Walkability

James Sallis, this year’s winner of the Bloomberg Manulife Prize for the Promotion of Active Health, discusses the obstacles to increasing opportunities for physical activity in our communities, and how to overcome them.

January 24, 2013 - National Post

Kaid Benfield proposes not only more walkable neighborhoods in the United States, where a pedestrian is struck by a vehicle every 7 minutes, but also more walking to reverse the country's alarming obesity trend.

January 17, 2013 - NRDC Switchboard

Richard Florida interviews Jeff Speck about his new and highly praised book "Walkable City." The two authors discuss why cities should become more walkable to meet the needs of the "Walking Generation."

January 13, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

A new website, Walksteps.org, provides communities tactics for creating walkable communities.

January 9, 2013 - Transportation Radio

An award-winning street redesign project in the Los Angeles exurb of Lancaster provides a case study in the value of retrofitting for walkability.

January 6, 2013 - NRDC Switchboard

Alison M. Rice looks at the transformation of the Washington D.C. suburb of Merrifield, Va. from an industrial-suburban wasteland to a $542 million mixed-use development.

December 22, 2012 - The New York Times

In the aftermath of the presidential election, an observation by the star statistician Nate Silver about the connection between sidewalks and voting patterns has been getting a lot of play. Robert Steuteville tries to depoliticize walkability.

November 10, 2012 - Better! Cities & Towns

Planning policies related to the economy and environment are easier to measure, but Hazel Borys asks, "how do we measure national happiness, well-being, and social capital as they relate to the way we plan our neighborhoods, towns and cities?”

November 8, 2012 - Better Cities & Towns

Economist Joe Cortright doesn't seem to think so. According to his findings, Americans are driving less, with Millennials leading the way, and this unprecedented trend is here to stay.

November 7, 2012 - D.C. Streetsblog

Increasing mileage standards will do little to measurably reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In order to seriously tackle climate change we need to ditch the cars, and the development patterns they encourage, and move to walkable places.

November 6, 2012 - Salon

Planner and urbanist Brent Toderian explains why Halloween is his favorite holiday.

October 28, 2012 - Huffington Post British Columbia

An informative infographic produced by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation illustrates the role of walkable, bikeable, and transit-oriented communities in producing healthier populations.

October 28, 2012 - New Public Health

Recent studies show that upwards of 77% of Millennials are opting to live in urban areas. The impact on the local economy will be huge, IF urban planners rethink how we build our downtowns.

October 23, 2012 - ICIC Inner City Exchange

Hazel Borys compiles an extraordinary list of studies quantifying the role of livable, walkable places in building equity, city coffers, health, and social capital.

September 14, 2012 - PlaceShakers

Going beyond the analytical parameters of the popular Walk Score website, a new site aims to broaden the scope of analysis to include more qualitative information, such as safety and streetscape, in determining which areas are pedestrian friendly.

September 12, 2012 - Fast Company Co.Exist

Steve Mouzon finds fault with the uniform application of the 1/4 mile walkability radius, regardless of context. And, in the first in a series of articles, he introduces a new tool for understanding and building walkable places.

July 30, 2012 - Original Green

Several collaborative Google Maps cover Traditional Neighborhood Developments (TNDs) across the US and Canada as well as form-based codes globally. Are yours listed?

July 28, 2012 - PlaceShakers

Even though crime has gone down in the U.S., parents are less likely to let their children walk alone, even to school. Will Doig discusses the argument that "free-roaming" children are a benefit to themselves and the larger community.

July 25, 2012 - Salon

Geoff Dyer describes the essential role that a residential component plays in any mixed-use town center. For Dyer, residences are "the substrate on which a healthy mixed-use environment is based."

July 14, 2012 - PlaceShakers

Julie V. Iovine laments that while walkability is the watchword of the day, architects have to design what they're hired to design -- and that often means designing iconic buildings that turn a blind eye to pedestrians.

June 24, 2012 - The Architect's Newspaper