What We See Blog
Janette Sadik-Khan, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation and a contributor to What We See, is a gifted and innovative city planner with the heart of an advocate. She has gained international acclaim for her successful work in promoting cycling, expanding rapid-transit bussing, and making streets safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists than at any other time in the past century.
Beginning with Sustainable Streets, DOT’s first strategic plan published in 2008, Ms. Sadik-Khan has implemented a series of innovative projects: the creation of Broadway Boulevard, new Select Bus Service Routes in the Bronx and Manhattan, the installation of eighteen plazas, the addition of over 250 miles of on-street bike lanes, car-free summer streets, weekend pedestrian walks, and a new Street Design Manual requiring higher quality street designs for New York City.
For her extraordinary efforts at improving traffic flow, fostering sustainable transportation, and increasing New Yorkers’ access to open public spaces, Janette Sadik-Khan was awarded the 2011 Jane Jacobs Medal for New Ideas and Activism by the Rockefeller Foundation. The 2011 Jane Jacobs Medal is awarded to those who build upon the work — and the spirit — of Jane Jacobs to revitalize urban communities for the people who live in them. Ms. Sadik-Khan will be donating her $50,000 award to the New York City DOT’s Safe Streets Fund.
Roberta Brandes Gratz, What We See contributing author, has an excellent new piece in the Huffington Post—Stockholm Leads the Way. In the article she writes about Stockholm, first recipient of the "Green Capital" award in Europe. The city has managed to boost its economy while promoting a sense of ecology that promises to be permanent and sustainable. Gratz gives specific examples and makes the project seem achievable.
We look forward to more projects like the Green Capital award, and even more, to more communities "greening" themselves without the need for recognition.
Similar to Jane’s Walk in providing opportunities for people to experience and explore what a real livable and walkable urban neighborhood can feel like, comes Sunday Streets San Francisco, a safe, fun, car-free open space created to allow people to get out and get active in the community!
On a selected Sunday of each month between March and October, the City of San Francisco closes off designated neighborhood streets to cars and opens them to pedestrians, bicyclists, skaters, and activities. Known as Sunday Streets, the event encourages health, community, and fun by creating a large and open public space in which one may safely enjoy the streets and explore new neighborhoods. Not only does Sunday Streets offer free and fun physical activity space, but it also provides open space in neighborhoods that lack such space currently. The safe and open public space made available to pedestrians and bicyclists also benefits local businesses and generates increased community awareness.
Introduced in 2008 by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, the program began with two events that connected Chinatown to the Bayview with a 4.5 miles route from Portsmouth Square in Chinatown along the Embarcadero to the Bayview Opera House. Sunday Streets has since grown each year in popularity and even became an official City program in 2010. The 2011 Season has been extended into new neighborhoods and includes a more diverse program that emphasizes the unique character of each neighborhood and highlights overlooked community attractions and institutions. Returning popular activities include free bike rentals and bike safety courses offered by local bike rental companies and organizations, a mobile roller disco with free skate rentals, and activities coordinated by the YMCA of San Francisco for children and families. Participants can also enjoy group activities such as tai chi, yoga, aerobics, and much more along the route.
“A quality city is not one that has great roads but one where a child can safely go anywhere on a bicycle.”
- Enrique Peñalosa, Mayor of Bogotá, Columbia from 1998 until 2001
The Sunday Streets San Francisco event serves to demonstrate how even big cities can provide healthy and environmentally friendly activities for their residents and was inspired by similar events in cities throughout the world from New York City to Tokyo to Kiev. The idea for Sunday Streets originated from a program known as Ciclovía in Bogota, Columbia (website is in Spanish). Ciclovía, a Spanish term meaning “bike path,” is a weekly event held every Sunday and holiday in Bogotá to promote free and healthy community oriented activities, including dance and yoga lessons in the local parks. Founded in 1976, the event has grown to cover an estimated 70 percent of the 20 neighborhoods - over 70 miles of specifically chosen routes to connect neighborhoods! Every week more than 1.5 million people - nearly 20 percent of the city’s population - walk, bike, or skate to other neighborhoods, visit friends, and take their children to experience different neighborhood parks and attractions.
Sunday Streets San Francisco is free and open to all! Upcoming 2011 event dates and neighborhood locations include: the Bayview (June 12), the Great Highway (July 10), the Civic Center/Tenderloin (August 14), the Western Addition (September 11), and the Mission (October 23). The events last from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For information on New York City’s initiatives to create sustainable streets please refer to Janette Sadik-Khan’s article entitled, “Think of a City and What Comes to Mind? Its Streets,” in What We See: Advancing the Observations of Jane Jacobs. As the Commissioner of the New York City Transportation Department, Sadik-Khan launched the Department of Transportation (DOT) report on “World Class Streets: Remaking New York City’s Public Realm” in 2008 and has sought to invest in New York City’s public transit, bicycling, and walking infrastructure, and bring a more pedestrian-focused agenda to the streets. New York City’s “Summer Streets,” New York’s own version of Sunday Streets San Francisco, began in 2008 and is a project of DOT under Commissioner Sadik-Khan. For further discussion and reflection on Janette Sadik-Khan’s plan to remake New York City streets to show more concern for people rather than cars please see Jan Gehl’s article entitled, “For You Jane,” also in What We See.
Here are two exciting ways we can participate in honoring Jane Jacobs in 2011:
The first is the annual Jane’s Walk on May 7 and 8, 2011. Jane’s Walk is a free neighborhood walking tour conducted in cities in the US, Canada, and now internationally that brings communities together to celebrate and discover each other and their surroundings. It coincides with Jane's birthday on the first weekend of May, and thousands participate each year to explore their own urban landscapes, from housing projects to richly historic areas to secret gardens. Walks are led by individuals or by groups—find out how to host a Jane’s Walk in your city.
Second, the Queen Jane Jacobs conference in Hamburg, Germany at the HafenCity University Hamburg on May 12 and 13, 2011 . This two-day academic event, sponsored by Fritz Thyssen Stiftung, will be a discussion of Jacobs' work and influence. The conference is being held to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Death and Life of American Cities. Participants include several leading scholars from around the world. The conference organizers have recently sent out a call for papers on topics such as new approaches to urban renewal and rehabilitation, biographical background on Jane Jacobs, shifting paradigms toward conservation, and Jacobs’ influence on economic theory and urban economics.
For its third year in a row, re:place Magazine has drawn up a list of their favorite books pertaining to urban and architectural issues—this year, the list included What We See among the top titles. re:place is a non-profit organization devoted to fostering diverse and open discussion for the expanding public interest in urban development and renewal, especially in the Greater Vancouver area. Books chosen for the Top Ten are both new titles published in 2010 and older titles they believe deserve to be rediscovered by urban enthusiasts.
Reviewer Lisa Brideau writes, “Jane Jacobs is an iconic figure in the field of urban planning and to those generally interested in city-related issues. This makes creating a book with her name emblazoned so boldly on the cover extremely courageous and sets readers up for some mighty high expectations. Yet this is the challenge editors Lynne Elizabeth and Stephen Goldsmith set out to face with their most recent book."
Read the entire review here.
