Knoxville, we see this happening. Boulder and Denver have quite impressive pedestrian malls.

So does this mean that we should reconsider the pedestrian mall? I think it is time to do so. I believe the project failed in the 1970s for multiple reasons that were unique to the time. First, suburbanization continued unabated during those years. The malls were created as an alternative to big shopping mall developments, but people were really into shopping malls in the 70s and 80s. Given those trends, pedestrian zones may have been a poorly conceived, though well-meaning, idea. Second, oil prices collapsed in the 80s. Part of the appeal of shopping downtown was supposed to be as a way to save gas money. That was fine for the 70s, but once gas prices declined, Americans stopped caring about such things, dooming the pedestrian developments. Third, the 1970s and 80s were a time when municipalities were letting their downtowns rot away. Without a broader investment in making downtown an appealing place, these malls were not going to work.

But all of these conditions have changed. The historical tide of urban development seems to be moving back toward central living. Oil prices have skyrocketed and given Chinese, Indian, and Brazilian demands, it is highly unlikely they will ever fall again, making pedestrian options more appealing. Finally, the return of whites with money to the downtowns has spurred cities to invest in those areas, making them incredibly appealing as a place for people to live and shop.

While I think truly auto-free zones are off in the future, creating pedestrian malls with limited auto access for people who live downtown is a good option for today's developers. I'd certainly be willing to give it a shot as a place to live.