COUNTDOWN OF THE TOP 30 PEDESTRIAN ZONES (that I have visited recently). A THREAD 🧵 People standing around in a...Green straight street. peop...clock tower over a town squ...wet pedestrian street at night
#30 KARL JOHANS GATE OSLO. This is a pretty standard central commercial pedestrian zone like you see across Europe. It would be great if this was standard across America too. Car-free street with sign s...Family walking on the street.Cute building.
#29 BARRIO DE SANTA CRUZ SEVILLE. The old Jewish Quarter of Seville, a beautiful maze of alleyways. Street with outdoor diningNarrow alley with hotel signnarrow cobbled street surro...
Looking back at my photos from Santa Cruz makes me wonder if I ranked it too low...but there are some other good ones coming up. Pedestrian square with towe...Square with fountainAlley with bikeSquare full of dining people.
#28 SONNWENDVIERTEL VIENNA. This one gets credit for being completely new. It's one thing to pedestrianize a medieval labyrinth of alleyways but quite another to have the option of adding cars and saying "nah."
At this point, you might note overlap with my thread of Top 20 New Urban Districts. I believe there are only two places on both lists. Not all pedestrian zones are new and—unfortunately—not all new urban districts are pedestrianized.
#27 XIMEN TAIPEI. Ximending Pedestrian Area was the first built in Taipei and is the largest in Taiwan. It is especially lively at night. Rainy square in Taipei. Glo...Damp pedestrian street
In Ximen, there is a new delicacy around every corner. I very happily stood under an umbrella eating a rain-soaked wrap of some sort containing cheese sauce from this giant vat. People preparing food with ...
Asian pedestrian zones are going to be underrepresented in this thread for one primary reason: it's been tough to travel there lately due to covid. Perhaps someone in that part of the world could supplement my thread.
#26 DE WALLEN AMSTERDAM. Known to many as Amsterdam's Red Light District, De Wallen is changing under the leadership of Mayor Femke Halsema, who is seeking to improve working conditions and address human rights abuses. Bollards!Street scene in de Wallenpeople riding bikesmore bollards!
Alrighty. It looks like I'm committed to doing this thread. It might take a few days.
#25 INNERE STADT/STEPHANSPLATZ VIENNA. Another classic European commercial pedestrian zone, growing gradually. escalator opening onto a pe...woman walking with a baby s...new pedestrian plazasame pedestrian plaza from ...
There's a lot to love here. plaza with a cathedral
#24 EINDHOVEN CENTRUM. This place took some time to grow on me. With a few exceptions, the architecture is fairly drab but it's a lively place on a sunny afternoon. ice cream with a two-spired...person riding a bike on brickslots of bike parking
Eindhoven was traditionally one of the more car-focused Dutch cities but it has made great progress recently putting people at the center of urban design. bike parking tube
’s-Hertogenbosch has one of the more human-scale city centers you will find. dinkingbollardold folks with beer
#22 STADSDRIEHOEK ROTTERDAM's pedestrian zone is built on a grand scale. Possibly too grand...but I'll let you be the judge. market hallbroad plazaSuper broad plaza
The centerpiece of Rotterdam's central pedestrian zone is the Markthal, which is incredible.
#21 SEESTADT VIENNA is the other place that appears on both of my recent countdowns. There are a ton of great pedestrian spaces here!
All of those pedestrian spaces make Seestadt an exceptionally safe place for kids to be kids.
Ok, by now you're probably thinking those first ten pedestrian zones are pretty great but...there are 20 more that are even better?
All modes converge on the center of Utrecht but the city carves plenty of pedestrian space. canalside diningnarrow street with people o...a large square full of peop...
Sure sign of a successful pedestrian street: people want to just sit and look at it.
#19 BURGWALLEN NIEUWE ZIJDE AMSTERDAM. While Amsterdam has a number of pedestrian streets and zones, I give extra points for being new. The current redevelopment around Spui sets an excellent example. grassy tramwaypedestrian spacetrees, street, people on bi...
Editorial note: For this list, I'm excluding isolated pedestrian streets, even quite lovely ones like Calle de Asunción. For my purposes, a zone is a network of connected, public, pedestrian streets.
I'm also excluding zones that are only closed to private cars part-time. So, that means super cool places like Hanoi's Old Quarter weren't included. V-Pop band on the streets o...kids in toy carsPeople walking in the stree...
Ok, back to the list and wow...#18 BARRI GÒTIC BARCELONA is a stunner.
Barcelona's Gothic Quarter had a few centuries to prove it could manage without cars and it still has a substantial pedestrian zone today. Small plaza with bikes and ...narrow street with flowers.Plaza Nova
There comes a point where getting in a car and driving around starts to feel like an unnatural way to navigate a city. barri gotic
I'm assembling this thread on the fly—sort of like livetweeting my camera roll—so it might take another day or so. I'm almost halfway there!
#17 PATERSHOL GHENT. Instead of letting cars pass straight through town on their way to someplace else, Ghent said "How about we make cars go around?" The result is a safe and peaceful city center. belgian city on a rainy daypeople riding bikes in the ...person on a bike crossing t...
Learn more about Ghent's traffic circulation plan here. simagazin.com/en/si-urban-en…
This is probably a good moment to note that pedestrian streets can, and very often do, include transit. tram passing two people on ...
#16 GRANDE-ÎLE STRASBOURG. Speaking of which...Strasbourg, France.
Strasbourg's city center is so walkable, outdoor spaces sometimes feel a bit like indoor spaces. person walking past a bollarddining patioscathedral
WE ARE HALFWAY THROUGH.
