Pedestrianized Streets – From Shopping to Public Space: The History and Evolution of Pedestrianization In North America From Modernism to Contemporary

This dissertation addresses the evolution of pedestrianization, specifically examining the pedestrian mall concept, which originated from modernist planning and design ideas in the early 20th century. The pedestrianization of Times Square in New York City in 2009 has heightened contemporary interest in pedestrianization for public space purposes. Only a few decades ago however, post-war pedestrian malls were dismissed as a failure that devastated retail districts in downtowns across North America. Given this history, how did pedestrianization in North America experience a rise, fall and reinvention in only a few decades? This research specifically examines how pedestrianization and the pedestrian mall concept evolved as a planning idea, a design strategy, and planning policy from modernism to the contemporary planning era in North America. To address this overall question, this dissertation is divided into three articles. The first article questions how pedestrianization was conceptualized as a modernist idea and transferred between North America and Europe during the 20th century and identifies Architect Victor Gruen as a primary figure in the post-war idea exchange. The second article outlines how the pedestrian mall was established and widely replicated as an urban renewal strategy in the American post-war. The third article demonstrates how the post-war pedestrian mall concept failed and was subsequently abandoned in North America. The final and concluding chapter synthesizes the research and suggests evolutionary phases of pedestrianization ranging from the early experimental ideas that were prominent before and during World War II, to the contemporary rise in experimentation with pedestrianization ideas. I conclude in arguing that there is a clear link and recycling of ideas that were only recently rejected and that a similar process of replicating ideas is still occurring.Ph.D