Conceptualizing the pedestrian mall in post-war North America and understanding its transatlantic transfer through the work and influence of Victor Gruen

Abstract

ABSTRACTPedestrianization was an established concept among modernist architects and planners long before the first post-war pedestrian malls were built in North American downtowns. Post-war pedestrian-oriented suburban shopping malls, such as Northland near Detroit, MI and Northgate in Seattle, WA, linked retail success to the pedestrian shopping experience. This propelled the existing but then-untested assumption that planning downtowns to mimic suburban shopping centres by pedestrianizing main streets would revitalize downtown retail districts. Despite the modern origins of the pedestrianization concept, the rhetorical cues of post-war architects and planners in North America mask its modern roots and employ nostalgic imagery of pre-industrial European urbanism, implying European origin of the concept. Although imagery of European charm became a means of packaging modernist ideas of pedestrianization, the design proposals rarely referenced or replicated actual European precedents. Furthermore, while much research implies a linear transfer of pedestrianization ideas from Europe to North America, professionals in Europe also looked to North American shopping malls and pedestrian streets for guidance in addressing their own challenges with accommodating automobiles in downtowns.