Public Space is Public Space: We Decide What Happens There

Park(ing) Day, Knoxville, October 2024
Park(ing) Day, Knoxville, October 2024

It’s easy to think of public spaces as immutable; set in their current uses forever. It simply isn’t so. Market Square is pedestrian space, right? But it used to serve automobile and wagon traffic around the perimeter of a Market House. Parking lots and parking garages are for cars, right? But they used to hold buildings where people lived and worked. Streets are for cars and cars only, but they are also for cyclists, pedestrians have to cross them, and now scooters, well, scoot them. But are roads basically unchangeable?

No.

As an example, take 5th Avenue in NYC. Please. The crowds have made it so difficult to walk the sidewalks that most locals (and repeat tourists) avoid the stretch between roughly 42nd Street and 60th Street (Bryant Park to Central Park). But sidewalks are sidewalks and streets are streets, right? Not so fast.

Park(ing) Day, Knoxville, October 2024
Park(ing) Day, Knoxville, October 2024
Park(ing) Day, Knoxville, October 2024

A newly announced plan a few weeks ago would completely alter the thoroughfare, attempting to transform it into more of a boulevard. From the article:

More than 5,400 pedestrians an hour, on average, descend on a given block of Fifth Avenue along this Midtown stretch during the evening rush hour — far more than motorists and bus riders — but they have to squeeze into a disproportionately small share of the street space, said Ya-Ting Liu, the city’s chief public realm officer.

Fifth Avenue is 100 feet across, with sidewalks on both sides that take up a total of 46 feet, while the traffic lanes take up 54 feet. Under the new plan, the sidewalks would be expanded to cover a total of 67 feet and the traffic lanes reduced to 33 feet.

Park(ing) Day, Knoxville, October 2024
Park(ing) Day, Knoxville, October 2024
Park(ing) Day, Knoxville, October 2024

So, why would they make a crowded street into fewer lanes and cede turf to pedestrians? Maybe it’s because the planners hate cars? No. They like money. That stretch contains some of the ritziest stores in the city and revenue began to fall before the pandemic as locals stopped coming there. Pedestrians spend money. Cars? Not so much. One might also hope building a better quality of life is also a goal and, to that end, they are planting 200 trees along the stretch.

Park(ing) Day, Knoxville, October 2024
Park(ing) Day, Knoxville, October 2024
Park(ing) Day, Knoxville, October 2024

All of that to say, whether we are talking about local atrocities like Henley Street, Summit Hill, Neyland Drive, James White Parkway — or an internationally known roadway like 5th Avenue, the distance between public buildings is public domain. We get to decide what best serves the public good. We get to generation-by-generation decide if the right balance has been struck between all the functions that space must serve, from deliveries and garbage pick-up to bikes, cars, pedestrians, and public transportation. Ideas and values change with new technology and new understanding. It will always remain a legitimate subject for debate.

Which brings us to Park(ing) Day, which was held recently on Union Avenue and a bit of Market. It’s roughly the footprint of the Farmers’ Market and the recently announced weekend road closures adjacent to Market Square. The point wasn’t advocating for the closure of those streets, though don’t we love it when the Market is there on the weekend?

Park(ing) Day, Knoxville, October 2024
Park(ing) Day, Knoxville, October 2024
Park(ing) Day, Knoxville, October 2024

The point, rather, is to consider public space, streets, parking places particularly, and to underscore the decision we’ve made to dedicate that space to that purpose. Is there too much or too little space for pedestrians? For cars? For public transportation? We get to decide.

As the photos here show, the space devoted to each parking space is significant. A typical parallel parking space in the U.S. commands about 200 square feet (197.8 specifically). The typical tiny home sold in the U.S. averages 225 square feet. Obviously, all the fun designs pictured here simply give a picture of how much space we devote to cars and how that might otherwise be used.

Park(ing) Day, Knoxville, October 2024

It’s a legitimate question to pose: Are we good with our current mix of space dedicated to cars and to pedestrians? Are the streets in our downtown designed to efficiently bring people to downtown (where they park and become pedestrians) and return them home or are our streets designed to whisk cars through as quickly as possible? And which best serves US.

Because we own all public space. It is there for the public benefit and good. We get to talk about it and ultimately decide for ourselves.

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