CitiesGoGreen - November 2008 - (Page 32)

Fast Forward Fast Forward is a place to share your big, innovative, incredibly obvious or ‘on the edge’ ideas, proposals and rants. The subject is how to accelerate progress toward sustainability. Do you see a roadblock to remove, another way of thinking, engaging people, planning or financing? Or something else that would move us forward, fast? Let us know and you could be here in a future issue. You can comment on this column on our website. More Biking and Walking for Better Communities A chat with Kit Keller on how and why to increase biking and walking in your community. CitiesGoGreen: I’m going to assume our readers understand that biking and walking are important to reducing vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions, but what other benefits do they bring to a town or city? Kit Keller: When we walk and bike more places more often, we get fresh air, we meet people, we see places we simply miss in a car and we feel more connected to our community. My husband lost 14 pounds biking to work this summer— what’s not to like about that? Children who bike and walk have higher levels of cognitive development than children who are driven everywhere. Walkers and bicyclists can help clean up a crime problem by putting more eyes on the street. What are the most important changes a community can make to support walking and biking? Pass and implement a complete streets policy so your streets are safe, inviting and accessible to everyone. Provide bicycle parking. Install sidewalks everywhere. Plan your community so most people can walk and bike to most destinations. Make your pedestrian facilities work for parents with strollers, people pulling luggage, and people with low or no vision or who use wheelchairs, crutches or canes. Avoid car-oriented development. We are doing a survey and finding that as communities commit to having a bicycle-pedestrian coordinator on staff full-time or utilize local consulting firms to do bicycle and pedestrian plans, those communities making plans and implementing them are really just outstripping the competition in terms of advances in bicycling and walking. What happens as these things are put in Happily, today’s kids are rebelling and place? asking tough questions about climate Communities investing in complete change. They are in many instances leadstreets usually recoup their investment ing their families to different solutions in perceived quality of life as well as busi- about transportation. There seems to be ness retention and growth. Plus it’s more a phenomenon in the number of young hip and cool to live where you can go people who just don’t see it as hip to where you want on your own power. have a car and driver’s license. People can age in place. Children have more [Mayor Daley of Chicago] did some traveling freedom, and if you design overseas and realized that the best cities in a community that works for children, it works for Europe were cities that didn’t kowtow to the car. everyone. Not really offtopic, we can even engage children as town planners. Planning comAnother obstacle is lack of political will. missions that fail to engage and embrace Civic commitment and courage of conchildren and their viewpoints are missing viction can break through any obstacle, a super opportunity for creativity. Cathincluding economic constraints. As Ralph erine O’Brien from Canada is one of the Waldo Emerson said in the 1800s, “Can leading thinkers on this topic, and has a anybody remember when the times were number of good ideas (pdf ). not hard and money not scarce?” Mayors like Mayor Daley in Chicago are showing Is there any one obstacle that stands in what political will can do to make walkthe way of increasing biking and ing and bicycling the best choice. One walking, or is it a lot of things? great example is the Mayor Daley Bicycle Ambassadors. I think first is lack of awareness. Certainly What are the most exciting things we know that when facilities are available people use them. Habit is huge. If we were you see happening in this area? brought up to drive, we’ll drive. If our fam- Lots! Mayors are jumping on board the ily walks and bikes, we’re more likely to be Bicycle Friendly Communities program. I met Mayor Ravenstahl of Pittsburgh physically active our whole lives. recently and he was very enthusiastic The people planning communities are about having appointed the first bicycle mostly car users. The people who plan transit are car users all too often. I maincoordinator in the city and going after a tain you can’t plan effectively for someBicycle Friendly Community designation. thing you don’t understand. The easiest APBP is piloting a workshop now to help thing is to take your local elected official cities improve bike planning and apply for a walk or bike ride and show him or for BFC status. Others are bike her the conditions. Do that with your city sharing (smartbikedc.com in Washington, planner or engineer, and it makes a huge DC, and bixi.ca in Montreal, Canada), difference. Bikestations, complete streets and Safe Routes to School. Fast Forward, continued on pg 31 32 November 2008 http://gpiatlantic.org/conference/papers/obrien.pdf http://completestreets.org http://bicyclinginfo.org/library/details.cfm?id=3972 http://bicyclinginfo.org/library/details.cfm?id=3972 http://www.bicyclefriendlycommunity.org http://apbp.org http://www.smartbikedc.com http://www.bixi.ca http://www.bikestation.org http://saferoutesinfo.org http://saferoutesinfo.org http://citiesgogreen.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CitiesGoGreen - November 2008

CitiesGoGreen - November 2008 Contents In Motion Disaster Housing for $200: The Hexayurt Coming Soon: A Code-Ready Green Building Standard from ASHRAE ICMA Embraces Sustainability Fort Collins, Colorado Interview: ClimateWise, Business Smart 12-for-1 Parking: Bike Corrals Fresno County More Biking and Walking for Better Communities

CitiesGoGreen - November 2008

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