Bogota Ciclovia February 2007, photos from cicloviasrecreativas.org
Can you picture what it would be like if, for a few hours one day a week, Houston opened a stretch of city streets to pedestrians, bikers, joggers, and skaters and 15 percent of the city’s population, or more than 300,000 people, showed up to enjoy the streets free of cars? That is what happens every Sunday and holiday when Bogotá, Columbia holds its “Ciclovias.”
Ciclovias, which translates to English as “bike paths,” are “city streets that have been freed from motorized traffic to allow, during a few hours a day, usually on Sundays and holidays, the free and safe circulation of thousands of people on bicycle, skate, or foot.” Ciclovias began in Bogotá in 1974. They started small, with only about 8 miles of streets closed, but over time it has proven so popular that now more than 70 miles of Bogota’s city streets are closed to motorized traffic from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. each Sunday and holiday and as many as 2 million people, 15 percent of the city’s population, participate in each Ciclovia.
Although it is now the largest in the world, Bogota’s Ciclovia was not the first “Open Streets” initiative. In 1965, Seattle began to hold “Seattle Bicycle Sundays” closing to cars a three-mile stretch of streets connecting several parks. But, undoubtedly, it has been the tremendous success of Bogota’s Ciclovias that has spawned a worldwide Open Streets movement. In the United States alone, over 70 communities have held Open Streets days. In Texas, Austin, Brownsville, El Paso, Fort Worth, and San Antonio all have held Open Streets. In fact, San Antonio held their latest “Siclovia” (its version of Ciclovia) on September 29.
I am a recent transplant to Houston from the San Francisco Bay area where I attended Open Streets events in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland. At the time, I was not aware of Bogota’s Ciclovias or the Open Streets movement. I assumed that Open Streets were a “left coast” phenomenon. So, I was excited when I arrived in Houston and heard about the “May 1000 Night Walks Bloom” petition calling on the city to “open up a Houston street to pedestrians once a week,” which was inspired by a post on OffCite.org and adapted into a petition by the blog’s editor, Raj Mankad. Though Houston may not have a 70-mile network of open streets every Sunday anytime soon, we can start small like our Texas neighbors.
After signing the petition and talking with Raj, I began to ask how Open Streets might work in Houston. I found the Open Streets Project of the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Biking & Walking, which collects data from around the world and assists communities that want to implement new initiatives. I ordered and read the 170+ page The Open Streets Guide and other online articles published by the Alliance. In August, I traveled to Minneapolis to attend the Alliance’s first Open Streets conference held over three days and culminating in participation in Minneapolis’ Open Streets. Another excellent resource is cicloviasrecreativas.org.
All of this has given me a better understanding and greater appreciation of the important health, economic, environmental, and social benefits that Open Streets initiatives can provide to a community and how they mesh with other urban planning and development initiatives. Below, I briefly discuss these benefits, borrowing heavily from materials developed by the Alliance.
Open Streets Encourage Physical Activity and Healthier Lifestyles.
Ciclovias or Open Streets are different from block parties or street fairs in that their underlying purposes are to open the streets to encourage people to engage in physical activity and consider alternative forms of transportation. Unlike closing city streets for a marathon or bike race, Open Streets do not necessarily target only people who already are physically active, but instead they open the streets to anyone – including, and perhaps especially, people who currently are inactive – to come out, move, and enjoy the streets free from motorized traffic. In this way, Open Streets can encourage people to become more physically active and adopt healthier lifestyles. When people participate in Open Streets and realize they can walk or bike to the store, library or some other destination in their neighborhood, they may choose to do so the next time rather than getting in their cars to drive to it. Most Open Streets also include supporting activities, such as yoga, zumba, dance lessons and other physical activities (think curbside basketball, rock climbing walls, street hopscotch), along the route. The activities are free of charge and encourage people to try something they may never have done before or have not done in a long time.
Other supporting activities along Open Streets routes can include free health screening services that are particularly important for people from underserved communities.
Open Streets Can Promote Local Economic Development.
