[jdale27]

I suspect that only works because those cities are already relatively walkable/bikable. Unless you live within walking/biking distance of the closed-off street, and the route between you and the street is pleasantly walkable/bikable, you are faced with the choice of:

1. Drive and park close enough to the closed-off street, and fight with other drivers for parking (very common experience around, say, farmer's markets in the San Francisco peninsula).

2. Don't go there; drive to the mall instead.

3. Walk/bike there anyway, putting up with the shitty/dangerous experience of doing so.

I.e., to apply this in the United States would basically amount to "redesign entire cities to be more walkable".