As a percentage of all commutes, walking accounts for less than three percent of all trips in the United States. But not all groups in the country walk at the same rate. A new study from the University of Virginia reveals that a distinct socioeconomic divide exists; walking rates are noticeably greater among high- and low-income adults compared to middle-income individuals—a pattern that holds for all trip purposes and levels of land use density.
The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy recently released Pedestrians First: Tools for a Walkable City. The toolkit, aimed at governments, city planners, NGOs, and developers, notes that “Walkability is the foundation of any type of transportation; all trips require walking at some point.” The toolkit notes factors that influence walkability throughout the city and three scales: citywide, neighborhood, and street level.
The National Association of City Transportation Officials has released a guide for cities to prepare for a future with autonomous vehicles. Unlike their previous design guides this blueprint does not present specific design recommendations but instead lays out a vision of how to enhance the city with autonomous technology instead of simply adapting to it.
A new paper suggests that while gas taxes or similar revenue sources might be well-suited for maintaining our interstates, urban transportation will thrive more on local resources and must focus on two guiding principles: value capture and livability.
In planning and designing for pedestrians, sidewalks are often a good start but rarely make a place walkable on their own. Measuring pedestrian accessibility (the topic of a recent SSTI webinar) depends on two important pieces of information: 1) where destinations are located, and 2) the quality of the walking network connecting to those places. This second point is the focus of two studies.
A local debate over on-street parking in Florida typifies how codes and standards can obstruct walkable urban street design and, apparently, put those designs in jeopardy even after they have been implemented. Celebration is a traditional-style development, however, the design of its streets is being challenged by local officials who say they aren’t wide enough.
A recently published study lends more support to the idea that sprawl can be a deterrent to upward mobility, making it difficult for low-income residents to improve their economic circumstances. Compact metro areas showed better results than those that are more spread out. The authors also note that upward mobility tends to be higher in Europe than in the U.S., and they theorize that besides differing approaches to education and social programs, the compactness of European cities may contribute to better opportunities.
This report reviews the built environment characteristics associated with travel and the tools available that utilize these built environment characteristics to estimate travel and related outcomes such as vehicle emissions and health co-benefits. Tools ranged from simple to complex, and a number of factors should be considered when applying a tool to a planning effort.
A study published in the Journal of the American Planning Association argues that the rail transit frequently used to define transit-oriented development is not the most important factor in reducing vehicle miles traveled and car ownership. Overall density and the availability of parking were shown to be the most important variables in predicting reduced driving.
Two new studies affirm the links between transportation, urban design, and health. One study, conducted in England, determined that providing free transit passes to senior citizens significantly increased their level of physical activity, and a second study in Canada affirmed the link between walkable neighborhoods and Type 2 diabetes.