In only a hundred years the method by which the average person travels has significantly changed. Similarly, the accessibility and convenience one may enjoy because of the developing technology in urban travel has increased greatly. In the past decade, the physical and technological development of the world has amplified the need for a more sufficient and efficient medium of transportation. The ease by which one may travel with a car indeed has improved the standard of living and means to travel, but also has generated negative consequences that has led to the demise of few modern cities.
This decline is not directly linked to automobile transportation in the same way pollution is said to harm the atmosphere. Instead this downfall deals more closely with the social degeneration of cities. The haven for this decline exists not on the streets where cars travel but on sidewalks, where in the Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs asserts that these sidewalks “the main public places of a city, are its most vital organs” (29). Certain elements define the importance of sidewalks in cities. The first and most practical use discussed is the element of safety that a sidewalk provides. Sidewalks are “active participants in the drama of civilization versus barbarism in cities” (30). Jacobs discusses three qualities of a street that make safety a reality. The greater volume of traffic on a street is proportional to the amount of crime. To bring this to life, one should think of walking around a city at noon compared to three in the morning. The obvious difference is the amount of people on the street at these times. Jacobs says, “There must be eyes upon the street, eyes belonging to those we might call the natural proprietors of the street” (35) who can look after the activities that occur. At three in the morning, walking alone on the street is perceived to be dangerous because there is no one out. Because of modern transportation and the growth of automobile usage, walking on the street, during the day or evening is less attractive because of safety concerns. One might wonder how to increase the general feeling of safety on the sidewalks. Simply stated, the more people that use the sidewalk the safer it becomes.
Determining that greater usage on sidewalks is necessary for safety, more sidewalk usage also improves the social aspect of peoples’ lives. Contact with others is enjoyable. No one can deny that they enjoy social interactions, as humans are inherently social beings. A sidewalk is a place where human interactions occur, where people can slow down and talk to their neighbors and get to know who makes up their cities. In a car, one breezes by the social aspect of transportation and lives in a solitary world where only they exist. There exists an interesting relationship between safety and contact on sidewalks. In order for a sentiment of safety to exist “an almost unconscious assumption of general street support exists….a short word for this assumption of support: trust” (36). This trust developed over time, stems from street, moreover sidewalk contact that can profoundly link a society. In short, sidewalks provide safety and social contact in a city that improve the transportation experience along with society as a whole.
