Sharing the sidewalk - Lessons from Ibiza

I was reading a blog post from West Side Action on whether or not implementing double-tracking bike and pedestrian paths in Ottawa was a good idea. My first thought: "I don't think so". Based on the example shown from Toronto it seems to me like it's a big waste of money. Besides, it's too controlled. There's a path for people jogging, another one for people biking and another one for people walking. What if you're jogging with a dog and a baby in a stroller? What if you are much faster on your bike then the cyclists in front of you? I don't think people are going to stick to the assigned path. And for that extra money, the paths shown don't even look that nice. I bet it's harder and more expensive to maintain three separate paths as opposed to one.

In any case, this made me think of the sidewalks we saw in Ibiza. I like their approach: share a very wide and very nice sidewalk. You can bike, jog, walk, or run freely and there's enough space for everyone and people can navigate on their own. And look at the pattern on the side walk! Isn't it better? I think that's where the city should spend the extra money! Make it functional and make it look nice.