This Sunday’s New York Times Magazine featured a short interview with Enrique Peñalosa, a former mayor of Bogata, Columbia and current urban planning consultant. Peñalosa is associated with Bogata’s Ciclovia, described by Streets Films’ Clarence Eckerson, Jr. as “a weekly event in which over 70 miles of city streets are closed to traffic where residents come out to walk, bike, run, skate, recreate, picnic, and talk with family, neighbors and strangers…”
Eckerson’s street film about Ciclovia is viewable here.
Now Ciclovia is migrating north. Could Savannah support a Ciclovia? Judging from the more than 250 people who turned out for the Savannah Bicycle Campaign’s April Savannah Wheelie ride, during which the streets were only temporarily closed, it’s likely longer street closings would tempt even more cyclists explore our streets. It’s nice to imagine my fellow citizens being able to use public spaces, which most of the time are designed and managed for the benefit of only one type of vehicle. Or as Peñalosa told the times:
“We are designing cities for cars, cars, cars, cars, cars. Not for people. Cars are a very recent invention. The 20th century was a horrible detour in the evolution of the human habitat. We were building much more for cars’ mobility than children’s happiness.”
UPDATE: There’s a poll up now on the Savannah Bicycle Campaign Web site asking visitors to vote on which streets they would like to see closed to motorized traffic, so that they could be used by pedestrians, cyclists and skaters. Vote and even suggest alternate locations here.
