We’ve got data unequivocally showing that people-oriented streets are more economically productive than auto-oriented streets — from big cities to small towns, from the heartland to the South. "[B]etter health outcomes are more strongly associated with living in a compact city than a compact neighborhood surrounded by a sparse city. Associate Professor Matthew Burke from Griffith University is examining why cities need to be walkable and how that influences the way business is conducted. The most sprawling counties are outlying counties of large metropolitan areas, or component counties of smaller metropolitan areas." Kobos, Walkability, Zoning, Top Story, Taking Action, Planning Profession, #StrongCitizens, Success Story, Top Story, Parking, Tactical Urbanism, The result is that the urban core is almost always financially propping up the entire city, Best of 2018: Why Walkable Streets are More Economically Productive, Strong Towns is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. But, if the street configuration requires that we go back to the arterial road, with no safe way to get across the street, chances are we're going to drive, perhaps as much as a mile to get conveniently from the restaurant to the store. Walkable streets, on the other hand, encourage business activity, generate greater tax revenue per acre and offer a higher return on investment than auto-oriented streets. They also looked at the incidence of smoking and fruit and vegetable consumption. Read more about our efforts to #SlowtheCars. Holiday Plans Florence. While, as noted, the different researchers involved in the three studies assess different characteristics of urban form, all generally accept the definition put forth by Arizona State University researchers Emily Talen and Julia Koschinsky in the opening paragraph of their study: "It is a neighborhood type defined by services within walking distance of residents, a pedestrian orientation that minimizes car dependence, and a level of density and land-use diversity that is higher than the typical American suburb . Generally speaking, a good Walk Score begins at 70. My only knowledge of the study, though, is through reading the report in the peer-reviewed journal Health & Place.). A walkable street ensures that people can safely cross from a clothing store to a coffee shop and spend money at both. Most cities’ zoning and development regulations obsess over things that are easy to measure, like building height and density, at the expense of the things that actually determine whether we’re building quality places. Furthermore, the wear and tear caused by foot traffic is also negligible compared with the wear and tear caused by car and truck traffic, meaning that long-term maintenance costs for walk-friendly areas are also much lower than for auto-oriented places. Why is this important for cities? Most of the buildings are 100+ years old and have been home to countless businesses and residences since they were constructed. The researchers also examined asthma rates, but did not find any statistically significant correlation between asthma and street networks. Senior Counsel for Environmental Strategies, PlaceMakers LLC. Why Living in a Walkable Area Matters Jennifer Fulwiler The website Walk Score has released their 2011 list of the country’s most “walkable” cities , i.e. Three important academic studies published earlier this year demonstrate that they are good for our health, too. A growing body of evidence suggests that urban design plays an important role in promoting physical activity. Indeed, in 2009, our friend Joe Cortright conducted a study that revealed: “In the typical market, an additional one point increase in Walk Score was associated with between a $500 and $3,000 increase in home values.” (Walk Score is an online system that ranks how walk-friendly a particular location is.). The results were tabulated at both the neighborhood scale and the city scale. An estimated 30-40 percent of all trips are non-home-based. 3 dollars and cents arguments that definitively prove the need for people-oriented, walk-friendly places. Again and again, when we look at streets oriented toward people — that is, streets where walking is safe and enjoyable, that people are drawn to visit on foot, and where fast and extensive car traffic is not the #1 priority — we find that they are more economically productive than any other style of development. What they’ve consistently found is that compact, walkable places produce far more tax value per acre than auto-oriented places—and that holds true in communities across America. This brings me to Talen and Koschinsky's work. Here’s what those city center spikes look like for the average person walking…. The researchers note that "the most compact counties are as expected, central counties of large, older metropolitan areas. The push for walkable cities has been widely written about concerning Generation X or Millennials, and even how new technology companies are relocating to walkable cities … The Importance of Walkable Cities Read More » If you need to flag this entry as abusive, The essential guide to taking care of your mind and body, Remembering the Human Scale in Walkable City Neighborhoods, Americans Don't Walk Much, and I Don't Blame Them, Ten Questions We Should Be Asking About Our Communities, In US Cities Where Walking Is Safer, It's Also More Popular, In Praise of the Great American Main Street. In addition to the usual complex mathematical equations, one encounters terms such as "eigenvalue," "log-likelihood ratios," "construct validity," and "link-to-node ratio." After analyzing the particular studies in more detail, Talen and Koschinsky summarized their key finding regarding neighborhoods and health: "[O]verall, the vast majority of studies show that built-environment effects are generally in one direction: People living in [compact, walkable, and diverse] neighborhoods, especially places defined by accessibility and gridded street networks, tend to have higher health ratings, with an important caveat being that these relationships may not hold where there is significantly high crime and high poverty. The key finding: residents of more compact and diverse counties exhibit, on average, lower body mass indices and lower rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure when compared to residents of more sprawling counties. The authors examined three aspects of street networks - street connectivity, street network density, and street configuration - in 24 medium-sized California cities and, as did Ewing's group, compared the land use indices to an expansive health database. Walkable Cities – Why they are good for the economy, according to a city planner. Sixty-four of those studies examined health effects and, of that subset, 50 were found to support the view that the effects of compact, walkable, and diverse neighborhoods are mostly positive on health outcomes. Let's say we want to travel from a restaurant to a Toys R Us store in a standard suburban environment. There is not a single visual image in the book, and really only a handful of verbal descriptions of successful walkable places. But streets where walking is easy and safe are not just economically significant because of their impact on retail sales or tax values. Meanwhile, the lone Perkins in the second photo has to reserve most of its space for a parking lot and a large sign. Such developments have many benefits but may not be optimal for public health . Those initial investments we made a century ago are paying amazing dividends today. Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works. A number of studies have confirmed this over the last several years. Walkable Cities . . Most, although not all, meta-analyses summarizing these relationships have concluded that there are strong correlations overall." Invest in an auto-oriented street and you are temporarily filling a space that will likely be empty in a decade, draining life and tax value from your town. It means that people who live in the neighborhood can grab groceries and other necessities easily, so they’ll probably visit nearby establishments more often. (Citations omitted.). The reason is close to a tautology: walkable environments encourage walking, which in turns facilitates good health. . Many people concerned with pedestrian safety and "walkability" care about these issues because they feel that walking is good exercise or that walkable places are more attractive or that walking is better for the environment than driving. This is particularly true when we compare people-oriented places to car-oriented places—think of that stretch of your town that effectively does everything possible to discourage walking and biking, including a street with multiple wide lanes to ensure fast car movement, acres of parking, and minimal (if any) sidewalks, bike lanes and crosswalks. Kaid Benfield writes about community, development, and the environment on Huffington Post and in other national media. We support a strong America full of strong cities, towns and neighborhoods. A native Minnesotan and honorary Wisconsinite, Rachel received a Masters in Religion, Ethics and Politics from Harvard Divinity School and a Certificate in Conflict Transformation from the Boston Theological Interreligious Consortium, both in 2020. The remainder showed no clear positive or negative effect; none showed a negative effect. This pattern repeats itself in towns and cities across America. After controlling for other potential influences, the Marshall team arrived at findings remarkably similar to those of the Ewing team: "We control for the food environment, land uses, commuting time, socioeconomic status, and street design. Talen and Koschinsky found 11 studies positively linking social benefits to compact neighborhoods, with only one showing a negative effect; one also showed no clear effect one way or the other. Some walkable American cities beat them all: New York, San Francisco and Portland all have fatality rates under 3.0. Rachel also served as Content Manager for Strong Towns from 2015-2018. Indeed, government data indicate that 36 percent of adults are now classified as obese, and 17 percent of youth are obese. In short, a simple sidewalk could serve millions of people traveling on foot for decades, even centuries, with only a small amount of up-front investment and minimal maintenance costs for the city — yet it would support dozens or hundreds of local businesses. In addition there is good evidence to show that improving walking and cycling environments raises private property values by significant amounts. 48. One of her favorite ways to get to know a new city is by going for a walk in it. Neighborhoods that are considered to be more walkable have wide-ranging benefits over neighborhoods that are considered to be not as walkable. Restrict and Restrain the Car . Walkable places prioritize people rather than automobiles when designing their surroundings. According to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning , 63 percent of millennials and 42 percent of boomers would like to live in a place where they don’t need a car. Why is Walkability Important. Why building walkable cities is the key to economic success . Manage Parking Effectively . . Ewing and his colleagues discuss, as they should, the abundance of factors other than land use that affect health. Trained in dialogue facilitation and mediation, she is devoted to building understanding across lines of difference. There are many reasons why walkability is important, such as reducing fossil fuel usage and promoting a healthy lifestyle. Previously, Rachel worked for several organizations fighting to end homelessness and promote safe, affordable housing at the federal and local levels. A walkable street ensures that people can safely cross from a clothing store to a coffee shop and spend money at both. A sprawling metropolitan area produces long commutes, which cut into leisure time and hence physical activity. Invest in a people-oriented street and you have created value that will continue to benefit your town for decades and even centuries to come. It’s an argument based on pure dollars and cents — one that should convince people with a myriad of values and political leanings that people-oriented places must be a priority if we want our communities to be economically prosperous. Only New York, Boston, and Chicago beat out Philly for walkability. (Top photo source: Dewita Soeharjono. Green cities are walkable cities! We know from exhaustive past research that walkable neighborhoods and cities reduce driving, associated emissions, and living costs. But these new studies add to the growing evidence that they are significant contributing factors. Yet cities like Tampa, Orlando and Atlanta who have to changed their car-dependent sprawl continue to see traffic fatality rates around 13-17 deaths per 100,000. