Walkability

On this Valentine's Day, we celebrate by bringing you an article and image gallery by Kaid Benfield celebrating the world's most romantic walkable urban places.

February 14, 2012 - Switchboard

Jane E. Brody reports on the safety features New York City has instituted as part of an ambitious effort to completely re-engineer city streets.

February 8, 2012 - The New York Times

Nona Willis Aronowitz reports on a new survey indicating 60% of respondents would sacrifice a bigger house to live in a neighborhood that featured a mix of houses, stores, and businesses within an easy walk.

February 8, 2012 - Good

A lawsuit based on the Americans With Disabilities Act may leave Los Angeles responsible for over a billion dollars' worth of crumbling sidewalks.

January 31, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

A new guidebook illustrates ways to create safer streets and more livable public spaces.

January 11, 2012 - Institute for Transportation and Development Policy

I had heard of “dense sprawl” and “density without walkability” in the past, but before spending a week in Jerusalem last month, I had never really lived through these problems. My parents (who I was staying with) rented a unit in a high-rise condo complex called Holyland Tower.  Although Holyland Tower was the tallest building in the area, there were numerous mid-rise buildings, and lots of two-and three-story apartment and condo buildings.  While walking through the idea, I saw nothing resembling a single-family home.  In sum, this area was a pretty dense neighborhood in a pretty dense city (Jerusalem’s overall density is roughly comparable to that of the city of San Francisco).

January 1, 2012 - Michael Lewyn

Complete streets, road diets, streetscape improvements - geared to promote suburban downtowns for new residents who seek access to amenities without having to drive is a hit for some towns who have successfully obtained government grants to fund them

December 9, 2011 - The New York Times- Real Estate

A transportation engineer sent Charles Marohn a video to prove how walkable his "diverging diamond" overpass design is. Marohn overdubbed his not-so-flattering reply.

November 11, 2011 - New Urban Network

Richard Florida digests Walkscore's Walkability rankings, and discusses some surprising results. Among the top ten are Union City, New Jersey, and Miami, Florida.

October 13, 2011 - The Atlantic

Franklin, Massachusetts tied for last place in WalkScore's ranking of walkability in the state. Taryn Plumb says the city isn't taking the ranking in stride.

August 29, 2011 - The Boston Globe

A new breed of developers in China are increasingly trying to make the country's new cities into pleasant, walkable and even environmentally sustainable.

August 18, 2011 - Grist

To be released at the end of the year, the Draft Chicago Pedestrian Plan will primarily address safety issues that street users experience for decades.

August 14, 2011 - The Architect's Newspaper

Cities plan to cut off individual parking garages is a gamble, says Josie Garthwaite in National Geographic -- yet making it impossible to park is one of the few yet most effective tools that reduces driving.

July 20, 2011 - National Geographic

Plans to redesign the expanded publicly accessible section of the White House's front lawn combine both walkability concerns and safety concerns.

July 13, 2011 - The Architect's Newspaper

If you can't fix the players then by all means fix the game. This appears to be the strategy that many European cities, including Zurich, have employed to reduce the use of single-occupancy vehicles.

June 27, 2011 - The New York Times

Once dubbed the "lungs of the city," highways are becoming perhaps less essential. From Seattle to Seoul, pedestrianization is gaining traction on both the domestic and international fronts.

June 24, 2011 - The Architect's Newspaper

Walkability guru Dan Burden's long-preached message of pedestrian-focused planning is increasingly becoming policy in cities across the country.

June 22, 2011 - The Washington Post

The project converted a nine-acre parking lot into an ambitious urbanist community, which revitalized a nearby natural water channel, added high density housing, retail, and integrated a walkable design.

June 7, 2011 - Grist

Seattle has been named one of the nation's safest p[laces to walk or bike. But some question whether that success will translate into any further improvements in bike and pedestrian infrastructure spending.

May 26, 2011 - Publicola

Ryan Donahue of the Trust for Public Land says that it depends on age, health, time availability, quality of surroundings, safety, climate, and many other factors.

May 17, 2011 - City Parks Blog