http://www.streetfilms.org/the-rise-of-open-streets/
By Clarence Eckerson, Jr., January 7, 2014
For a video:
http://www.amara.org/en/videos/3IfHhCup4tfP/info/the-rise-of-open-streets/
Streetfilms has been documenting the open streets movement for over seven years, beginning with our landmark film in 2007 on Bogota's Ciclovia, currently the most viewed Streetfilm of all time.
The next year, Mike Lydon of The Street Plans Collaborative decided to get an open streets event going in Miami, which led to his research for The Open Streets Project, a joint project with the Alliance for Biking & Walking.
Miami wasn't alone. In 2008, there were new open streets events in more than a dozen cities, including San Francisco, Portland and New York. All told, open streets events have increased tenfold since 2006.
"The Rise of Open Streets" examines the open streets movement from
myriad perspectives -- how it began, how events are run, how they shape
people's perceptions of their streets, and how creating car-free space,
even temporarily, benefits people's lives. And it looks not only at big
cities like Los Angeles, but smaller ones like Fargo, Berkeley, and
Lexington.
We've interviewed some of the most important people in the movement,
including former NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and former
Chicago DOT Commissioner Gabe Klein, as well as former Bogota Parks
Commissioner Gil Penalosa and Enrique Jacoby, from the Pan American
Health Organization.
We were proud to partner with The Street Plans Collaborative and the Alliance for Biking & Walking
to produce this film, which we hope will encourage even more open
streets events throughout the world. Funding for "The Rise of Open
Streets" was graciously provided by the Fund for the Environment & Urban Life.