Originally Posted by
cooker
I did a post a few years ago about how we were supposed to get pedal rickshaws for some Green dignitaries to ride in, in a parade, where others guests would be riding in cars, and the supplier ended up giving us foot-drawn rickshaws, so the upshot was that the whole thing looking weirdly colonial.
Oh, there are the horse drawn buggies and carriages too.
That is, if someone bothers to clean up after them.
Anyway, the closed streets are an interesting phenomenon. We had a downtown mall here in Eugene a few years ago and they re-opened the streets because the vendors liked car traffic. But, many of the big stores (Tiffanys, Sears, the movie theater, etc) all closed anyway.
I don't think the problem was closing the streets, but rather a migration of the big stores out of the center of town, and changes in clientele.
Other cities seem to have vibrant pedestrian malls, especially places with small shops, food places, and a mix of residential and business districts.