GUEST COLUMN: The quest for walkability

Recently I was asked to identify all the totally walkable cities in the Upper Peninsula. This was easy. There are none. This is not to say that there aren't cities in the U.P that one can walk in. Quite the contrary.

There are several very walkable cities, but based on Walk Score a totally walkable city is one where daily errands do not require a car. Looked at more closely, New York is considered the most walkable city in the nation, with a walk score of 85.3, followed closely by San Francisco with a walk score of 84.9.

It may be that these cities are walkable simply because there is no place in them to conveniently park a car. Regardless, a totally walkable city is a quest with the goal being a sort of economic holy grail, but it is a quest worth undertaking.

This being said, what makes a walkable city? Everyone probably has a different opinion as to the answer. In my opinion, a walkable city is one that has sidewalks and walking paths in good condition, has reasonably level terrain, is perceived to be safe, attractive, and has viable destinations within a human scale. Most pedestrians are not long distance hikers, nor are they typically mountain climbers.

To make the question of what makes a "walkable city" even more vague, there are differences between a residential neighborhood and a downtown in terms of walkability.

Using my definition of a "walkable city" as a starting point, let's look at a walkable neighborhood. The first criteria is sidewalks and walking paths. Sidewalks should not be overly steep (think ice). Also, sidewalks should transition smoothly from one slab to another, with no tripping hazards. Sidewalks should be wide enough for pedestrians traveling in opposite directions to pass, and should have ramped intersections. Not exactly rocket science, but the next time you take a walk, take notice whether these things are true.
    
Barriers are another factor. A very common barrier is children who use the sidewalk to play on. Children's play is an often-overlooked use of sidewalks, but unless there is a playground or playlot within reasonable walking distance, children can present as big a barrier as a low, overhanging limb or a depressed or missing section of sidewalk.

This brings us to the next important feature of a walkable neighborhood; distance to destinations. The destination may be a park or playlot, a neighborhood grocery, or a school. If the distance is beyond a comfortable walking distance, a car or bus will be used.

Another feature of neighborhood walkabilty is perceived safety. This often goes hand in hand with aesthetics. If a person doesn't feel safe walking through a neighborhood, he or she will avoid walking through that neighborhood. Trash, buildings in disrepair, blocked vision, poor lighting, and a host of other factors influence the perception of safety.

This translates equally into downtown walkability. Those people loitering on the corner next to the empty storefront with the peeling paint and dirty window may simply be waiting for the Sunday school bus to arrive, but they can give the perception of an unsafe area.

In a downtown, distance has a slightly different meaning. Studies done in the 1990s showed the preferred distance a person will walk from their car to a shopping destination is 75 feet or less. The optimum maximum desirable walking distance to a commercial destination is no more than 400 feet. This is why shopping malls have numerous entries.

To the downtown planner, this means that parking facilities should be spaced no more than 800 feet apart. Store owners and employees should not park directly in front of their own store. (We won't discuss the ethics of parking in front of the competition's store.)  

Walking in a downtown should be comfortable. People get tired. Street furniture can be an important factor in making a downtown walkable for shopping. This is particularly true when the elderly and small children are involved. Sheltered rest areas are expensive, but a welcome feature in wet or cold climates. One thing often not considered when placing street furniture is keeping small children safe. A backed bench which faces the adjacent building, not the street, will help keep small children from suddenly darting into traffic.

Barriers in a downtown include all of the issues mentioned for a residential neighborhood with added concerns. Poorly marked and signalized intersections, abruptly ending sidewalks that force the pedestrian to cross a bridge by walking in traffic, buildings, abutments, and vegetation that create blind spots or worse, force pedestrians into the traffic lanes, are all common barriers to walkability in a downtown.

The last item impacting walkabilty is aesthetics. Walking past a garden or scenic vista is much more desirable than a row of garbage containers. A city doesn't need brand new buildings to be aesthetically attractive. In fact, some of the older buildings are much more interesting. Buildings that are in obvious disrepair, sidewalks that have trash on them, peeling paint, and empty storefronts notable for the number of dead flies in the window all detract from the aesthetics of a city.

I said earlier that a totally walkable city is a quest. The holy grail of this quest is economic. No one safely buys a product while driving 70 miles an hour. Given, while there is always someone with a cell phone who will try, it is only when the car is parked and the driver and passengers have become pedestrians, that they visit shops. Striving for a walkable city makes good economic sense.

Lloyd R. Matthes is the executive director of CUPPAD, the Central Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Regional Commission.