To reduce traffic deaths, public transit should be seen as a core part of safety infrastructure, not just an alternative mode of travel. Every day, thousands of car crashes occur in the U.S., resulting in injury or death, yet they receive far less attention than the much rarer crashes involving public transit. For city planners working to reduce roadway fatalities, understanding how these perceptions influence travel choices is critical.
walkability
Emotional perceptions can be a tool for predicting street safety
How a street feels can matter just as much as how it’s physically built. A new study shows that emotional perceptions about whether a street seems inviting, secure, or rundown can help explain safety for people walking or biking—a reminder that planners should think beyond conventional design standards. Road designers should also consider the character and aesthetics of the spaces they create.
For better mental health, researchers recommend walking and biking
Staying grounded and mentally fit can be challenging these days. While some people turn to meditation or self-medication, a large and growing body of research points to a simpler solution: walkable neighborhoods and bike-friendly streets. Not only can they improve physical health, but they also offer meaningful benefits to our social and emotional well-being. As we’ve noted, extended periods driving can have the opposite effect.
Mixed land uses play an important role in social cohesion
Mixed land uses are associated with greater social cohesion, according to a new study. Dense places without diversity, however, can have the opposite effect. As walkable cities become a growing focus of urban planning and decision making, the social impacts on health, vibrancy, and social cohesion are often harder to quantify. The authors use open-source data to quantify and find correlations between urban infrastructure and form types with social cohesion. Understanding these relationships offers insights into the future of urban planning and decision making that balances density, diversity, and community connection.
Dog owners drive more, but policy and design changes could help lessen the need
We all can identify a walkable neighborhood, whether we live in one or know what we expect to see in one: good sidewalks, connectivity to surrounding areas, and many destinations. But new research suggests those considerations might be significantly different for dog owners. Since more than one third of households own dogs, complexity is thrown into concepts like the “15-minute city” or cities designed for all age groups and abilities.
Neighborhood walkability and residential preferences in midsized cities
Many studies have established a significant relationship between walkable neighborhoods and impacts on health and travel behaviors. In the past, most of these studies were based on large metropolitan areas with significant variability in built environment and residential options. A recent study examined relationships between residential preferences, neighborhood walkability, and health implications in a Canadian midsized-city. And, the findings are substantially different from those of similar studies done in large metropolitan areas.
Quantifying the quality and connectivity of sidewalks: walking accessibility indices
With the constant rise in obesity numbers and health concerns, planners and designers around the world are trying to bring back physical activity in day-to-day commuting behavior. Addressing health concerns through active transportation solutions not only brings us a step closer to a healthier community, but is also cost effective. Improving walking access to public transit stations is one such solution and was the theme of a paper published in the May issue of ITE journal.
Canadian study links moving to walkable neighborhood with lower BMI in men
Research in the last ten years has linked walkability, improved pedestrian environments, mixed-use development, and even older housing stock—a proxy for neighborhoods built for walking as opposed to driving—with improved public health measures related to weight. A new longitudinal study from McGill University is the first to study changes in body mass index over a relatively long time period as a function of walkability.
Can parking lot capacity limit transit station capacity?
At some Washington Metro stations, poor walking and biking connections to transit mean that a large percentage of riders drive to the access transit. When the parking lots fill up in the morning, the capacity of the parking lot effectively limits the capacity of the transit station.
Growing public interest in walkable communities, but public sector decision-makers still lag behind
Walkscore, the first website to offer easy-to-use walkability ratings for cities, neighborhoods, and individual properties now has some competition. Walkability, a rating system released this month targets private businesses, particularly those in the marketing, social networking, and real estate sectors.