What's YOUR Walk Score?

Brian Hall clued me in on an interesting "walkable" resource the other day called Walk Score. In addition to interactive mapping that provides a "walk score" from 0 to 100 based on an address, the website only has four sections that provide content. Those are: Why Walking Matters, Walkable Neighborhoods, How It Works, How It Doesn't Work.



The most important thing about Walk Score is that visitors to the website can calculate the walkability of their neighborhood by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc. Unfortunately, there are a few factors that contribute to walkability that are not part of Walk Score's algorithm (something that's admitted on their website): street width, block length, freeways, public transit, safety, aesthetics, and pedestrian-friendly design. Overall, though, Walk Score does a GREAT job of evaluating the walkability of an area.

So ... what's your walk score? The score for my address is 46 out of 100 -- slightly below average, I guess. To find yours, visit Walk Score, enter your address information, and then leave your score in the comments section below.

Video: New Urbanism

The following segment was broadcast on CBS' Sunday Morning program back in May 20, 2007. It highlights a couple of the communities that have become tangible references for the movement called New Urbanism. The CBS segment is well done and appears to be relatively free of bias. Imagine that. Anyways, at a quick six and a half minutes, it's worth your time.

Why I hate CARS

I have to be honest with you ... I hate cars. There, I said it. Yes, cars can be "sexy" and "cool," but so can crack cocaine or being a member of a gang. Just because something is "sexy" or "cool" doesn't make it good, right? My reason for loathing cars boils down to four main points. In general, cars are:

1. Loud
2. Dirty
3. Dangerous
4. Inefficient

What's most unfortunate is that for most us in America, cars are a necessary evil. I can't even begin to imagine asking my family of five with three kids ages five and under to walk two miles to the store. Yes, I know that some kids in Africa walk even further to get to the community well to retrieve water, but that's an unfair comparison on so many levels.

I'll discuss each of these four points in greater detail in the very near future ...

The Five P's

Growing up, I learned a few sayings from my father that I've kept with me throughout the years. One of those goes:

Learn the Five P's: Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance
And another saying akin to that one goes:

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
Ooh ... deep ... I know. Anyways, I was reading through the Project for Public Spaces website (http://www.pps.org/) and found something worth sharing. Here it is:



Now that's what I consider thought-provoking media. I'm not sure if planning communities around people is all that it takes to "get more people;" however, I do believe that the majority of urban planners are brainwashed into planning communities for the heartless, soulless masses of metal that race through widened streets. Fun.

If you're interested in learning what really works, then I highly recommend that you read City Comforts: How to Build and Urban Village. If you have even a slightest concern for the proper planning of communities, then READ THIS BOOK!

I want to WALK

I really shouldn't complain. My family lives in a comfortable home in a really nice neighborhood that's close to a city park (with pool) and a top-rated elementary school. I work about three miles from my home, and on nice days, I can ride my 110 (plus) mile-per-gallon Honda Metropolitan to and from work. All in all, I really shouldn't complain. But alas ... I do. I wish I didn't have to ride anything to work. To be perfectly honest, I'd rather walk.

Call me crazy, but I'd rather walk to work, walk to lunch, and I'd prefer to walk to the store on my walk home to pick up those "Honey, could you pick up ..." items.

In my tiny suburb of Heidelberg, Germany, I remember being able to walk to various places like the ice skating rink (Eishalle), the local Italian ice cafe (Eiscafe), stores like Woolworth, the bread store (Bäckerei), the local meat market (Metzgerei), and so on, all without breaking a sweat or worrying about losing "time." Now I spend countless minutes per week on streets built for cars (not humans) scurrying about town as I try to complete the chores of the day. (sigh) What happened to human-scale communities? Well ... I have a few ideas, but I'll save those for another post.