The pedestrian revolution;: Streets without cars

by Simon Breines

151 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fiery and fun read from 1974 on the evils of cars and the importance of cycling and walking in an urban environment. This book was simultaneously amusing and depressing to read because, although it was written nearly fifty years ago, it reads like something you’d find on NUMTOTs or Not Just Bikes today. These authors would fit right in in the urbanist corners of the internet. It’s sad how much progress we have failed to make since this book was published.

This book isn’t the most detailed analysis of all the problems with cars but it does a lovely job giving a high-level overview of what a city (or a suburb!) without cars could actually look like. This book sketched the foundation of today’s bike shares and Lime scooters decades before they came to be. A fun book ahead of its time.

The Pedestrian Revolution is worth a read as an artifact of the ongoing anti-car crusade—and as a spicy call to action for everyone who loves public spaces to do better. The Pedestrian Bill of Rights at the end is straight fire. Plus this book has some very cute illustrations.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this while doing research, such a fast read I had to add it here. Amusing little book of an architects dream of a pedestrian world in the 70s. Saying exactly the same things I am reading now in school and what we are still trying to build. All the hallmark positives of ped streets and negatives of the automobile are known and mentioned, now we just have 30 more years of research and proof. What a shame he didn't make more progress in stopping the automobile back then so we'd have less to clean up now.