Design
L.A.'s Citywide Block Party
Sunday's 10-mile street closure in Los Angeles is a sign of progress in a city short on public space
Ten miles of street might not seem like a lot in sprawling, spreading Los Angeles. But temporarily closing those 10 miles to car traffic – a seemingly sacrilegious idea in car-dependent L.A. – is creating a disproportionately large and, frankly, positive impact in the city.
This Sunday, 10 miles of city streets centered around downtown will be closed off to cars and opened up to pedestrians and cyclists for the city’s third CicLAvia event. Based on similar events known as ciclovias that started in Bogota, Colombia in 1974, the temporary street closure is a reclamation of public space that has been embraced by cities all over the world. At the core, it’s a basic idea: prevent cars from using streets, so people can.