Imagine wandering down your local high street on a Summer's evening and being able to find diverse market stalls, alfresco eats, as well as live music.
The thing is, a car-dependent world makes this worse for people, not better.
As someone who also can’t drive, I totally agree. But the only existing infrastructure I can use right now to get somewhat direct access to a location is a taxi. Even if I had a few thousand dollars to casually drop on a mobility scooter… stairs. Fucking stairs everywhere. And reception desks/bars made for 1.8m tall standing humans. And furniture packed so tight that you can’t get past it, or just the casual rental bikes scattered in the middle of a footpath that has no curb cuts. Everywhere.
Shutting down the roads before providing viable substitutes and/or appropriate facilities is short-sighted and a terrible idea. And for me and many others, a terrifying prospect.
one of the best things we could do would be to permanently turn our CBDs into pedestrianised zones. Places where drivers are entirely allowed to go if they want, but where they have to expect to be driving very slowly because pedestrians get complete right of way.
We’re getting more of these in Sydney CBD, and thankfully the council is getting more proactive in providing more public seating, but I can’t go there much or for long enough to visit maybe 1 or 2 businesses. From an atmosphere / community standpoint, I really love them. From a medical standpoint, I associate them with a high likelihood of pain and injury, and so I avoid them. I can’t even imagine how expensive it would be to try to get a taxi going through multiple streets encountering those few pedestrians who think “fuck your taxi fare, cars must obey me, you should be walking too, so i will block your path intentionally”, even though I would much rather be walking like everyone else. I’ve already copped abuse getting out of a taxi that was dropping me off because it was ‘illegally stopping’.
We need ways of allowing people to do much more than just stand and walk in a public space before many people can realistically use those public spaces. Increasing the amount of those before making them accessible will hurt a lot of people, I’m just one of them.
I’m able bodied, but I was a full time carer for my mother who was wheelchair/electric scooter bound for years before she passed away from complications. Cities with pedestrian only areas were, in practice, a nightmare whenever we visited them… which we rarely did because life was so hard there.
And it’s especially bad when it’s a temporary setup. If you want to have a pedestrian only area then make it pedestrian only 24/7/365. That way whatever issues there are (stairs/etc) will actually be removed instead of just “oh I’ll do that when the market is closed”.
which we rarely did because life was so hard there
I took the alternate route and put myself in the middle of the city. Can’t fuck with me as much when there are fewer metres involved.
And it’s especially bad when it’s a temporary setup. If you want to have a pedestrian only area then make it pedestrian only 24/7/365.
Agreed. The pedestrianisation of George St was successful because there were alternate parallel routes to use, public transport was built in, and additional permanent public accommodations built.
The idea of especially King St Newtown shutting down temporarily is horrifying. If for no other reason than emergency services getting stuck in endless one way lanes. That’s before we get to the overcrowded public transport and totally fucked paths.
I took the alternate route and put myself in the middle of the city. Can’t fuck with me as much when there are fewer metres involved.
Which city though?
For example, in some European cities I’ve visited (and struggled with a wheelchair) the “ground” floor is commonly about waist high off the ground, with a basement beneath that floor, and properties might be too small (e.g. homes that are about the same width as a typical Australian bedroom with no front yard and no side yard either - shared walls with the houses next door). There’s literally not enough space for a ramp up to the ground floor or down to the basement, and you can’t add an elevator because the building was built 200 years ago and you’re not allowed to ruin the history of the area by making structural changes.
It’s, obviously, easy enough to find a home for yourself in those cities that is wheelchair friendly… but all your friends and family won’t do that and 90% of the businesses won’t be wheelchair compatible either. Shopping, in those cities, means the person in a wheelchair waits out on the footpath while someone else goes into the business to buy stuff for them.
As someone who also can’t drive, I totally agree. But the only existing infrastructure I can use right now to get somewhat direct access to a location is a taxi. Even if I had a few thousand dollars to casually drop on a mobility scooter… stairs. Fucking stairs everywhere. And reception desks/bars made for 1.8m tall standing humans. And furniture packed so tight that you can’t get past it, or just the casual rental bikes scattered in the middle of a footpath that has no curb cuts. Everywhere.
Shutting down the roads before providing viable substitutes and/or appropriate facilities is short-sighted and a terrible idea. And for me and many others, a terrifying prospect.
We’re getting more of these in Sydney CBD, and thankfully the council is getting more proactive in providing more public seating, but I can’t go there much or for long enough to visit maybe 1 or 2 businesses. From an atmosphere / community standpoint, I really love them. From a medical standpoint, I associate them with a high likelihood of pain and injury, and so I avoid them. I can’t even imagine how expensive it would be to try to get a taxi going through multiple streets encountering those few pedestrians who think “fuck your taxi fare, cars must obey me, you should be walking too, so i will block your path intentionally”, even though I would much rather be walking like everyone else. I’ve already copped abuse getting out of a taxi that was dropping me off because it was ‘illegally stopping’.
We need ways of allowing people to do much more than just stand and walk in a public space before many people can realistically use those public spaces. Increasing the amount of those before making them accessible will hurt a lot of people, I’m just one of them.
Once a week? Fuck no.
This, 100% this.
I’m able bodied, but I was a full time carer for my mother who was wheelchair/electric scooter bound for years before she passed away from complications. Cities with pedestrian only areas were, in practice, a nightmare whenever we visited them… which we rarely did because life was so hard there.
And it’s especially bad when it’s a temporary setup. If you want to have a pedestrian only area then make it pedestrian only 24/7/365. That way whatever issues there are (stairs/etc) will actually be removed instead of just “oh I’ll do that when the market is closed”.
I took the alternate route and put myself in the middle of the city. Can’t fuck with me as much when there are fewer metres involved.
Agreed. The pedestrianisation of George St was successful because there were alternate parallel routes to use, public transport was built in, and additional permanent public accommodations built.
The idea of especially King St Newtown shutting down temporarily is horrifying. If for no other reason than emergency services getting stuck in endless one way lanes. That’s before we get to the overcrowded public transport and totally fucked paths.
Which city though?
For example, in some European cities I’ve visited (and struggled with a wheelchair) the “ground” floor is commonly about waist high off the ground, with a basement beneath that floor, and properties might be too small (e.g. homes that are about the same width as a typical Australian bedroom with no front yard and no side yard either - shared walls with the houses next door). There’s literally not enough space for a ramp up to the ground floor or down to the basement, and you can’t add an elevator because the building was built 200 years ago and you’re not allowed to ruin the history of the area by making structural changes.
It’s, obviously, easy enough to find a home for yourself in those cities that is wheelchair friendly… but all your friends and family won’t do that and 90% of the businesses won’t be wheelchair compatible either. Shopping, in those cities, means the person in a wheelchair waits out on the footpath while someone else goes into the business to buy stuff for them.