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Full-Text Articles in Architecture

Civil Liberties And The Regulation Of Public Space: The Case Of Sidewalks In Las Vegas, Evelyn Blumenburg, Renia Ehrenfeucht Dec 2007

Civil Liberties And The Regulation Of Public Space: The Case Of Sidewalks In Las Vegas, Evelyn Blumenburg, Renia Ehrenfeucht

Renia Ehrenfeucht

Conflicts over the nature of and rights associated with public space have a long history and have prompted numerous regulatory responses. Perhaps nowhere in the USA has the regulation of public space been as far-reaching as in Las Vegas, Nevada, where the financial stakes associated with sidewalks are enormous. This study examines how local officials mediate among varied and competing uses of the sidewalk. In defining the function of the sidewalks narrowly, and passively deferring questions of civil liberties, local officials have effectively controlled almost all aspects of public behavior. In recent years, cities have invested in major commercial revitalization …


Pedestrian Safety Is Not A Tort, Michael E. Lewyn Dec 2007

Pedestrian Safety Is Not A Tort, Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

In recent decades, American state and local highway officials have built wide streets and roads designed primarily to accommodate high-speed automobile traffic. However, such high-speed streets are more dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists than streets with slower traffic, and thus fail to adequately accommodate nondrivers. Government officials design streets for high-speed traffic partially because of their fear of tort liability. An influential street engineering manual, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ “Green Book”, has generally favored the construction of such high-speed streets, and transportation planners fear that if they fail to follow the Green Book’s recommendations, they …