Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade: the failure and resurgence of a downtown pedestrian mall

This article provides an overview of planning policy, practice, and theory related to downtown pedestrian malls in the US from the 1960s to present day taking into account social, economic, and design issues. It attempts to explain why most pedestrian malls failed and to recount the history of Santa Monica's downtown pedestrian mall. The story of this pedestrian mall is particularly interesting because the original mall, built in the 1960s, was a complete failure. Subsequently, the mall was entirely redeveloped in the 1980s and became a nationally recognized success. As interest in planning downtown pedestrian areas and alternative transportation modes has recently revived in the US, an explanation of the forces behind this turnaround is particularly illuminating.