The “Plaza Movil Street Park” was one of three winners of the Philips Livable Cities Award, a global initiative designed to generate innovative, meaningful and achievable ideas to improve the health and wellbeing of city-dwellers across the world. The creator of the Plaza Movil Street Park received a grant of €25,000 to help translate his concept into reality.

Also worth viewing is the video of one of the five finalists, who brings a plan a little closer to home. The “Design Your Own Park Competition” in Binghamton, NY would turn neglected, urban spaces into parks by having neighborhood residents and groups submit designs in a contest, with the winning vision ultimately created and maintained as a public park.

We’re hoping to harness the collective expertise of our readers to keep up to date on current trends in park road closures.

Is your city considering a road closure in a park, either permanently or for certain days of the week or hours of the day? Let us know by posting a comment below.

Thanks for your input!

Car-free Sunday along Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro

The concept took hold in South America in Bogota, Columbia, with other efforts in Mexico City and along the beaches of Rio de Janeiro taking hold. In Rio, the beachfront recreational space is practically doubled (and so is the amount of users) during the weekly car-free Sundays.

Youth pitching in for Portland's Sunday Parkways in one of the route's park sites.

The idea has also caught on in the U.S. in Chicago, New York City, San Antonio, Baltimore and other places. Portland, Oregon’s Sunday Parkways shuts down eight miles of streets on three summer Sundays in three neighborhoods. The city’s transportation department views Sunday Parkways as ideal for connecting neighborhoods, bringing people together and providing something to do in the city’s many great neighborhood parks. Park and transportation officials have worked together to include parks along the route and program them with different events and attractions.

The event has been a hit. Tallies showed 15,000, 22,000 and 25,000 participants on the streets and in the parks for the three different days, with about 25% being non-bicycle riders — showing that these are not just “bike-people” events.

Meanwhile, cities are also continuing to close roads permanently or on designated days inside city parks. The park roads of Central and Prospect Parks are closed to traffic nearly full time nowadays, but places such as Kansas City are doing it, too. The city’s park department has shut down over two miles of Cliff Drive every weekend from May to September. And the National Park Service closed down the length of road that traverses Fort Dupont Park in the city’s economically depressed southeast. Both of these recent efforts have made the explicit connection in getting residents physically active — but in a fun way instead of preaching the virtues of fitness.

The upcoming 1,000 Cities, 1,000 Lives effort for World Health Day on April 11 is a great opportunity for cities to encourage their residents to get out, have some fun and together engage in some healthy activities — whether it be burning calories or warm conversations with newly-met neighbors and friends. Cities across the globe have signed up for the event. Though it is coming in only two months, there is still time to schedule something. The roads found within parks may be an easier route for those that are interested.

Looking beyond, the WHO event is about more than one day of road closures. It is about encouraging our cities to be healthier places by design. And road closures both in parks and city streets are one way to do this on a regular basis.

The Presidio, San Francisco; Streetsblog.org

Speaking of National Parks in urban areas, there’s some news from the Presidio in San Francisco that the park is experimenting with some road closures. Devising ways of reducing car use and encouraging non-motorized transportation within parks is becoming more popular with concerns about climate change, obesity and mental health and just a general interest from society in living in cities that are not preoccupied with moving automobiles.  As reported by Streetsblog SF:

In an effort to make the Presidio function less like a traffic shortcut and more like a national park, the Presidio Trust is trying out an idea that’s caught on in the dense city that borders it: a trial street closure. From today until October 27, Presidio Boulevard will be closed to private automobiles between West Pacific Avenue and Upper Simonds Loop [map PDF], as the Presidio Trust and the MTA study traffic impacts. Muni and emergency vehicles will still have full access……Traffic on Presidio Boulevard is about 60 percent cut-through, compared to 50 percent in the park as a whole.

This is a problem in many parks: car drivers using the park roads (meant mainly for recreation) as cut through routes for commuting and other non-recreational trips — something that really has “nothing in common with the park proper,” as Frederick L. Olmsted might say.

The evidence from road closures that have occurred shows that little negative impact is seen on traffic (which may be attributed to the sound planning of officials implementing the closures). In San Francisco, a study of closures at Golden Gate Park found little impact on neighboring streets, and even in traffic-clogged New York City, when Central Park’s loop road was totally shut down for Christo’s “Gates” project, the city found there was little impact on overall traffic.

As said, good planning is key. And as with other places, the Presidio is running test closures to allow commuters to adjust and officials to measure impact. Successful road closures are based on sound evidence rather than desire alone to reduce the role of automobiles.

Cliff Drive in Kessler Park, Kansas City (Photo: Flickr, by MoBikeFed)

There’s more evidence that road closures in parks can be a big success in increasing their usership and improving safety and conditions. Case in point: Kansas City is expanding its closure of Cliff Drive in Kessler Park to vehicles on every weekend throughout the year. This follows a pilot program last May through October to provide safe opportunities for pedestrian and bicycle-oriented activities that promote healthy lifestyles. According to the KC Parks and Recreation Dept., reported results from the 2008 pilot include the following:

• Residents reported an increase in visitation to the Northeast by bicyclists
• KCPD reported the number of 2008 calls/incidents specific to Cliff Drive decreased by 74% when compared to 2007
• The Kansas City Museum reported attendance increases (even considering construction at its Corinthian Hall)
• Parks and Recreation Maintenance and Operations staff reported less litter and fewer incidents of dumping and vandalism.

An earlier Center for City Park Excellence report on road closures noted experiences of other city parks closing their roads to cars and opening them to people, and provides some insights into how communities might pursue similar changes. Just how many roads could be closed to cars in city parks is unknown, but it is clear that there are increasingly more being done so successfully.