The pedestrian zone

What it is

The Lijnbaan opened in Rotterdam in 1953 as a purpose-built shopping precinct of low retail blocks lining wide paved streets from which cars were excluded, part of the reconstruction after the city centre was destroyed by bombing in 1940. Designed by Van den Broek and Bakema, it gave priority to people on foot and was one of the first deliberately car-free shopping streets in Europe. Servicing was handled from the rear so the public street could be wholly pedestrian.

Why it matters

It demonstrated that excluding cars could make a commercial street more attractive, not less, reclaiming the street as social and public space. The pedestrian zone spread rapidly through European city centres and is now standard urban practice.

Plans it shaped

• Rotterdam Basisplan (1946)
• Cumbernauld New Town (1955)
• La Défense masterplans (1960s–)
• San Francisco Transit-First & Better Market Street (1973/2012)
• Groningen Traffic Circulation Plan (1977)
• Freiburg Vauban (1993–)
• Thimphu Structure Plan (2002)
• Utrecht Station Area Masterplan (CU2030) (2006–)
• Florence Tramway & PGTU (2006–)
• Montreal Quartier des Spectacles Plan (2007–)
• Rio de Janeiro Porto Maravilha (2009–)
• Nuremberg Südöstliche Altstadt Plan (2010s)