William H. Whyte on 'Broadway Boulevard'
by Sandy Ikeda
Fri, 11 Jul 2008 at 4:06 PM
The pedestrian is a social being; he is also a transportation unit, and a remarkably efficient one. … Most transportation experts, however, scant the pedestrian and his potential; millions are being spent in research on new kinds of people-movers but very little on the oldest and best kind: people themselves. This is from the pioneering urban sociologist William H. Whyte's "New York and Tokyo: A Study in Crowding" published in 1977, one of the essays collected in "The Essential William H. White."
It's relevant not only to a recent blog post about the temporary closing of Park Avenue for three Saturdays this August, but also to Mayor Bloomberg's latest idea to permanently close two lanes of traffic on Broadway to create more space for pedestrians. The Sun reports that "the esplanade, called Broadway Boulevard, will run from 42nd Street eight blocks south to Herald Square."
And from the New York Times:
Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said that the esplanade, which was designed with the help of Jan Gehl, a well-known urban designer based in Copenhagen who has been hired as a consultant by the city, was part of a larger program to turn underused street space into public plazas in each of the city's 59 community board districts. It's also a part of the mayor's ambition to reduce automobile traffic in Manhattan wherever he can.
Whyte mentored Jacobs in the days before her famous book, "The Death and Life of Great American Cities," was published, and like Jacobs preferred to understand how cities work by personally observing social interaction and public spaces, rather than by relying exclusively on statistical analysis based on averages and aggregates. Any serious student of cities should be familiar with his work. Also like Jacobs, Whyte concluded that what makes a city great is the life that goes on in its public spaces. Thus,
Study the social behavior of the pedestrian and you find that a significant part of his activity is not moving, but standing, talking, and looking. Much of the congestion of busy streets is traceable to this behavior. I'm eager to see whether "Broadway Boulevard" will reduce both foot and car congestion as well as help make one of the world's signature streets a more congenial place to experience the city. (Note: You can reduce congestion while at the same time increasing the numbers of users by facilitating flow.)
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