#15 LES HALLES PARIS. This is another situation where I give extra credit for newness. Paris is on a roll and one part of that is the growing pedestrian area around Les Halles. Pedestrian street under con...
Les Halles is already a lively pedestrian zone and it is set to get better. People walking down the streetmarket stallsguy riding a bike down a na...Newly constructed pedestria...
#14 BINNENSTAD/SINT-MICHIELSPLEIN GHENT. We're going back to Ghent! This is the main pedestrian zone in the city center. big square with a statuebike in the foregroundtram on a pedestrian street
Some parts of Ghent's main pedestrian zone are quite bustling, some peaceful, and some in-between. It is a great mix of public spaces. buses, bikes and pedestrianspeaceful area with treestons of bikes parked with a...
#13 EL CENTRO CARTAGENA. I was on the fence about including Cartagena, Colombia because the closure to cars can be weak at times (wooden barricades), but it is, on balance, a pedestrian-dominated zone. tropical paradisestreet with barricadeguy on a bike with a fruit ...
There are few places more beautiful than Cartagena. church spires and palm treescolorful buildings with bal...
I admit I'm a little mesmerized by this place. traffic control bollardtown squareold building with serrated ...
#11 PUERTA DEL SOL MADRID. Pedestrian street clad in m...
The core of Madrid has a beautiful and growing pedestrian zone. tactical street closureWes Anderson style buildingMarket
Madrid also has the Plaza Mayor, one of the world's great public spaces. square plaza
Alrighty, so those were the bottom 20. Are we ready for the top 10?
I have a bunch of Dutch pedestrian zones on my list but Delft is the one that breaks the top ten.
Scenes from Delft's pedestrian zone. city hall with church towerbike parkinggreen canalbike street
Sadly, it is time to leave Delft and move on to #9. Castle gate
#9 TJUVHOLMEN/AKER BRYGGE OSLO. As I mentioned earlier, I give extra credit for new pedestrian zones and this one is fresh as morning dew. people walking past food tr...
New pedestrian zones like this one in Oslo demonstrate that any city—of any vintage—can do it. new buildings and bridgesteps down to waterbridge crossing to a museumhousing along the water wit...
Oslo shows that you can remove a highway along the waterfront and replace it with a lively pedestrian zone. Waterfront promenade
#8 EL BORN BARCELONA. I know there are one or two policymakers reading this thread and I want you to know that lively, healthy, prosperous, equitable cities are a product of leadership, not luck. Google street view of el bo...same view, photographed by ...
Located adjacent to Barri Gòtic, Barcelona's El Born neighborhood is a lush network of pedestrian streets and squares. square with dogbuilding on a pedestrian st...bikes piled uppedestrian streets with pal...
El Born is very old but there is a sense that it is in the process of being remade. bollards and bikespeople walking on a pedestr...people dining under umbrellas
#7 MEIR/OLD TOWN ANTWERP. pedestrian street simply pa...
Antwerp's sprawling pedestrian zone cuts straight through the center of town. street with bollards and ex...small squarecommercial pedestrian street
Like any good pedestrian zone, Antwerp's has bustling squares and quiet nooks. courtyard diningsquare full of peoplemore people in the square.
#6 STRØGET COPENHAGEN. damp square full of people
Copenhagen's Strøget is the O.G. pedestrian zone, the one that inspired all of the others. I had an early iPhone and an underdeveloped sense of composition when I took this trip so the photography isn't quite as inspiring. Strøget with a parked bikeempty tablespedestrian street with a bu...wide empty plaza
It was a thrill for me to meet Jan Gehl—the urban planner most associated with Strøget—last year. He was game for a #shoepic. my blue sneaker and Jan's b...
Seville's main pedestrian zone has a distinctive golden glow. walking a bike down the streetcrowds strolling
I like how the light changes throughout the day. ImageImageImage
I don't think there is anything unique about Seville but the people of that city decided (fairly recently) that they wanted fewer cars and now they are reaping the benefits. people dining at a cafepedestrian street with towe...pedestrian street with pers...
I feel like I would spend more time outside if the city didn't jam every possible space with cars. cool building and a palm tr...people walking past freshly...
Bratislava has one of Europe's largest pedestrian zones. kids parading down the streetpeople eating along a pedes...umbrella street
I suppose this is where you start to wonder why your city doesn't have a pedestrian zone, huh? woman pushing strollerrow of restaurantsmain square
I heard Bratislava was known for its cakes so I tried one and it was delicious. cake with teatree lined streetbollards protecting pedestr...woman looking at food at a ...
Ok, the top three are coming up! I just need to get some sleep.
Regrettably, I am only allowed to share four photos of Zagreb's pedestrian zone at a time. Sunny pedestrian streetbike going byriding a bike in the sungirl standing on top of her...
Narrow street filled with terraced seating. view down the streetside viewview from a terrace
There's a lot to love about Zagreb. colorful pedestrian streetparty spot with cathedral viewLower Town
Zagreb's pedestrian zone is great already but it's getting even bigger.
Not even steep hills can stop Zagreb's pedestrian zone. It keeps going in this network of caves.
Regular followers of this account will be familiar with the rapid transformation happening in the center of Brussels.
Brussels is a great example for American cities because it's a place with highrise buildings and car-choked arterials that decided they could do better.
What Brussels is doing is what every city needs to do.
#1 PREŠEREN SQUARE/CENTER DISTRICT LJUBLJANA.
Putting Ljubljana at number one was a no-brainer for me. It's the best-executed pedestrian zone I've seen. ImageImageImage

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