Open Streets typically are located in a city’s downtown area or other neighborhoods with retail establishments along the route. Opening those streets to hundreds or thousands of people can have a tremendous positive economic impact on those businesses. The participants at the recent Open Streets conference heard from the owner of a coffee house located along the route of one of Minneapolis’ Open Streets who reported that his sales and profits doubled on the day of Open Streets. Even businesses that might not benefit directly from Open Streets can benefit indirectly. For example, the manager of a gas station located along the route of one of Minneapolis’ Open Streets enthusiastically supports them because they provide an opportunity for people to see him and his business from a different perspective than they do when they drive in to quickly fill up their gas tanks. Vacant lots along the Open Streets route can be converted into temporary retail centers with pop up vendors, farmers’ markets, and food trucks providing economic opportunities for these businesses.
Open Streets also contribute to direct health care costs savings. A first of its kind study published in the February 2012 Journal of Urban Health analyzed the average economic costs and benefits associated with Ciclovias/Open Streets in four cities and found that “from a public health perspective each of the four initiatives is cost beneficial, especially when compared to other physical activity programs” such as private gym memberships.
Open Streets are Good for the Environment.
Open Streets are consistent with and promote environmental protection initiatives. They encourage people to consider alternative methods of transportation and demonstrate to city planners the public’s desire to make these alternatives more accessible. The popularity of bike share rental stations that are popping up in many cities around the country---including Houston’s B-Cycle program---demonstrates that people will take advantage of alternatives to driving if the opportunities are provided to them. Open Streets are another opportunity to help reduce reliance on automobiles.
Open Streets Promotes Community Building.
Open Streets “generate recreational spaces where physical, cultural and educational activities are developed to promote community building and foment healthy lifestyles, while enabling the recuperation of public spaces at the human scale.” Open Streets provide an opportunity for people to socialize and interact with friends, families, neighbors, and others to enjoy their city streets from competition with vehicular traffic. Open Streets can bring together people of all backgrounds, even for just a day. Open Streets meet the growing desire of people to live in walkable communities. Rice University sociologist Stephen Klineberg recently reported in the Fall 2012 Cite, as of 2012, a majority (52 percent) of Harris County residents would opt for a home "within walking distance of shops and workplaces". This is consistent with other national studies that show, for example, that 64 percent of Millennials are now choosing where they want to live before finding a job, and 77 percent of them plan to live in urban areas and “more than a million baby boomers moved to within 5 miles of the downtown of the 50 largest [U.S.] cities between 2000 and 2010, while the same number of baby boomers moved away from neighborhoods located 40 to 80 miles outside those cities’ downtown areas.”
Open Streets initiatives are typically developed by a combination of governmental, civic, and advocacy stakeholders, and thus, encourage collaboration and communication between cities and their constituencies.
Open Streets are Compatible with Other Progressive Urban Planning Initiatives.
Open Streets are consistent with the “complete streets” movement that seeks to have communities implement policies that “direct their transportation planners and engineers to routinely design and operate the entire right of way to enable safe access for all users, regardless of age, ability, or mode of transportation.”
Open Streets also are consistent with the work of the worldwide Build a Better Block Project, which is a component of the “complete streets” movement. Build a Better Block Projects convert streets with vacant lots and few amenities for people who live within walking distances into temporary walkable, bikeable neighborhoods to demonstrate to the public, business community and city planners how the areas can be revived and improved. In many instates these “pop-up” improvements become permanent. Houston held its first Better Block Project on a stretch along Washington Avenue on May 12, 2012 after the Art Car Parade.
Conclusion
The Open Streets movement in the U.S. has grown exponentially in the past decade as more and more communities realize the many benefits of Open Streets and public demand for them increases. From 1965, when Seattle began holding its “Seattle Bicycle Sundays,” until 2005, there were only 11 communities in North America that held Open Streets. Since 2005, more than 60 additional communities in North America have implemented Open Streets initiatives. In the U.S., Open Streets are held in cities as large as New York City (population 8,000,000 +) and as small as Cornwall, New York (population approximately 12,000). More than 1,000 people signed the “May 1000 Night Walks Bloom” petition. The Houston Chronicle’s editorial board has endorsed it. At the time the petition was circulating, Laura Spanjian, Director of the Office of Sustainability for the City of Houston, and Carra Moroni, Senior Health Planner at the Health Department, already had begun discussions of Open Streets for Houston. The petition has lent new energy to those efforts. Many of the most successful Open Streets initiatives in the country involved public officials, community groups, and individuals partnering. I cannot wait to participate in my first Open Streets in Houston. You can like this Facebook page if you are interested in staying involved and up-to-date on this effort.
