How Can We Make our Communities more Walkable?
A guest post by Jonathan Desmarais
Today, I’m excited to share a guest blog post written by Jonathan Desmarais. Jon loves to walk and cares about walkability. He’s a former Main Street manager who leads walkability audits and does other consulting work. I recently met with him for a walk in my Pittsburgh neighborhood. We had a great chat as I showcased the historic South Side. Something I love about Jon is that he’s always looking for ways to build others up, share resources, and make connections. Thankfully, for me, he’s read and recommended Deciding on Trails.
Here’s his post (which also appears on his website), followed by links to a couple more of my hand-picked posts and a Gratitude Note from Jon. Oh, and if you prefer audio just hop back up to the top for the audio version!
Jon’s Post:
At this point, the evidence for making communities more walkable* is pretty overwhelming. Walkable communities are more healthy, more equitable, more financially secure, more safe, more happy, more attractive, more sustainable, and more relational.
But how can we make our communities more walkable?
Should we petition our local governments? Seek out grant opportunities? Recruit walk and bike-friendly businesses? Activate more outdoor dining and public gathering spaces? Apply best practices of tactical urbanism? Share economic data from communities with high Walk Scores? Install more public art?
Yes, of course.
But none of this really matters if the community does not have a walking culture. If nobody walks, bikes, or rolls around town, all of our best efforts to increase walkability will fall on deaf ears, lack support, and lose their effectiveness.
Increase demand, y'all!
Now, I'm not saying that you should start walking and biking everywhere, especially if your community's infrastructure doesn't support it. Please don't try to cross a dangerous 8-lane road Frogger style in hopes that your presence will make the hundreds of drivers speeding by stop and think, "ya know, I should be nicer and more accommodating to pedestrians," or "golly, I should show up to my next City Council meeting and petition for better and safer pedestrian initiatives like raised crosswalks, narrower driving lanes, or speed cameras."
It doesn't work. Trust me, I tried.
But what I am saying is that maybe you could leave the car in the garage and just walk to your friend's house a few doors down the street. I mean, we do this every year en masse for Trick or Treating. Why can't we do it year-round (without the costumes, unless you're into that sort of thing...).
Maybe you could dust off your bike and pedal to work using your local rail trail.
Instead of driving to the gym, just walk to the gym (double the exercise!).
Skip the Uber and take the extra 5-10 minutes to walk to your next destination.
Organize a downtown walking pub tour. Hooray, supporting locally-owned small businesses! Hooray, beer!
Walk more. Bike more. Drive less. Now, you may be saying, that I'm just a dreamer, but to quote/paraphrase John Lennon, "I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join me."
*I'm defining "walkable" as the ability to walk, bike, roll, stroll, saunter, etc. (really, just anything that doesn't require the use of traffic-inducing, carbon emitting, community-destroying vehicles).
Amy’s Other Picks
Here are a couple more of my recommended posts from Jon’s site:
Leave it to Beaver (PA) (my home county)
Gratitude Note
This is the part of the post where I normally express whatever gratitude I’m feeling in the moment. Jon was game for doing the same! From Jon:
I am so grateful for the growing advocate community for pedestrians, cyclists, and assisted mobility, that I have been able to connect with over the past few years. There are so many individuals that I have been able to work with and learn from; individuals who are working tirelessly each and everyday to make their communities more walkable, more accessible, and more equitable. Their stories and their work ethic inspire me.