Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in a city planning class.

旁白：听一段城市规划的演讲。

Female Professor: In the last fifty years or so, many American cities have had difficulty in maintaining a successful retail environment.

教授：在过去的50年左右的时间，美国许多城市都在维护一个成功的零售环境上有困难。

Business owners in the city centers or, uh, the downtown areas have experienced some financial losses because of a steady movement of people out of the cities and into the suburbs.

企业主在城市中心或繁华地区都遭受过一些经济损失，因为人们走出城市，向郊外平稳移动。

In general, downtown areas just don't have that many residential areas, uh, not that many people live there.

一般来说，市中心区，没有很多住宅区，没有那么多的人生活在那里。

So, what if city planners decided to do about it?

那么，城市规划者决定做什么呢？

Well, one way they've come up with some ways to attract more people to shop downtown was by creating pedestrian malls.

我们想出吸引更多的人的一个方法就是，通过创造步行商业街来形成市区购物。

Now what is a pedestrian mall?

那么，什么是步行街？

It's a pretty simple concept really.

这真的是一个非常简单的概念。

It's essentially, um, an outdoor shopping area, designed just for people on foot, and, uh, well, unlike many other shopping malls that are built on the suburbs nowadays, these pedestrian malls are typically located in the downtown area of the city.

它本质上是一个户外购物区，只为人们步行设计的，不像当今建在郊区的许多其他商场，这些徒步购物区通常位于市中心。

And…you know there are features like wide sidewalks, comfortable outdoor seating and, uh, maybe even fountains and, you know, art.

而……哦……那里有很多特点，如：白色的人行道，舒适的户外座位，甚至喷泉，以及……你知道，艺术。

Uh, there are variations on this model, of course.

当然这种模式会有差异。

But the common denominator is always the idea of creating a shopping space that would get people to shop in the city without needing their cars.

但共同点永远是创造一个购物空间，让人们在城市里购物不需要他们的车。

So I'm sure you can see how having an area that's off limits to automobile traffic would be ideal for a heavily populated city, where, well, the streets would otherwise be bustling with noisy unpleasant traffic congestion.

所以，我相信你可以看到有一个区域是禁地，禁止汽车通行，对于一个人口稠密的城市是理想，否则街道会充满嘈杂的，不愉快的交通拥堵。

Now, the concept, which originated in Europe, was adopted by American city planners in the late 1950s.

现在，起源于欧洲的这个概念，在20世纪50年代后期被美国城市规划师采纳。

And since then, a number of United States cities have created pedestrian malls and many of them have been highly successful.

从那时起，一批美国城市创建了步行商业街，其中许多人已经非常成功。

So, what have city planners learned about making these malls succeed?

那么，城市规划者学到了使这些购物中心成功的什么内容？

Well, there are two critical factors to consider when creating a pedestrian mall: location and design, both of which are equally important.

嗯，当创造一个步行街时要考虑的两个关键因：位置和设计，这两者都是同样重要的。

Now let's start with the location.

现在，让我们从位置开始讨论。

In choosing a specific location for a pedestrian mall, there are, in fact, two considerations: proximity to potential customers (um, that's what we would call customer base) and accessibility to public transportation, which we'll get to it in just moment.

在为一个步行街选择一个特定的位置时，其实有两方面的考虑：接近潜在客户（嗯……这就是我们所说的客户群）和无障碍公共交通，我们很快就会说到这一块。

Now, for a customer base, uh, the most obvious example would be a large office building, since the employees could theoretically go shopping after work or during their lunch hour, right?

现在，针对客户基础，最明显的例子是一个大的办公楼，因为下班后或在他们的午餐时间，员工在理论上可以去逛街，对吗？

Uh, another really good example is a convention center, which typically has a hotel and large meeting spaces to draw visitors to the city for major business conferences and events.

另外一个非常好的例子是会议中心，它通常拥有酒店和大型会议场所，以吸引游客到城市去举办重要的商务会议和活动。

Um, but ideally, the pedestrian mall would be used by local residents, not just people work in the city or visiting the area, so that's where access to public transportation comes in.

但是，理想情况下，步行街将被当地居民使用，而不仅仅是在城市工作的人或访问该地区的人，所以，这就是使用公共交通便捷性起作用的地方。

Either the designers plan to locate the mall near a central transportation hub, like a bus terminal or a major train or subway station, or they work with city officials to create sufficient parking areas not too far from the mall,

要么……嗯……要么设计师将商城规划到中央交通枢纽附近，比如一个巴士总站，一个主要的火车或地铁站，要么他们与市政府官员共同努力，在离商场不太远的地方创造足够的停车区，

which make sense because if people can't drive into the mall area, well, then they need to have easy access to it.

这是有道理的，因为如果人们不能开车进入商场区域，那么他们就需要很简单的通道。

OK, so that's location.

OK，所以这是位置。

But what about design?

但……设计又如何？

Well, design doesn't necessarily include things like sculptures or decorative walkways or even eye-catching window displays, you know, art, although I'd be the first to admit those things are aesthetically appealing.

好吧，设计不一定包括像雕塑或装饰的人行道或……甚至抢眼的橱窗展示，你知道的，艺术，虽然我会是第一个承认这些东西是美观的。

However, visually pleasing sights, well, they are not a part of the pedestrian mall design that matter the most.

然而，在视觉上令人愉快的景象，他们不是步行街的设计的一部分。

The key consideration is a compact and convenient layout, um, one which allows pedestrians to walk from one end of the mall to the other in just a few minutes, so they can get to the major stores, restaurants and other central places without having to take more than one or two turns.

要重点考虑的是一个小巧方便的布局，一个允许行人在短短几分钟内，从商场的一边到达另一边的布局，这样他们就可以到达各大商店，饭店以及其他中心地带，而不需要转超过1到2个弯。

Now this takes careful and creative planning.

这需要细心和创意策划。

But, now, what if one ingredient to this planning recipe is missing?

但现在，如果这一规划的其中一个要素缺失了会怎么样？

There could quite possibly be long-lasting effects.

可能会有长期持续的影响。

And, uh, I think a good example is the pedestrian mall in Louisville, Kentucky, for instance.

我觉得一个很好的例子是肯塔基州路易斯维尔步行街。

Now when the Louisville mall was built, it had lots of visual appeal.

当路易斯维尔商场建造时，哦，它有大量的视觉吸引力。

It was attractively designed, right in a small part of downtown, and it pretty much possessed all of the other design elements for success.

它设计精美，位于市中心的局部，它几乎拥有所有成功所需的其它设计元素。

But, uh, now here's where my point about location comes into play.

但是……呃，现在，这里是我关于位置的观点发挥作用的地方。

There wasn't a convention center around to help drawing visitors and, uh, the only nearby hotel eventually closed down for that same reason.

周围没有一个会议中心……去帮助拉拢游客，而且，附近仅有的酒店最终因为同样的原因关门了。

Well, you can imagine how this must affected local pedestrian mall business owners, sort of what we called a 'chain reaction'.

好了，你可以想像这是怎么影响本地和步行街的企业主，有点像是我们所说的连锁反应。

It wasn't until a convention center and a parking garage were built about a decade later that the mall started to be successful.

但直到大约十年后一个会议中心和一个停车库建造之后，该商城才开始变得成功。