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Most would prefer walking More than half of Americans say they would like to walk more throughout the day either for exercise or to get places. Four in ten Americans would choose driving over walking for wherever they need to go. Source: Americans' Attitudes Toward Walking and Creating Better Walking Communities, April 2003, survey conducted for the Surface Transportation Policy Project. !-\ctiy~Uvi~!i~~search has compiled t'No shC'ri fact sheets that summarize research . ~ndingson how the built environment : inf!~'ences walking and bicycling. www.activelivingresearch,org 6 Elements of Good Pedestrian Planning There is a wide range of planning and design activities that takes place as part of the development of our communities. Local comprehensive plans, area plans, open space plans, transportation plans, site plans, zoning ordinances, and subdivision covenants impact the character, density and nature of our development. Together, they have a major effect in determining how walkable our neighborhoods and communities will be. Rethinking The Role of Transportation One of the keys to creating walkable communities is to rethink our approach to development and planning. One approach is to develop communities that are oriented to a more balanced transportation system supporting automobiles, bicycles, transit, and walking. Such a "multimodal" community would have all or most of the following kinds of features. A neighborhood center (providing retail and office uses) is located within 5 minutes walking distance, roughly a one-quarter mile radius for the majority of residents in the neighborhood. . The streets are laid out in well-connected patterns, at a pedestrian scale, so that there are alternative automobile and pedestrian routes to every destination. . The streets are treated as complex public spaces, containing traffic and parking, and they are an integral part of the "public realm," including trees, sidewalks, and the buildings that front on them. . The streets are relatively narrow, in order to discourage high-speed automobile traffic. Streets capes should be well-defined by buildings and trees along them. . On-street parking is permitted and provides an adequate supply of spaces. The cars act as additional buffers between pedestrians on the sidewalks and moving vehicles on the adjacent street. They also serve to slow down the passing traffic, helping to balance the overall use of the street. . The buildings are generally limited in size, and building uses are often interspersed; that is, small houses, large houses, outbuildings, small apartment buildings, corner stores, restaurants, and offices are compatible in size and placed in close proximity.