Streets Without Cars: The Urban Experiment of State Street

Overview

From the 1950s through the 1970s, over 200 pedestrian malls were constructed across the nation, yet very few of these original spaces remain. As one of the most successful pedestrian malls in the nation, State Street of Madison, Wisconsin, is a thriving, provocative, and exciting urban space. On this corridor connecting the capitol of Wisconsin with the flagship university of the state, live the homeless, the enfranchised, and a cornucopia of characters that collectively make this eight block strip--according to urban planner Ignacio Bunster--"without equal in the country." David Rusk, author of Cities Without Suburbs, calls State Street "a very rare bird," while David Brooks, author of Bobos in Paradise, describes it as the public venue "where people want to go out and be seen, where people want to walk in the evening, where they can get their coffee or ice cream and sit out at an outdoor cafe."