I think it's telling how much of a failure the idea of pedestrian malls were, when you notice that there are no people to be seen in any of the pictures of the mall.
Anyway, pedestrian malls can be very successful. There are plenty of successful ped malls around the country. The ones that fail are the ones like Washington Square, i.e. set up along an office corridor.
Here are some successful ped malls:
Nicollet Mall - Minneapolis
State Street - Madison
3rd Street Promenade - Santa Monica
16th Street Mall - Denver
ect...
In fact, I think that if the ped mall would have been developed along the actual retail part of Washington Square (i.e. south Washington Square) this would be a very different story.
Comments
Anyway, pedestrian malls can be very successful. There are plenty of successful ped malls around the country. The ones that fail are the ones like Washington Square, i.e. set up along an office corridor.
Here are some successful ped malls:
Nicollet Mall - Minneapolis
State Street - Madison
3rd Street Promenade - Santa Monica
16th Street Mall - Denver
ect...
In fact, I think that if the ped mall would have been developed along the actual retail part of Washington Square (i.e. south Washington Square) this would be a very different story.