I was recently asked for some of my best examples of walkability in areas with car traffic.
Walkable, car-free or low traffic areas I have loads of photos of. I realized, however, that I tend to focus much less on visual examples of areas with great walkability with road traffic- at least photographically.
‘Why?’ I asked myself. Anyone familiar with pedestrianspace.org knows that I advocate for #carfree urban spaces. But I also know it’s an improbable leap to expect radical and immediate shifts to car-free when the reality in so many cities is so different (though some cities have achieved it in their centers & certain neighborhoods and I look to them as pioneering examples)
Walkable urbanism does not always (or even often) equate to “car-free” It’s important to have great examples with road traffic as this is precisely how many communities may be even able to introduce the concept of walkability to their spaces or improve on existing pedestrian networks.
Pictured below is one of my favorite examples of #walkability in an area that also includes road traffic. I photographed this in the Summer of 2018 on a sidewalk in Charlottenburg, Berlin, noting that the cafes and restaurants had space for tables (often 3 rows deep), there was ample space for pedestrian movement, cycle parking and multiple public transit options nearby.
Do you have some great examples of walkability in areas that also have road traffic?
-Annika Lundkvist, Editor & Founder at Pedestrian Space
