Yadda yadda, enough already about Times Square without people – now a German company is envisaging it without… traffic!
What seems like an impossibility became a challenge to 3deluxe, who are behind the proposed reinvention of the Crossroads of the World – and who created a case study to show how to banish cars from the city and use the space.
Dieter Brell of 3deluxe told Treehugger: “Covid is speeding up change in the cities. Since it has become obvious that motor vehicles are set to gradually disappear from the cityscape, it is now time to give some thought to how road spaces might be redesigned in the future.”
The 3deluxe plan includes ” dynamic thoroughfares” allocated to bikes, scooters, skaters, inline skaters, walkers, runners and public e-transportation, combined with “seating areas, spaces to work out or relax, play areas, water features, urban gardening, green zones, pop-up stages for cultural events, beer gardens, pop-up stores, charging stations for e-mobility, etc.”
“This vision is not entirely convincing,” said Treehugger editor Lloyd Alter. “Anyone who has ever cycled or walked through Times Square would see endless conflicts and collisions here with walkers in the bike lanes and we won’t even start with the scooters.”
Sounds like something of a melee in an area of New York that, in normal times, is thronged with tourists. What do you think?
