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URBANITY |
URBAN FABRIC TRANSIT | MYTHS |
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What is a Walkable Community? Walkable Communities are places in which most trips are made without a car. |
Walkable |
Automobile-Oriented |
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Click on pictures for more information |
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Over the last 80 years, America has undergone a transformation from a walkable nation to an automobile-oriented nation. This transformation was not the inevitable result of market forces, or of an American "love affair with the automobile". It resulted from a set of policies at all levels of government that favor automobiles over all other modes of transportation, and ensure that all development is automobile-oriented. The costs of this transformation have been enormous, not just in monetary terms, but also in social and environmental terms.
The solutions to these problems lie in transforming America's car-based transportation system into a balanced transportation system, and transforming America's suburban environment into an urban environment.
Walkable places are not only the centers of large cities: a rural village or a small town can be walkable, so can a neighborhood of a larger town or city.
Characteristics of Walkable and Automobile-Oriented Areas |
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WALKABLE |
AUTOMOBILE-ORIENTED |
| Good Transit Services. | Poor Transit services or none at all. |
| Sidewalks on all streets. | Sidewalks on some streets, but not all. |
| Interconnected streets. | Hierarchical street patterns. |
| Few highways. | Extensive highway networks. |
| Limited parking, mostly paid for. | Unlimited free parking. |
| Mixed land uses. | Zoned, or segregated land uses. |
| Towns and cities consist of a downtown surrounded by neighborhoods. | Towns and cities have no discernible centers. |
| Neighborhoods have a variety of housing types, and non-residential land-uses such as schools and grocery stores are included. | Housing developments are single-use, single-income, and more spread out. |
| Downtown is at the main transit hub, and is the center of retail, business, entertainment and government, with some residences. | Primary functions such as airports, malls, office parks and sports arenas are located at major highway interchanges. |
| Retail on ground floor of buildings with apartments or offices above. | Retail in single-story buildings surrounded by parking, offices sometimes multi-story. |
