Print me a Pedway map

Let me be an anti Urbanist for a few minutes. I've started a position at the City of Edmonton working at the Edmonton Tower downtown. Let me start with the physical aspect of downtown. I love the pedways. I hate to say it. So many of my past Planning classes have mentioned the pedways, rarely in a positive light. Usually with the general idea of taking people off the street and allowing for movement between and through buildings without having to go outside, it kills the streetscapes of downtown and creates a class divide. Not saying I completely disagree but there is no scan card to access these systems, and the cold is cold to everyone whether they are on salary or not. Pedways have concreted this norm of walking down to the second floor and having access to so many neighbouring buildings without having to go outside. Not having to take a jacket, staying warm the whole time. Everyone uses it, from the hours of 8 to 4, it's bumping with people walking to buy their lunch, and get their coffee. Often, the pedways are even the fastest route of travel. On the first day of work, we got a tour of how far you can go through these pedways, without getting a visit from the -18C outdoors. Paid Urban Planners love them and use them. How can something objectively positive for the majority of downtown users be blamed so heavily for the death of our downtowns? Lets rest that blame on removing outdoor store fronts from our streetscapes. 

-Written by Maja Wilson

https://edifyedmonton.com/urban/community/love-and-hate-in-the-edmonton-pedway/

https://spacing.ca/edmonton/2014/02/27/time-quit-hating-pedways/