Walkable City

Walkable City: how downtown can save america, one step at a time by Jeff Speck

My coffee cup rating 5/5:

☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️

I love to walk places. It’s a great form of exercise and allows you to see things you never would have otherwise. It never crossed my mind though that enjoying a walk in the city was a product of good design. For older, densely populated cities, these design choices were baked in, for there was no way to get around other than your own two feet. For newer cities, especially those created in the automotive age, walkability was usually put on the back burner. Walkable City by Jeff Speck takes a look at this shift in design, and how creating walkable neighborhoods and downtowns can result in a better city for everyone.

Jeff anchors the beginning of his book with an idea he calls "The General Theory of Walkability." This theory contains four conditions which, when all working together, create the perfect recipe for sustained walkability. These four conditions include; creating everyday needs and services close to each other with good pedestrian connections between them. Creating not only safe spaces but a feeling of safety for pedestrians on the road. Avoiding large open spaces by creating “outdoor living rooms” where pedestrians feel comfortable and cozy. Lastly, giving character to buildings and walkways all while encouraging human interactions. All four of these conditions play a crucial role in whether or not people choose to walk.

A great tool Jeff references is a website called walk score. By typing in your city or address, it provides you with a walk score between zero to one-hundred with one hundred being perfect. My city, I found out, was much higher on the spectrum than many, but my actual address was much lower. This is a perfect example of why location is everything when it comes to walkability.

Another point Jeff brings up is the idea of sustainability. He argues that one of the best things you can do to be more sustainable is changing your location. This idea hit home for me as I’ve been personally making more sustainable choices, but have never thought much about my location. Generally speaking, the higher your walkability score, the easier it is to go without those pollution making machines called cars. Not only that, walking creates not just a better environment, but a better, healthier you. The only drawback to this though is not everyone has the ability, time, or money to move somewhere else. That doesn’t mean a current low scoring city can’t become a high one. This is where Jeff lands for the rest of the book, detailing his ten steps to creating a walkable city. These steps cover a wide range of city life including cars, parking, transit, trees, and bicycles. As Jeff points out, some cities do things well, and others poorly. For example, even though a city has a lot of transit, it doesn’t mean people will just magically use it - as the case with Dallas, Texas. Although it has the biggest light rail system in the U.S., its riding percentage is low and hasn’t increased. Why? There are many reasons for this, but the biggest one comes down to walkability. Dallas' light rail doesn’t do a good job of connecting neighborhoods, and most stops are missing walkable infrastructure around them. In this instance, the phrase 'build it and they will come' can’t help poorly located transit.

Perhaps the biggest offender in the fight for walkability is the automobile, which, no surprise, is a major talking point in the book. As Jeff explains, a vibrant, walkable city isn't about banning cars in the city, it’s about putting boundaries around their use. One such boundary Jeff suggests is getting parking right. And no, this isn’t about making more parking spaces-we have far too many going unused already. It’s about creating less parking without being subsidized. There is a lot more to this topic and in fact, Jeff owes much of his ideas around parking to Donald Shoup, and his book The High Cost of Free Parking. Although it seems counterintuitive, less is more when it comes to parking.

This book allowed me to dive deep into the mind of city planners and how their designs affect so much of a cities vibrancy and sustainability. I would highly recommend it to everyone, especially if you walk, bike or take public transport. But be warned, you won't see your city the same way again.