Market Square

[ijmorlan]

One more suggestion, which is irrelevant to existing downtowns but absolutely could have been done in a place like what is now downtown Mississauga: if, instead of providing a skybridge network as an alternative to street level, we decide that pedestrian street level is 5m above motor vehicle street level, I think most of your objections vanish entirely. At that point, you have two levels: on one level, cars and other motor vehicles travel, while on another, people walk and bicycle around. Then it doesn’t matter if cars travel too fast for compatibility with pedestrian traffic because there are none. It doesn’t matter if restaurants, for example, can survive on the motor vehicle level, because in effect that’s the basement and we don’t complain that basement restaurants have trouble surviving elsewhere.

That reminds me of the raising of Chicago.

I know one criticism of these spaces is that they are typically private which has a number of implications for free movement, speech etc.

Thanks for the link. I hadn’t heard of that particular project. I’ve heard of places where the existing ground floors were decreed to be the basements and the second floor the new ground floor, with various adjustments made to sidewalks and everything else, but not of actually jacking up the buildings.

Or maybe the account I read was a garbled one.

In any case, very interesting.

I agree about the “private space” criticism. For just having some skybridges, with ground level still a public space, I think it’s important but not critical, just like how I am not completely comfortable with the private nature of enclosed malls but don’t consider it a pressing problem. For the idea of completely separating the motor vehicle and pedestrian level, I would consider it mandatory that the pedestrian level be public. I would also consider it important that it have a lot of outdoor space in it. While I believe in the freedom to choose indoor travel, I also believe in the freedom to choose outdoor travel and would make that choice myself on many days. I also think we should consider having more indoor public spaces owned by the city.