Public transit is about urban planning, not cutting traffic

Great story in Politico magazine about The Train That Saved Denver. Key take-away: Public transit development isn't simply about helping ease automobile traffic, although that's often how it's billed. Denver's new light-rail network is about creating compelling new neighborhoods where people can easily get from home to jobs, shopping and retail.

Planning the stations and area around the stations turned out to be as critical as the transit network itself. Lessons learned ranged from designing parking areas so commuters don't simply "bee-line from train to cars" without experiencing the surrounding neighborhood to designing new, diverse housing and retail around new stations.

And that neighborhoods should be walkable - from home and/or workplace to shops, restaurants and grocery stores.

"The most valuable real estate out there is the 'walk to coffee' environment," notes Marilee Utter at the Urban Land Institute.

MIT project uses sensors to measure pedestrian appeal of urban space

The MIT Media Lab's Placelet project will "track how pedestrians move through a particular space," according to The Atlantic's CityLab. Researchers are developing "a network of sensors that will track the scale and speed of pedestrians, as well as vehicles, over long periods of time. The sensors, which they are currently testing in downtown Boston, will also track the 'sensory experience' by recording the noise level and air quality of that space."

These strategies really work to bring new life to aging urban downtowns

Don't miss this great roundup over at Journalist's Resources on what truly works for revitalizing urban cores. Among the proven strategies for communities large and small:

Start with core residential development -- "an influx of new residents encourages and supports the creation of new amenities" such as stores and schools.

Create "viable neighborhoods" that include things besides housing, such as retail, restaurants, cultural attractions and good transportation links to nearby centers for jobs and entertainment/culture.

"Develop pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure. Appealing to car-free residents and visitors has been found to have social, health and economic benefits — for example, a 2012 study from Portland State University found that they spent more at local businesses than motorists." As I've been saying for years, creating an appealing pedestrian streetscape matters. Adding greenery helps too.

"Contain sprawl. Researchers of a 2007 study find that successful containment of sprawl and suburbanization was positively associated with strong economic and physical regeneration of city centers and downtowns. "

Read the full roundup at Urban regeneration: What recent research says about best practices.

How can we create a more active and vibrant downtown Framingham?

Framingham is having a drop-in meeting tonight to get ideas on how we can "create a more active and vibrant center in Downtown Framingham." Some of the questions they're asking:

• What businesses would you like to see in Downtown?
• Are there opportunities to encourage more people to live in Downtown?
• What rules should guide new development, and how can our transportation systems support it? 

All good questions, but in order to make "an active, walkable, safe and vibrant Downtown," there's got to be a lot of emphasis on walkable. And that means creating an attractive, appealing, compelling streetscape that makes people want to stroll to multiple destinations instead of visiting one place, turning around and leaving. 

Without that, getting another new business won't help -- anyone who goes to that business won't go anywhere else; they'll just come and go. And even if you could attract more people to live downtown, they'll get in their cars and drive places if there's not an environment that entices them to walk.

The train station already draws people downtown, but there's simply no synergy that attracts them elsewhere. That's because the critical corridor between the train station and many downtown businesses is not one that encourages people to stroll -- and not only because it's unattractive.

"While many factors contribute to [pedestrian] comfort of a place, the most significant is probably its degree of architectural enclosure -- the amount that it makes its inhabitants feel held within a space," write Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Jeff Speck in Suburban Nation. While downtown Framingham was not designed in a post-WWII sprawl pattern, in fact much of downtown also suffers from a lack of attention to what will entice people to walk around.

"People are attracted to places with well-defined edges and limited openings, while they tend to flee places that lack clear definition or boundaries," Duany, Plater-Zyberk and Speck continue. "For this reason, the most effective technique for designing successful urban spaces is to think of them as outdoor living rooms. To feel like a room, a street must have relatively continuous walls, whose design calls attention to the space as a whole rather than to individual buildings. . . .

"If a street is to provide the sense of enclosure that the pedestrians desire -- if it is to feel like a room -- it cannot be too wide. To be precise, the relationship of width to height cannot exceed a certain ratio, generally recognized to be about 6:1. If the distance from the building front to building front is more than six times the height of those building fronts, the feeling of enclosure is lost, and with it the sense of place."

"Sense of enclosure" definitely doesn't define Rte. 135 around the train station! One low industrial building set far back from the street can ruin the entire area. Why not try at least to landscape the sidewalk-facing edges of such parking lots?

