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WORLD CLASS STREETS172%increase in retail atDUMBO sales storesadjacent to plazaECONOMIC VALUE OF PUBLIC SPACEThe idea that more welcoming streets can lead to better business isnot just an aesthetic or marketing concept. Detailed studies aroundthe world show that investments in a lively and attractive realm payoff in real terms.A Transport for London study of that city’s West End found thatconsumers who walk spend more than those who drive or taketransit. That same area has had a tremendous experience withrecord sales during holiday weekends over the past few years whenOxford and Regent Streets were closed to vehicles and openedto pedestrians. These kinds of findings have been mirrored fromGlasgow to Shanghai.In New York, one real estate company [J. Liff Co.] has found thatreal estate demand and value is higher in areas where DOT hassignificantly improved the public realm by adding public space,like the Flatiron District at Broadway and 5th Avenue and theMeatpacking district on Manhattan’s West Side. Studies of thevalue of proximity of park space in New York, including recentwork by the CBRE group also confirms these types of economicbenefits. In Brooklyn’s DUMBO district, tax receipts show thatretail sales in stores adjacent to a new plaza increased 172% inthe three years after the plaza was implemented, over twice thegrowth seen in other parts of the same area [Measuring the Street,NYCDOT]. Similar findings regarding the signature public spacesthat NYCDOT created along Broadway in 2008, 2009 and 2010are detailed in the next chapter.Broadway at Union SquareSustainable Streets: 2013 and Beyond125