![New York Times 1928 open streets](https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/300/quality:80/work/New-York-Times-1928-open-streets.png?bossToken=4218d6e8fc7c208a4c5cc9b2f95236423567a215eeca6ff4dac47d137bfa132e 171w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/600/quality:80/work/New-York-Times-1928-open-streets.png?bossToken=dac64b4538e4bca241c66cf787978b87c7cc0a94fbef48b345a28d1cb9a5056d 343w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/900/quality:80/work/New-York-Times-1928-open-streets.png?bossToken=a960249311368021e7817c04e48446afac0e91d17dff5e6067b0d9b1d12b905a 514w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/1200/quality:80/work/New-York-Times-1928-open-streets.png?bossToken=b2f4df91066ef0ff06782900a79d63e6c22da48c932454395c205134b444a15d 686w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/1500/quality:80/work/New-York-Times-1928-open-streets.png?bossToken=29313a55e94c1c3b623367c6fe84fd4ea46709d025b4565d5c156b8b707e8a0b 857w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/1800/quality:80/work/New-York-Times-1928-open-streets.png?bossToken=3315dc317a7d5cfd0880f438072ec06e4ea78c4313912a54154c4b0e37f824fa 1029w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/2100/quality:80/work/New-York-Times-1928-open-streets.png?bossToken=4b2451f5eb7b049af403fa9a7a0e9f23ce68eb2f86fbcfbde50f45a50e50ad14 1200w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/2400/quality:80/work/New-York-Times-1928-open-streets.png?bossToken=ed5e4815467399fc1fb82a6e9b671489ce689a6a9ee3bb062b4b6d70280ae434 1371w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/2700/quality:80/work/New-York-Times-1928-open-streets.png?bossToken=e769d2e58d902c8ee865fcf82c2b3715ab2c5fcdca5f84c6c8e72517957cc49f 1543w)
94 years ago, RPA was deeply concerned about commercial vehicles taking up space carved out for pedestrians. We told the Times: “One extraordinary situation has arisen in streets in crowded centers that remain partly residential, but are partly given up to light industry. In these streets, vehicles are using the sidewalks as well as the pavements. Pedestrians having lost the use of the pavements because of fast moving traffic are now also being interfered with on the sidewalks by standing vehicles loading and unloading merchandise. The public use of many streets for travel, both by moving vehicles and pedestrians, is seriously impaired by uses that should be confined to private property.” In 2021, RPA attempted to navigate this old tension between commerce and pedestrians by holding a symposium on the impacts and opportunities of e-commerce in the region, which brought leading thinkers in the fields of supply chain management, transportation, land use, public finance, and waste management together to envision a region in which commerce is convenient, safe for pedestrians, and sustainable.
![1920s glass slide the last pedestrian cartoon](https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/300/quality:80/general/Centennial-images/1920s-glass-slide-the-last-pedestrian-cartoon.jpeg?bossToken=0a8d9cf41c2bc0b60beed013d07a5b9aed98236c0f0d80f4e3320253a37a9121 171w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/600/quality:80/general/Centennial-images/1920s-glass-slide-the-last-pedestrian-cartoon.jpeg?bossToken=de548ac66521d46cb5841e8d0ff8a0c003faa187387efa879f6b11b9083768a5 343w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/900/quality:80/general/Centennial-images/1920s-glass-slide-the-last-pedestrian-cartoon.jpeg?bossToken=256ce92ae9df37340ad8e85d41cac22512ba1017cb6fe2fc6893cccff576d007 514w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/1200/quality:80/general/Centennial-images/1920s-glass-slide-the-last-pedestrian-cartoon.jpeg?bossToken=a8a802f1e33ed69bea3fd898fcdf4d5b4df3640523b2076eeb20abde1b8a54c0 686w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/1500/quality:80/general/Centennial-images/1920s-glass-slide-the-last-pedestrian-cartoon.jpeg?bossToken=ccb65e5e9e0f67aeda0f85675419803268765c0f80e68d07eff4452dd9459a9e 857w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/1800/quality:80/general/Centennial-images/1920s-glass-slide-the-last-pedestrian-cartoon.jpeg?bossToken=9834fc0f2cbe92bcbfd4af1ddd39f5b468c4aa89348e8e087b4f7fcbe52ca63c 1029w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/2100/quality:80/general/Centennial-images/1920s-glass-slide-the-last-pedestrian-cartoon.jpeg?bossToken=35ba1c0e24cd8ff45c8d1223725a1cc424576ac54fa494fdd56ce00c0b3d8647 1200w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/2400/quality:80/general/Centennial-images/1920s-glass-slide-the-last-pedestrian-cartoon.jpeg?bossToken=ba10801a0f950ec7b3f447f5537c8aec79593a3d2eb058a9019431c0f3d0b54c 1371w, https://img.imageboss.me/general/width/2700/quality:80/general/Centennial-images/1920s-glass-slide-the-last-pedestrian-cartoon.jpeg?bossToken=b6d9233a5340264ca63ff398bb41cf9d8fd4167a067180953e24ae66ec1e56b1 1543w)
Regional Plan Association
Today, Regional Plan Association continues this work through a variety of projects. The Fourth Regional Plan recommends reorienting street design and management practice. In 2020, RPA released The Five Borough Bikeway which calls for connecting all of New York City with a connected, protected, arterial bike network. Alongside Design Trust for Public Space and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, RPA participates in the Alfresco NYC coalition which facilitates roundtable discussions, grants, and awards designed to support and recognize the businesses and community groups using street space in innovative ways. Our multifaceted research and advocacy on this issue will continue as we attempt to address issues first identified 100 years ago.
CHOICES for ’76
Excerpt from “Transportation: Master or Servant,” one of several documentaries RPA produced as part of CHOICES for‘76, a mass media campaign and series of documentaries produced by RPA in 1973 to spark conversation on issues of concern to the New York metro region.
Regional Plan Association
RPA’s 1920s research also focused on the threat that auto-filled streets posed to the welfare of New York’s children, who had been forced to limit safe play to, at best, 25% of the street. RPA told the New York Times that motorists “should be prepared to concede that the closing of certain streets in New York to traffic, so that they could be used as children’s playgrounds, is merely a grant to the children of the user of certain streets for loss of partial use of all streets, in the interests of fast traffic.” More than 90 years later, RPA continues to revisit and expand upon this issue, examining how the added open space provided by car-free streets can deliver New Yorkers of all ages the safety and improved quality of life we deserve.