Other issues of note: The area immediately around the library does not signal to patrons that they should be strolling and enjoying nearby retail the way the library in downtown Natick is so obviously surrounded by retail. Panza Shoes is a regional destination store and it should be surrounded by several other destination retail sites on that same block instead of the hodge-podge of storefronts that are there now. Pho Dakao, the new Vietnamese restaurant downtown, is drawing patrons; a priority should be surrounding it with some other businesses that are open during the dinner hour and would appeal to people going to or leaving from dinner, instead of having people walk by a bunch of shuttered storefronts.

The potential of Framingham State to energize downtown Framingham is lost, too, because there's not an appealing pedestrian corridor between the campus and downtown, nor a great sense of place if students wanted to drive/take a shuttle bus and then walk around.

There are some useful examples here of how important aesthetics are in planning:

http://www.miami21.org/IllustratedGoodPlanning.asp

I realize that professional planners in Framingham and at MAPC know these things, but for whatever reason, we have not been able to implement them successfully in downtown Framingham to date. But until residents and Town Meeting Members as well as professional planners understand that these kinds of aesthetics are not frills, but are absolutely essential if we are ever to transform downtown into a compelling destination, revitalization can only go so far.

Walkable communities are better for your health

Latest data on how walkable communities are better for your health: "More compact and connected street networks with fewer lanes on the major roads are correlated with reduced rates of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease among residents," according to research published in the Journal of Transport & Health.

Imagine that: If you don't have to drive everywhere but instead can walk or bike, you're likely to be healthier.

"The study also found a correlation between wider streets with more lanes and increased obesity and diabetes rates," says a University of Colorado-Denver press release about the study. "The reason, the researchers said, was that wider streets may be indicative of an inferior pedestrian environment.  The presence of a 'big box' store also tends to be indicative of poor walkability in a neighborhood and was associated with a 13.7 percent rise in obesity rates and a 24.9 percent increase in diabetes rates."

The study controlled for food environment, land uses, commuting time, socioeconomic status and street design.

"Physical activity is not just concerted exercise time and deliberate recreation. It’s about ways of life," notes The Atlantic in an article about this data.

Suburbs don't appeal: Young adults want more urban environments

Suburbs are losing their young adult population as the number of 25- to 44-year-olds are declining -- especially in affluent communities, says this article in the New York Times looking at US Census data.

Is it because this generation simply doesn't want a lifestyle that revolves around the automobile? Or are they just delaying their move to the 'burbs by marrying and starting families later? Hard to say from the data alone, but one thing is clear: If suburban communities want to attract and keep young adults, they need to provide a lifestyle that doesn't require a car for every errand. Some tactics:

Long Beach, N.Y., with a year-round population of 33,000, has also been refreshing its downtown near the train station over the last couple of decades. The city has provided incentives to spruce up signage and facades, remodeled pavements and crosswalks, and provided more parking. A smorgasbord of ethnic restaurants flowered on Park Avenue, the main street.

Which makes Framingham's long-overdue downtown facelift well times. Without an appealing streetscape, places to walk to and public transportation, it will be tough to attract 25- to -44-year-old middle-class residents to live downtown.

Recipe for revitalizing public spaces

How do you deal with an urban space that's "become known for petty crime, drugs, and homelessness"? That was the issue facing an area of Boston Common of Park and Tremont streets. In Brewer Plaza, Reborn, the Boston Globe's Renee Loth outlines how now visitors are flocking to the area to enjoy this "outdoor living room," thanks to work by both the city of Boston and non-profit Friends of the Public Garden.

The recipe for success "is a case study in what makes some public spaces work and others wither," Loth writes. Among the ingredients?

* Not trying to get rid of unsavory characters but "figuring out a way to flood the area with the people you do want there," former project manager Ted Furst told Loth.

* Renovating a fountain, improving landscaping and lighting -- things that the short-sighted view as frills but are absolutely essential to creating an appealing public space.

* Movable furniture, allowing people to decide how to group the seating and whether it's in sun or shade.

* Programming entertainment and attracting food trucks.

If you're at all interested in maximizing the potential of public space, this piece is well worth a read.

