The sidewalk cafes of Paris and sidewalk food trucks in New York City serving hot coffee on cold blustery days are the stuff of romance. They are perfect for a meal on a pleasant day enjoying the shade or appreciating the sun. Besides being places to enjoy a meal, they serve as places to be seen and to watch people go about their life. Cities often encourage occupation of sidewalks by restaurants and vendors as they not only make streets safer but also add vitality to the neighborhoods.
In 1961, Jane Jacobs declared how sidewalks are ‘the main public places of a city’. It was through her preservation efforts that SoHo and the West Village (both New York) became possible. She argued for the neighborhood as well as the public spaces that make the neighborhood, namely their streets. Preservation of the streets was based on its human scale and the diversity of activities on the sidewalks. Unfortunately, the main purpose of the sidewalk has now been transformed into separating vehicles from pedestrians and allows pedestrians to walk between or within neighborhoods without the fear of getting run over. While we seem to have adopted the linear model dictated by vehicles, I hope to look at two other ways.
The appearance of the first sidewalks is hard to determine as they emerged in different forms: as paths (semita in Latin) or as an in-between space separating building from the streets. The medieval streets of Europe did not have sidewalks, allowing people and carts to mingle. Sidewalks were introduced formally in London as early as 1716 and later appeared in Paris as limestone curbs elevated to prevent carts from running away. It was only after the mid-18th century that sidewalks became common as streets were reconstructed in London and Paris.
Jan Anderson, a well-known urbanist, urges us to think about life between our buildings, in our public realm. The streets and their sidewalks – if they have them – are not only places to walk, but also to sit, to watch, to play and to do business. Successful streets seem to be those that accommodate the diverse experiences set out on the narrow path along the roadway.
Sidewalks in New Delhi or Bangkok have a very different life from London or Paris. They start and they stop, they are occupied by trees, utilities and by informal businesses that disrupt movement. Why is the presence of this diversity viewed negatively by some? Two books on the sidewalks, one that looks at the streets of Ho Chi Minh City and one that looks at streets in the United States, reveal the same concern about how we decide who has the right to occupy the streets. I would go as far as saying: how did our streets get taken over by vehicles?
Vehicles do not engage with the public realm even though they occupy most of it.
Since automobiles took over our streets, spaces where people walk and gather have been relegated to the side. We call these places the sidewalk.
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What if these walks were really main or the central walks? A walk where the pedestrian is the principal occupant in the center of the right of way? The Ramblas in Barcelona is one example where a market and people occupy the center of the road and vehicles occupy the sides. In Paris, the function of a promenade is to allow leisurely walks. Cities all over the world are creating pedestrian-only streets in recognition of the increase in quality of life they offer by providing its public a place to gather and enjoy the city. With the growth of our cities and the number of citizens, the places within our public realm should also grow providing accessible spaces, which accommodate pedestrian-friendly activities.
Recently, New York City has again invested heavily in its public spaces making them friendlier to walk through and occupy, a real effort to bring its citizens back on the streets of which several sections have been revitalized. The sidewalk life is a complicated negotiation of passers-by and building fronts managing fast, slow and stationary activities.
A sidewalk’s primary goal is to provide a walking path along the edge of a building. However, a center walks or a main walk offers a place for leisure: to eat, to visit with family and friends. In India, we lack so many public spaces that give a mix of such activities that we are even willing to pay for an experience.
Dilli Haat in New Delhi constructed over a nullah, a linear infrastructure, recreates a street so festive and successful that it has become a destination. The biggest part of its charm is the fact that it is extremely pedestrian-friendly for our youngest and our oldest citizens with the right mix of ramps, seating and activities.
Another potential way to imagine sidewalks, especially in Asia or Africa, is as platforms, where informal businesses truly survive because of the sidewalks. Informal businesses moving on the thoroughfares are already on the decline with automobiles edging them out as the main users. These sidewalks in a way already function as platforms. A large number of streets in Asia still operate without sidewalks and we should not be enforcing sidewalks if they discourage the diversity of uses or are just a lip service to promote walking.
For a street to function well it needs several key components to facilitate its usage. Thinking of our sidewalks less as continuous walkways but more as platforms would facilitate the grouping of interests. Trees not only provide scale, relief and shade on the street, they are great invitations to make our public spaces better. Shaded areas are perfect spots for small informal businesses to thrive. Infrastructure and communication utilities also need to be accessed easily for repair ensuring safety and delivery of essential services. Provision of street furniture like benches, lights and trash cans ensure the elderly in the city participate actively and continue to act as the eyes of the city. These platforms are where the wealthy and poor come together.
Instead of providing walkways as the primary goal, these sidewalks are more like podiums: a place to gather, to meet and exchange gossip or a place to people- watch. Instead of lamenting the interruptions of a continuous walk, we should let them be gathering spots reclaiming their status as a primary public realm.
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Suvarna Apte-Dalvie is a landscape architect trained at SPA, Delhi and U Penn, Philadelphia. She teaches at the University of Hong Kong
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