Create Walkable Neighborhoods
Walkable communities that are desirable places to live, work, learn, worship and play are a key component of smart growth. Their desirability comes from two factors. First, goods (such as housing, offices, and retail) and services (such as transportation, schools, libraries) are located within an easy and safe walk. Second, walkable communities make pedestrian activity possible, thus expanding transportation options, and creating a streetscape for a range of users – pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, and drivers. To foster walkability, communities must mix land uses and build compactly, as well as ensure safe and inviting pedestrian corridors.
Walkable communities are nothing new. Communities worldwide have created neighborhoods, communities, towns and cities based on pedestrian access. However, within the last fifty years public and private actions have often created obstacles to walkable communities. For example, regulation that prohibits mixed land uses results in longer trips and makes walking a less-viable option. This regulatory bias against mixed-use development is reinforced by private financing policies that consider mixed-use development riskier than single-use development. In addition, communities that are dispersed and largely auto-dependent employ street and development design practices that reduce pedestrian activity.
As the personal and societal benefits of pedestrian-friendly communities are realized – benefits that include lower transportation costs, greater social interaction, improved personal and environmental health, and expanded consumer choice – many are calling upon the public and private sectors to facilitate development of walkable places. Land use and community design play a pivotal role in encouraging pedestrian environments. By building places with multiple destinations within close proximity, where the streets and sidewalks balance multiple forms of transportation, communities have the basic framework for walkability.
More information from Smart Growth Network partners:
Placemaker's Guide to Transportation: Complete Streets
www.pps.org/articles/placemakers-guide-to-transportation-complete-streets/
Transportation and Health
www.transact.org/library/factsheets/health.asp
Driven to Spend: Pumping Dollars out of Our Households and Communities
www.transact.org/report.asp?id=236
The Economic Benefits of Walkable Communities
www.lgc.org/freepub/community_design/factsheets/walk_to_money.html
Information from other sources:
Walkable Neighborhoods
www.walkscore.com/walkable-neighborhoods.shtml
Credit: www.pedbikeimages.org / Laura Sandt
Smart Growth Principles
