Sidewalk Culture

Our own sidewalk scholars, Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris and Renia Ehrenfeucht, have been pounding the pavement tracking the furious battles that have been fought on sidewalks over free speech, public access and conflicting uses. In their new book, Sidewalks: Conflict and Negotiation over Public Space, reveals the policies governing sidewalks in five cities — Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Miami and Seattle — to explain why some cities have a vibrant sidewalk culture and in other cities, sidewalks are devoid of life.

Loukaitou-Sideris sat down with UCLA Today to talk about it.  Here's a taste. 

What first intrigued you about sidewalks?

Coming from Athens, Greece, where there is a very intensive use of sidewalks, I experienced a cultural shock when I first came to this country in 1983 as a graduate student and saw that sidewalks were empty in most places. This was so much in contrast to my own life experiences. I always had this question: Why are American sidewalks empty? What happened to the pedestrians? The book really responds to these questions.

 

What American cities do the best job of promoting sidewalk-walking?

East coast cities have a longer history of mixed use. Having mixed uses – where, for example, supermarkets occupy the ground floor of a building and apartments are on the upper floors — brings more people onto the streets. Boston and New York have more interesting sidewalks because they have many more mixed-use buildings and shorter blocks. But in western cities, you'll see endless subdivisions, established by zoning. It's helped create what we call the "dormitory" suburb. This has taken the life out of sidewalks. There are even some suburbs that have been built without sidewalks because homeowners want their privacy.

Read more here.  And remember, don't step on a crack.....