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. In fact, the researchers contend, both the macro and the micro scales are relevant: "Adults spend most of their waking hours away from home. Talen and Koschinsky argue that safety is positively related to such neighborhoods for two reasons: first, a reduced emphasis on unimpeded vehicle flow makes places safer for both drivers and pedestrians; and, second, compact urban forms produce more street life, a deterrent against crime. Besides these so very valid points, we need walkable cities in India simply because many developed countries in the world are and if we are to follow them, this feature of walkability needs to be embedded in the basic urban infrastructure of the city. Jeff Speck is a city planner and urban designer who, through writing, lectures, and built work, advocates internationally for more walkable cities. Finally, the authors cite 12 studies linking safety benefits to compact, walkable, and diverse neighborhoods, while noting that none showed mostly negative effects and five found no clear positive or negative effect. Trees offer shade to people walking (especially important in warmer climates like Louisiana and southern California). Every single business has a large parking lot in front of it, rather than more buildings that could house economically productive businesses. Urban greenery impacts all elements of how walkable they cities are, from attractiveness, safety, quality of the environment, down to how comfortable a street is to walk on. These are all valid arguments and may convince some of those reading this article that walkability is important. In the first photo, we see that just one side of this walkable block is occupied by more than a dozen businesses, most of which have apartments or offices above them. A team of scholars at the University of Utah, led by Reid Ewing, examined land-use data from 995 counties nationwide, constructing a compactness-versus-sprawl "index" based on an equally weighted combination of four factors: development density, street accessibility, land use diversity (or lack thereof), and population and employment centering (or lack thereof). This means that our cities can in … How Walkable Communities Are Good for Us. Walkable communities provide the opportunity to incorporate more activity into everyday life, by walking to and from work, taking a stroll to a local restaurant for dinner or running errands on foot. These include investments in walkable neighborhoods and business start-ups, personal health benefits, more safety, and more accessibility. The two Arizona State researchers conducted an exhaustive review of literature examining the connections between land use factors - particularly those associated with compact, walkable and diverse neighborhoods - and outcomes related to health, social relations, and safety. Street networks can have a profound effect on the amount of walking that takes place in a community. Move your cursor over the images for credit information. ", The authors conclude that "the role of the street network and how we put together the bones of our communities should not be overlooked as a potential contributing factor to health outcomes.". Aside from making the urban environment more pleasant, safer and less polluted, improving a city’s walkability can also ease traffic congestion and improve public health. The team then compared the counties' indices to self-reported health data from the massive Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, managed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Our focus is on the general parameters of the compact, walkable, and diverse neighborhood as a type distinct from auto-dependent, single-use suburbs.". Our bodies weren’t designed to sit all day. (Disclosure: Ewing is a personal friend. Quite simply because walkable cities are, by definition, sustainable cities. The connections between street layout and health were the focus of a study led by Wesley Marshall of the University of Colorado-Denver and reported earlier this year in the Journal of Transport & Health. The team also discusses the relevance of examining data at the county scale, noting that "most investigators have chosen to characterize the built environment of individuals at the neighborhood scale." Even the cost of providing enhancements to pedestrian space such as trees and benches pales in comparison to what we spend when we build around cars. Of course, walkability is no surprise in a city where a short trip on any subway puts visitors within easy walking distance of world-class restaurants, shops, and theaters. Importantly, when comparing intersection density and street network density to incidence of disease, the correlation between compact and connected networks and reduced rates of disease was much stronger at the city scale than at the neighborhood scale. There are clear street signages and separate lanes for vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians. In particular, the research, which examines different aspects of compact, walkable, and mixed-use communities and compares those aspects to published government health data, finds that such neighborhoods and cities are strongly associated with reduced rates of obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes. What is a walkable city? The only greenery in the images is empty lawns that serve no purpose. Why are downtowns important and why the need for all of these revitalization strategies? To assume that a street-forward, mixed use development will activate a lifeless area is like assuming that gardening is a matter of “just add water.” In reality, different urban environments—like different soils, climates, and plants—require different elements of care. The same length of street designed primarily for cars would cost exponentially more to build and keep up and would only serve a handful of businesses. This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. As more and more people move to cities, the benefits of encouraging people to walk are clear. This refers to a city or neighborhood’s conduciveness to pedestrian activity. According to their research, the nation’s 10 most walkable cities are: According to their research, the nation’s 10 most walkable cities are: “As Boomers Age, Walkable Cities Become More Important” by Henry Grabar Henry Grabar captures a unique look at the push for a change in how we shape our cities. Philadelphia is considered the 4th most walkable city as of 2020 with a walkability score of 79 by the group Walk Score. They also have efficient and affordable means of public transportation. When we build for people, we get economically prosperous places. Sidewalks are present in every image and bump-outs, crosswalks and signals make it easy for people to cross the street. And if that’s not enough to convince you, remember that it's not just walking infrastructure that's more affordable to build and maintain in and of itself. 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