Shadow queen of Vancouver urbanists: “Why urban density is actually good for us”

https://www.straight.com/city-culture/why-urban-density-is-actually-good-for-us #Vancouver #urbanism #UrbanPlanning #Density #Walkable #15MinuteCity

https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMilQFodHRwczovL3d3dy5hYmMxMC5jb20vdmlkZW8vbmV3cy9sb2NhbC9zYWNyYW1lbnRvL2Nhci1mcmVlLWV4cGVyaWVuY2Utb24taGlzdG9yaWMtc2FjcmFtZW50by1zdHJlZXQtdG8tYmVnaW4vMTAzLWU3OGFlYjEyLTc3MTktNDBmZS05YzkwLWQ5NGRjYWU0NTZmNNIBAA?oc=5 Car-free experience — I'm all for more car free streets in #Sacramento. In fact, I'd like to see all of old Sacramento and the K St. Mall car free. I believe making #walkable streets helps businesses and the people who patronize them & makes a city more livable. Make cars the alternative #transportation and fight global warming.

OMG Vancouver finally looks at corner stores as one of the improvements to current zoning. It could be a game changer for boring suburban areas of the city!

More info and a SURVEY: https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/corner-stores
#Vancouver #urbanism #CornerStore #UrbanPlanning #MixedUse #walkable #WalkableCities #StrongTowns #15MinuteCity

Great video on Carmel, Indiana's #walkable city success:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn5IxF-Nykc

Okay, this is a question for US based folks: does anyone know of, or have any good resource for researching, #walkable yet affordable places? All of my searches turn up the same top 10 places that may be great, but I'll never make enough money to find out. I'm not even looking for major metros. Just some place where I would have a grocery store and a few shops within a couple of blocks. Doesn't even have to be a whole city. Mixed use dev works too.

🇺🇸 A Pew survey finds the majority of Americans don’t care about walkability; 57% would rather live where “houses are larger and farther apart, but schools, stores and restaurants are several miles away.” It also shows a real political divide: "Liberal democrats prefer walkable communities, conservative republicans prefer drivable communities." #walkable #Politics
https://lloydalter.substack.com/p/i-keep-saying-people-want-walkable

Seeing is believing: It is hard to convince people to try a whole new thing. One way is to serve just a slice: a small, perhaps temporary sample of a much bigger idea. This explains why Philly holds something called “Playstreets” one weekend each May … to give people in a few parts of the city a taste of what it would be like if the streets were used for something other than just cars. https://www.phillymag.com/news/2023/07/15/flexible-open-streets/ #walkable

In helping citizens think about what great urban streets could be, we need inspiring examples. Here’s one: Transforming D.C.’s famous Pennsylvania Ave, now a steamy eight-lane highway, into a boulevard that puts pedestrians, cyclists, transit and beauty in first place and cars in second. Here are some of the ideas for this famous street. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2023/pennsylvania-avenue-dc-changes-feedback/?itid=sf_local_local-opinions_p008_f001 #walkable

#Sidewalks were built for one purpose in the 1800s, then changed mission in the 20th century. They declined in popularity in one period, only to become popular again… along with a new thing, urban trails. At each turn, gov’t played a big role. http://www.fromthegovt.com/sidewalks-and-trails/ #walkable

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2023/07/25/where-have-all-the-three-bedrooms-in-walkable-neighborhoods-gone

at the absolute minimum, cities should enact zoning reforms to make three-bedroom apartments legal to build in #walkable, #transitoriented areas. But beyond that, developers could be incentivized…
#inclusive #WalkableCites #880cities

Visiting family, rented a Craftsman era house in nirvana for a modern #zoning nerd. #Walkable to train station, shops, services. Sidewalks, mature street trees, house has an ADU, front yard pollinator/veg garden. Close to bike path, parks, with front and back breezy porches. Neighborhood SFH mixed w/ townhouse & 2/3 story small apartments 1 block from arterial road with bike lanes and street cafes.

Perfect if you have 1-2 million to drop on a 1500sq ft house on a 10k sq ft lot.

What is improved language instead of "walkable neighborhoods" that includes people who use wheelchairs, other mobility devices?

i know I've seen suggestions, but am not finding those while editing a housing document. Existing language example: "...focusing on creating well-designed, walkable, and vibrant communities."

@BarbChamberlain ?

#WordsMatter #walkable #disability #urbanism

Dave Thomas Circle is making the rounds today on the bird site since DC began construction on its replacement today. It looks bad in the planning doc, but I happened to walk by it today and grabbed a photo.

The planning doc doesn’t really capture how unpleasant it is at the human scale, and this is just one corner!

Definitely doesn’t belong in a city.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2023/07/19/dave-thomas-circle-dc/

#WashingtonDC #Cities #Urbanism #Cars #walkable #DaveThomasCircle #SafeStreets

Whenever I watch episodic #scifi like #StarTrek or #Stargate, I look at how they built whatever fictional society they found this week. It's always #walkable, with rare exception*. Even from the up-above shots where they don't need to be frugal on set design, the place is walkable. It's like we can't even imagine a world where sprawl is the default. It's easy to say that that's just #fiction and things happen differently in the real world. But even in the real world, #sprawl is unique.

A vast majority of Americans and an even higher percentage of those seeking to buy houses would pay extra to live in a #walkable neighborhood. What if we could have many more of these places than we currently have? A new study of suburban “activity centers” suggests some could function as walkable destinations IF we connected them through bike lanes and pedestrian paths. Why do it? Because property values (and tax bases) would soar. https://usa.streetsblog.org/2023/07/06/the-walkable-neighborhoods-americans-want-may-be-closer-than-we-think

#walkable #memphis went and walked to the Otherlands cafe in midtown to have a pleasant coffee and then to the grocery store to get fixings for Chili. Also enjoy the nice weather.

Midtown is a rare creature, a walkable area in the South and I wish there were more like it in this region

@largess @betterstreetsnsw thanks for the insight. I lived in inner Brisbane (renting of course) until 2019 and I was envious of the Gold Coast Light Rail.

I'm very hopeful that the younger generations are seeing how stupid car centric infrastructure is. Why does everyone want to go to Europe so much?

Obligatory meme - it's because they have #walkable space and public transportation.

This kind of #walkable #urbanism is illegal in most US states. 🤣 #LegoLand

The beautify of a #walkable city is that even if you can’t afford a car or a fancy cargo e-bike you can still find a way to get your groceries home.

Today I walked over to the nearest grocery store with a wagon and took home all my shopping. Another successful trip without using a car.

#WarOnCars #urbanism

"They claimed he wanted to confine people to their neighborhoods and accused him of being part of a malign international plot to control people’s movement in the name of climate action."

Objection seems to take the form "no one wants to live in dense, pedestrian friendly cities, that's why homes there are so expensive"

#fifeteenminutes #urban #cities #walkable

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/26/world/15-minute-cities-conspiracy-theory-climate-intl/index.html