Walkable Cities
What Is a 15-Minute City?
The buzzword recently popularized by urbanists describes an urban form that dominated cities prior to the rise of autocentric planning.
What Is Walkability?
Walkability refers to the ability to safely walk to services and amenities within a reasonable distance, usually defined as a walk of 30 minutes or less.
The Complexities of the '15-Minute City'
What does a '15-minute city' truly mean–and how achievable is it in the U.S.?
When Cities Are Designed for Driving, Car Bans Are Not the Solution
Banning cars will not be effective as long as U.S. cities continue to prioritize transportation systems where mobility is dependent on driving.
Walkable Suburbia
It's not impossible to reshape the suburbs to be more walkable, but it does require careful planning and design.
Neighborhood Group Beats the Big Box
A Dallas location seemingly destined to become home to a big box store has been rezoned; some see this as a victory for walkability in Dallas.
Detroit Making its Streets 'Sticky'
The word "sticky" when applied to the urban design context has come to mean attractive and comfortable—the kind of place that makes people want to stay away and make return visits. Detroit is the latest city to experiment with the concept.
Most Livable Cities Revisited
This "livable cities" ranking considers transit, walkability, and bikeability.
Making Better Retail Districts in Seattle
Ryan Packer argues that Seattle could do more to improve its retail districts by updating its building codes to encourage dense, welcoming shopping districts.
Connecting Budgets to Visions for More Livable Cities
Brent Toderian barnstormed Edmonton, Canada recently, giving the city an A+ for policy aspirations and a D- in budgetary prioritization. That sounds like a problem in many other cities as well.
So the Chief Doc Says 'Take a Walk'
Though the role for planners in making it easier to walk was clear even before the U.S. Surgeon General urged communities to design and plan for walking, more information is needed to understand why and where people choose to travel on foot.
Sidewalk Cafes—Silver Bullets of Walkable Places
No single tool builds "walk appeal" as powerfully as sidewalk cafes, which are both a cause and an effect of places we love to walk.
More on the U.S. Surgeon General's Historic Pro-Walking Stance
The idea that Americans should walk rather than drive: "a radical idea wrapped in a banal government document."
Surgeon General Warning to Local Governments: Stop Being So Auto-Centric!
No, those will not be the precise words of the forthcoming "Call to Action" by Surgeon General Vice Admiral Vivek H. Murthy, but he will call on cities to "design and build roads and public places to make walking easier, safer, and more pleasant."
Life and Form: An Interview with Jan Gehl
Danish Architect Jan Gehl talks about the intersections of architecture and social science.
How to Promote a Kid-Friendly, Walkable City
Jennifer Keesmaat, chief planner and executive director for the city of Toronto, shares tips for how to create safe, fun environments for children.
Walk Along with an Atlanta Road Safety Audit
Metropolitan Atlanta accounts for half of the pedestrian fatalities in Georgia. One pedestrian advocacy group is doing the legwork to begin the process of improving the city's pedestrian infrastructure.
'Trees in Hard Landscapes': Guide for High-Performance Urban Infrastructure
A new cross-disciplinary report cites 32 case studies to offer practical solutions for integrating trees into civic spaces and surface car parks.
Let's Make Sticky Streets for People!
As cities work hard to evolve their perspective on the role of streets as public places in smarter city-making, remember this: Good cities know that streets move people, not just cars. Great cities know that streets are places to linger and enjoy.
Efforts to Boost Walkability Meet Hostility in Twin Cities’ Suburbs
A fragmented network of sidewalks is commonplace in the suburbs of Hennepin County, Minnesota. Mary Jane Smetanka reports on controversial efforts to fill in the gaps and retrofit these suburban neighborhoods as walkable places.
Placer County
City of Morganton
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Dongguan Binhaiwan Bay Area Management Committee
City of Waukesha, WI
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Indiana Borough
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
