We're accustomed to thinking of streets as discrete entities in the USA, each with a name etc, but all space between properties = street
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Make no mistake, I don't think I would have thought about them this way without spending some time in Japan and looking at other trad cities
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Streets are for self-directed travel, where there is no distinction between "driver" and "passenger" (so: walking, biking, driving alone)
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Compare with a decent railway with faregates: it's transportation from one enclosure to another; ideally the entire track is enclosed...
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...in the sense that it excludes trespassers (people walking on tracks as well as unauthorized/unscheduled private "trains")
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The commons/streets, by contrast, are open to everyone; a street is "owned" by whoever is occupying it at any given point in time
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With the exception of limited-access highways (which are more like structures than spaces), any street is open to any mode...
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...but the sort of mode which predominates on the street--which most consistently and thoroughly occupies it--will call the shots
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Narrow streets are inherently more democratic because they are much more easily occupied by people on foot, without vehicles
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Napoleon III knew this perfectly well when he hired Haussmann, and that was well before the car came along
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This rambling train of thought makes me look at Japanese street festivals in an entirely new light: as a sort of local-rule guarantee
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Everyone shows up, occupies the local commons, celebrates a bit, and if that celebration gets in the way of non-local traffic, too bad!
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It's a way of reaffirming who and what the commons is for, year after year
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