Sprawl leads to more pedestrian deaths as well as fewer walkers

Greater sprawl leads to a higher pedestrian death rate  -- not jusr fewer people out walking. From the New York Times:

Urban sprawl comes with numerous liabilities, among them, as it happens, a heightened risk of pedestrian death, which may not seem entirely obvious given that you are infinitely more likely to see people walking around Manhattan than you are to see people walking around Atlanta. Data in a coming report from the National Institutes of Health indicate that for every 1 percent increase in a city’s compactness index, essentially a measure of its density, there is a 1.9 percent drop in the pedestrian fatality rate, adjusted for exposure. The more miles traveled by car in a particular place, the greater the chance of accident, as Reid Ewing, the report’s lead researcher and a professor of city and metropolitan planning at the University of Utah, said.

5 years of traffic fatalities visualized

These data visualizations of traffic deaths include several showing deaths involving pedestrians. One clear pattern: Pedestrian risk rises sharply around dusk

.

Great reason to green up vacant lots

Residents feel safer when living near a vacant lot that's been "greened," instead of glass-strewn dirt or concrete, according to a study by the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. And, reported crimes around such greened lots may be reduced.

Another sign that making an appealing streetscape isn't a frill; it's essential for quality of life.

People pay more for walkable communities

"Today, the most valuable real estate lies in walkable urban locations," according to this analysis in the New York Times. Values for commercial and residential real estate in the Washington, D.C. metro area

"increase as neighborhoods became more walkable, where everyday needs, including working, can be met by walking, transit or biking. There is a five-step “ladder” of walkability, from least to most walkable. On average, each step up the walkability ladder adds $9 per square foot to annual office rents, $7 per square foot to retail rents, more than $300 per month to apartment rents and nearly $82 per square foot to home values."

And this likely applies elsewhere, with examples such as Seattle, where a downtown neighborhood once priced the same as suburban Redmond is now valued almost 50% higher.

Those claiming to be free-market supporters of suburban sprawl argued against smart-growth zoning because they said Americans didn't want it. What's the argument now?

More details from Walk this Way: The Economic Promise of Walkable Places in Metropolitcan Washington, D.C., Brookings Institute.

Framingham Planning Board: Stephanie Mercandetti

We've got an open seat on the Framingham Planning Board with two write-in candidates mounting serious campaigns. I'm supporting Stephanie Mercandetti. If you live in Framingham and care about creating a more livable community, I hope you'll write in Stephanie Mercandetti in this Tuesday's Framingham town election, too.

Stephanie says she supports the "Complete Streets" model of community planning. This takes a full view of design -- making sure people can move safely whether by motor vehicle, walking or bicycling. This type of planning would, say, look at a retail center and see if there's a way to design a streetscape that would encourage walking between, say, Shoppers World and the movie theater as well as making sure there is adequate traffic flow and parking, instead of designing a center where most people get in their cars and drive less than a quarter of a mile because it feels too dangerous to try to cross the streets.

She is former local affairs director for state Sen. Dave Magnani and is now economic development and grants officer for the Town of Walpole. "She favors better planning, a team approach to economic development, and a permitting process that is timely and transparent," noted the MetroWest Daily News in endorsing her.

Framingham would be well served to have another knowledgeable planning professional on the Board in Stephanie Mercandetti.

How to reduce our "epidemic of preventable pedestrian deaths"

In 15 of the country's largest metro areas, pedestrian deaths increased even as overall number of traffic deaths fell, according Transportation for America's new study, Dangerous by Design 2011.

Why? Walker safety simply isn't taken seriously by most governments. Pedestrian fatalities account for nearly 12% of total traffic deaths, but states only spend 1.5% of available federal funds for improving pedestrian safety, Transportation for America concludes. Many of these deaths occurred on roads "with little or no provision for people on foot, in wheelchairs or on bicycles." You can see an interactive map of locations with reported pedestrian fatalities on the Transportation for America Web site.

In fact, walking is not an optional activity for many people, any more than driving is. Yet non-auto transportation simply doesn't come into consideration in so many places across the U.S., from roads designed for driving only to to snow removal for vehicles only (far from making sidewalks clear for walking, many communities actually worsen the pedestrian experience in winter by piling snow at corners where people usually walk).

I went to see a friend in Switzerland last month and the contrast was dramatic. In every city and small town we visited, there were walking areas that were safe and appealing. It was easy to get from a train station in one town to her apartment nearby in another town without a car, either by bus along a major road or a beautiful pedestrian path between the towns. In how many American suburbs is it easy to walk from a station in one town to home in another? In Framingham, it feels dangerous to walk from one shopping center to another, if that involves crossing Rte. 30 or Rte. 9.

