Nation's First Ped Mall Turns 50

摘要

Although cities all over the country have experimented with pedestrian malls-a major trend of the 1960s and 1970s-just a few remain today. This year, the oldest such mall in the U.S. is celebrating its 50th anniversary.rnThe Kalamazoo Mall-a four-block stretch of the city's Burdick Street-opened as a pedestrian-only shopping area on August 19, 1959. The scheme was part of a larger plan for downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan, developed by Victor Gruen Associates, although not many other aspects of that plan were implemented, says Steven Deisler, aicp, vice president of downtown planning and development for Downtown Kalamazoo Incorporated, which manages the mall.