The last several posts have tracked the primacy of pedestrianism as a lead motivator in reshaping our cities.
We know that attempts at making American cities more walkable are not new.
In 1962, M.R. Wolfe. Professor of Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington, issued an early rallying call in the AIA Journal for the inevitable role of the pedestrian on the shopping street. He argued that increasingly autocentric mall development should not forget the commonality of street culture with forebears of the Western culture overseas, and plainly and with illustrative principles suggested that the pedestrian should not be forgotten.
We provided the backdrop last year in Crosscut and in seattlepi.com.
Now, here is the May 1962 AIA Journal article, seemingly forever timely in this year of sustainable communities:
