The Atlantic Cities Book Review - Walkable City

The Atlantic Cities has an excellent book review on the book Walkable City by Jeff Speck. Numerous other outlets have also reviewed the book. In short, the 10 pieces of walkability are as follows (quoted from the review):

1. Put cars in their place - design cities around people, not cars.
2. Mix the uses - mixed use development shortens trip lengths, making them feasible.
3. Get the parking right - we often have excessive parking requirements, as well as underpriced parking.
4. Let transit work - have transit go to the busiest areas, and go to the mixed use areas. Aim for 10 minute headways.
5. Protect the pedestrian - have streets (two-way over one way) that favor slower travel. Parallel parking can "shield" pedestrians from automobile traffic.
6. Welcome bikes - bikes can calm traffic, benefitting pedestrians and cyclists themselves.
7. Shape the spaces - make the environment comfortable for walking.
8. Plant trees
9. Make friendly and unique [building] faces - have buildings and storefronts that people want to look at.
10. Pick your winners - with limited resources, it's important to spend such on what makes the greatest differences.

The review's author then goes into some more detail about areas of disagreement such as the pros and cons of pedestrian-only zones, the desirability of green space, and the like. Parking and congestion pricing is tricky, in that newly revitalized downtowns should seek to welcome people coming in and visiting. Regardless, the book promises to be an interesting read.

Portland - "for the equivalent cost of a single mile of freeway, we have a bike infrastructure."

Politifact Oregon has rated the claim mostly true, with the note that the mile of freeway refers to urban freeway. Due to the tight budgets of government at all levels these days, it's important that bike/ped funds be spent wisely. Being able to build or convert streets to world-class complete streets without spending a lot is doable, as Portland shows. Its high modeshare (8% of the people there refer to their bike as their primary commute vehicle, versus ~1% elsewhere) shows that the demand is there, if the infrastructure gets built.

East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition (ETCFC)

Yesterday at the University of Tennessee's homecoming celebration, I had a chance to visit the College of Engineering where I was able to pick up a brochure from the East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition. The brochure contains many statistics for the area that are quite striking; basically, their two main goals are to (1) "reduce dependence on foreign oil, and (2) improve regional air quality and sustainability." The coalition is a participant in the Department of Energy's Clean Cities Program.

NYC Reclaims it's Streets from Automobiles

If New York City can create more than 200 miles of bike lanes. If New York City can begin that transition of turning their streets into places for people rather than places for personal vehicles. Just think what the rest of us can do!

Take a look at this video put together by EMBARQ. It shows what New York City has done, and it just may spark some ideas for the rest of us.

http://www.grist.org/article/2010-10-11-how-nycs-streets-are-being-reclaimed-from-the-automobile-video