People lunching on a rooftop leave their meal to watch the activity below; tourists on the street hold up phones to film the action. Yet another couple celebrates marriage in San Miguel de Allende’s centro, parading through the cobblestone streets replete with a mariachi band, a swarm of cheering people, and towering mojigangas serving as an effigies of the bride and groom. It’s a memorable, happy occasion that never fails to elevate the mood on the street.
Weddings in SMA’s centro have spiked in popularity in recent years as has the general popularity of the area; there’s always something exciting happening in the centro, something interesting to draw a crowd. And do you know what I attribute it to? Slick tourism campaigns? Stylish bars, restaurants, and shopping, maybe? Or the town’s UNESCO designation? While those have all boosted SMA’s profile in recent years, I credit this rise in the town’s popularity to the removal of cars from the centro. While I don’t know the exact year of the change (I’ll have to find this out!), I’m guessing it took place in 2013 or later.
This morning as I ran errands in the centro, I made sure to plan my trip so I’d maximize my routes through car-free streets. On my walk, I enjoyed watching people set up a new photo installation, vendors selling handcrafted dolls and baskets, and young students with easels, painting the pink parroquia. All of this activity took place on the streets, the streets where just years ago cars ruled and forced these same people onto the narrow, crowded sidewalks, choking on fumes and barely able to enjoy the beauty of this colonial gem.
If this is what a handful of streets look like without cars, imagine how much more vibrant our communities would be with even more people-oriented places.
By taking the streets from the people, what exactly are we missing out on? A lot, more than we’ll ever know. As transportation planner Norman Garrick recently told CityLab, “what we have lost is not worth the sacrifice” and I couldn’t agree more.
The time has come to take our streets back and fill them again with life.