* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
A mass-scale reimagining of street space is taking place. Now is the time for leaders, including in New York, to give streets back to people
Danny Harris is executive director of Transportation Alternatives.
Think of public space in New York City. What comes to mind? Central Park? Times Square? Coney Island? While New York City has no shortage of iconic public spaces, our largest public space is actually our streets. And right now, three quarters of this space - our most valuable public asset - is being used to move and store cars.
New York City has 6,300 miles of roads and three million free parking spaces. Meanwhile, the lives of 8.6 million New Yorkers play out on the slim sidewalks that edge this massive network — the majority of our everyday lives relegated to the margins. In a city where less than half of residents own a car, how is this fair?
Our streets must be a pathway to recovery and a better future, and that means taking a hard look at who we are prioritizing on our streets and why.
Right now, the way we use our streets is fundamentally inequitable. That is why a diverse coalition of more than 120 advocacy groups are demanding that New York City’s next mayor reimagine our street space and put people, not cars, first.
In NYC 25x25, we’re pushing our next mayor, who will be elected later this year, to take back 25% of the space currently used for parking and driving cars. With this valuable space we can build bus lanes, bike lanes, outdoor seating, parklets, play streets, bike share stations, wider, safer sidewalks and so much more.
We face a steep climb out of our current public health and economic crisis. Now is no time for half-measures. It is time for cities across the world to give streets back to people. It is time for streets to be an asset, not a liability, in recovering from the pandemic and addressing climate change, traffic violence, racial justice, and growing inequality.
In New York, traffic crashes are the leading cause of injury-related death for children under 14, and the second most common for adults 65 and older. Vehicles are a leading contributor to air pollution, which causes at least 6% of all deaths in New York City annually. Our short-sighted focus on using our finite space for cars rather than alternative transportation like bus lanes and bike lanes cuts off whole neighborhoods from economic opportunities. Carbon emissions hasten the existential threat of climate change.
In addition to being good policy, repurposing streets is also good politics. Recent polling from the Siena College Research Institute found that street improvements that make walking and biking safer and more pleasant are broadly popular among New York City voters in every borough, and of nearly every age, race, and income group - even if it would mean less space for street parking.
Across the world, we have seen this sort of mass-scale reimagining of street space be highly successful. Last year, Paris moved from experimenting with car-free days in its central city to making iconic streets like the Rue di Rivoli permanently car-free. London met the COVID crisis head-on with 90 kilometers of new bike lanes to give essential workers an immediate transportation option. And a major conversion of driving lanes to bus lanes in Mexico City gained commuters a collective $142 million worth of lost time in its first year.
Cities are acknowledging that the planning mistakes of the past don’t need to determine the course of our future. Now, it’s time for more leaders, including in New York, to build on this success and prioritize people over cars on our streets.
Imagine living in a city where a ten-year-old can ride her bike safely to school. Where buses are not trapped in traffic. Where green space is within a five minute walk. Where a local business has extra space to serve customers. A city with clean air, abundant economic opportunities, and faster, safer, cleaner ways to get around. This is what it would mean to make our public space truly public - not a subway ride away in Central Park, Coney Island, or Times Square - but right outside all of our front doors. All it takes is our leaders prioritizing human life over inanimate objects, cars.
