Tuesday June 28th 2011, 6:01 pm
Filed under: Streetscape
When my husband and I first arrived in Placencia, a village at the very tip of the a long and skinny peninsula in southern Belize, we were late for checking in to our room for the night due to one of our bus breaking down pretty much every time it came to a hill (which is bad news when you’re going through the mountains) that caused us to miss a transfer and a good chunk of the afternoon. The small office was no longer open at the ridiculously late hour of 8pm and so we wandered around the place a bit until we came upon a little girl playing in the sand.
“What are you looking for?” she asked us in a very grown up way. When we replied with the name of the owner she said, “That’s my mom. She’s at our house. I can take you there.” We just kind of looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and headed off after the girl down a gravel “street” which turned into sand after maybe about 30 feets which was fronted by small houses. It felt more like an alley because of the width and yet these were the front doors to each of the houses and at each intersection there was a sign for the “street” name. My flipflops were basically useless in the sand which is probably why the majority of the people we saw there were barefoot, and looked as though they had been for many years if not forever.
After what I would imagine might have been about a block, maybe two, she lead us into a yard (fenced off piece of sand) and there was the lady we were looking for. She greeted us, thanked her daughter for being so good about helping her guests and then told us that our room was unlocked and the key was inside. She didn’t seem to find it weird at all that her daughter who must’ve been around the age of 7 led a couple of total strangers to her house. Not only are the streets of the village quaint, but so are those that along them.
One of the things that really struck me about Europe is that the ideaof water conveyance channels right out in the open urban world was not only ok but rather frequently seen. Some are old, some new, but either way they flow right through plazas, down pedestrian alleyways and along sidewalks, promenades and public transit streets like beautiful features rather than ugly hazards to be hidden away.
A great example is in the city of Freiburg, Germany, a city on the edge of the Schwartzwald, or Black Forest. These channels can been seen in most of the streets and alleyways within the old city and are called the Bächle, which means “stream” in German. This is appropriate as it is like an urban stream network which is filled with the water from the river Dreisam. The Bächle however is a very old feature and in fact goes back to at least the 13th century and was used as water supply source for the city, bringing in fresh water from the stream running from the nearby mountains. Now, this fresh water serves as a great place to sit and dip your feet as either a local or a tourist in the warmer months.
The Bächle once used to flow right down the middle of the streets but once cars began infiltrating the city they were seen as inconvenient and were moved to the edge. Some were covered due to their non-use in the modern day city. However, in 1973 the heart of the city was paved in stone and nmed a pedestrian-only core and thus traffic was no longer a threat to the Bächle, or vice versa, and were therefore uncovered and could be enjoyed as a lovely feature among a pedestrian urban center and even live in harmony with the tram.
What does a city with twice the density of New York City do when there is simply no more space on the ground for pedestrians? The city of Mumbai has come up with the idea to create a skywalk network for those on foot trying to get from one place to another while getting them out of the way of the dangers from being forced to walk in the streets due to overcrowding from street vendors, squatters, vehicular traffic and also the lack of sidewalks.
It’s an unfortunate situation when the solution is to pull the people out of the streets and give them a sort of pedestrian super highway to bypass the streetlife. The idea may seem like a nice one at first, providing pedestrians the ability to stroll leisurely from the train station for up to two miles to their ultimate destination through a covered walkway with fresh air and views out over the city but at the same time, what is to happen with the streets and what will keep the skywalks free from the problems that brought on the construction of the skywalks in the first place? Are the streets of Mumbai simply beyond repair? Is creating a network of skywalks really the best thing for Mumbai in the long term or is it like giving up on the city streets and seeking the easy way out?
From the Wall Street Journal:
“The fate of the city’s foot soldiers is crucial because close to 60% of the trips made here are on foot. That makes this one of the most pedestrian-powered metropolises in the world. Until now, however, pedestrians have been largely ignored. Some Mumbaikars, as citizens are known, aren’t happy. Retailers say they are losing business while residents say skywalks block views, allow pedestrians to peek into private homes and are just as likely to be taken over by homeless families and shopless vendors as the sidewalks.”
“Still, something had to be done, city planners say. The road under the Yellow Caterpillar (the first skywalk built which is bright yellow, thus nicknamed by the locals), like station roads across the city, is an obstacle course through a minefield. Commuters spill down the Bandra Station steps and into a knot of three-wheeled auto rickshaws, buses and trucks on the street below. The closest thing to a sidewalk here is a patch of dirt next to a crud-filled creek. Hundreds of commuters walk in the street, dodging vehicles as they go.”
“On the way to the nearby business park—home of Citigroup’s main India office and the National Stock Exchange—they pass through a slum. The roadside is occupied by small shops, families living in plastic-tarp homes, parked motorcycles and goats rooting through garbage. The tiny stretch of sidewalk that eventually emerges about five blocks from the station is cut short by the fence of a small neighborhood police station built directly on top of it. Then pedestrians have to find their way across an off-ramp of Mumbai’s busiest highway. There is a functioning traffic signal and even a policeman at the corner, but drivers often ignore both.”
“The obvious solution of widening the sidewalks just isn’t an option. Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is a thin spit of land bound on three sides by the Arabian Sea. Moving buildings to widen roads is next to impossible thanks to tough tenancy laws. Courts and politicians sensitive to the needs of the micro-entrepreneur make it difficult to move illegal street vendors.”
“Skywalks are quick to build, relatively inexpensive and only require land the city already controls. The projected bill for the 50-plus skywalks is around $300 million. The city expects to recover most of that cost by selling advertising space on them.”
“Building the perfect skywalk, however, hasn’t been easy. While the walkways run over government roads, there still often isn’t space on the ground to plant enough supporting columns. Longer stretches between columns mean the city has to spend more on stronger, lighter materials and thicker columns. Commuters found the early skywalks too boxy and bright, so new ones use curved roofs, dark colors and chrome.”
“When engineers started digging to build the foundations, they found the chaos on the street continues underground. A few feet down, they ran into uncharted water, electricity and phone lines as well as sewers, forcing them to redesign whole skywalks. Trying to get the city water authorities or state-run telephone company to shift infrastructure would take too long.”
“Engineering difficulties and neighborhood opposition have blocked six planned skywalks and could stop more, city planners say. But they will continue building them because the streets are getting worse everyday. The city has hired armed guards to keep skywalks clear and the response from commuters has been largely positive.”
Depsite the controversy of the skywalks and what the future holds for the street level, the people of Mumbai who use the skywalks are enjoying them because it cuts down their commute times, offers a stress free walk to work and even provides an enjoyable setting for a walk on one’s day off. In a crowded city where walking in the street is not only stressful but dangerous, Mumbai has come up with a solution that seems to be working for some pedestrians, at least temporarily. But what will come of the life in the street? Is there a creative solution that can work for everyone and doesn’t just take the pedestrians out of the equation altogether?