Two-thirds of pedestrian fatalities in the US occurred on major roads that are eligible to receive federal funding, the study notes. Transportation for America suggests several changes to the next federal transportation spending bill that could help reduce the number of walker fatalities in America, such as demanding that streets be designed for safe use by pedestrians, cyclists, public transportation users and motorists alike.

Your ideas for the future of 495/MetroWest

What transportation needs should be addressed in the region? (The ability to walk places, of course!) Where should open space be preserved? How to ensure continued economic prosperity? Share your input at one of two public forums sponsored by the 495/MetroWest Development Compact, an initiative of the Patrick-Murray administration: Wednesday, June 15 at Westborough HS (90 W Main St) or Tuesday, June 21 at the Boxborough Holiday Inn (242 Adams Place). There will be an informal open house at each meeting from 5-7 pm and the public meeting is slated from 7 to 9:15 pm.

Want to go? RSVP to info@495partnership.org.

Yet more data: Walkable neighborhoods improve health

Australia's Institute of Health is the latest organization to discover that living in a walkable neighborhoods decrease the likelihood that you'll be obese.

Imagine that: If you get out and walk places instead of spending more time sitting in a car, it helps burn calories and improve your health. Who would have guessed?

From the latest study, courtesy of the Herald Sun:

Australians living in more populated neighbourhoods with well-connected streets and shops within easy walking distance were more likely to be active and less likely to be obese, the report found. The proximity of recreation facilities, parks and open spaces, good footpaths, pedestrian crossings, less - and slower - traffic, and feelings of safety and security were also important factors associated with lower obesity.

Boston group to invigorate the Common

Great news in today's Boston Globe about a plan to rejuvenate a portion of Boston Common.

In addition to important cosmetic changes such as repairing concrete and planting trees, there are plans for patio tables & chairs; a piano keyboard for lunchtime music; "reading room" with magazines, newspapers and books; chessboard & checkerboard rental and, in a nod to the 21st century, free Wi-fi.

"It's going to be like a Parisian park," Elizabeth Vizza with Friends of the Public Garden told the Globe.

It is heartening to see some serious attention being paid to upgrade a public space, especially in a time when spending on public anything is being slashed. Public spaces such as the Common and Public Garden are the heart and soul of a city. Attracting people to use them brings not only life, but a feeling of safety, to urban spaces. It improves the quality of life for people living and working nearby, as well as the overall appeal of a place. If you think about the neighborhoods that people most want to visit in Boston - Back Bay, Beacon Hill, the North End -- they tend to be not only attractive, but pedestrian-friendly with highly inviting streetscapes.

I'm just back from a trip to Raleigh, North Carolina. In downtown Raleigh, one main street leading to the capitol building, Fayetteville Street, was walker-friendly, with outdoor tables & chairs, lights on the trees, a reasonable streetscape, and restaurants. The ambiance clearly said "we expect people to be walking here." And they did. However, nearby streets radiated all the things that make a walker naturally uncomfortable: streets that were too wide with buildings that were either set back too far or had no windows looking out, depriving pedestrians of the "sense of enclosure" we naturally crave. Not surprisingly, most of them were nearly deserted of foot traffic, even on a sunny, 74-degree March day. I'd guess the retail rents were higher on Fayetteville Street than nearby.

In any case, I'm looking forward to the new Boston Common, giving the city another appealing outdoor destination to enjoy when the weather gets nice.

America's Most Walkable Cities - the data

There's a nice post by smart-growth advocate Richard Florida pulling together a couple of different data points to find America's most walkable cities.

The top city by both Walkscore.com and Nate Berg's calculations on number of above-average walkable neighborhoods: San Francisco. Order differs on numbers 2-4 but the cities are the same: Boston, Philadelphia and New York.

Florida also notes that a majority of Americans say they'd prefer living in walkable neighborhoods. And, he points out that researcher Joe Cortright has demonstrated that "housing prices have held up better in more walkable communities."

Why don't more of us live in walkable neighborhoods when the data are so compelling? Partly because zoning makes it much easier to build a conventional suburban-sprawl subdivision than a walkable neighborhood. And, partly because you often get more for your money in a sprawling subdivision in the exurbs than a walkable neighborhood in, say, Wellesley or Concord center. Note that a "pedestrian-friendly neighborhood" is not the same as "densely populated." Safe and attractive streetscapes are required for a neighborhood to truly be walkable.

'Big box' retailers don't generate as much property tax revenue as you might think

A 'big box' store like Wal-Mart coming to town may look like a local tax revenue windfall. But according to an analysis of property tax revenue per acre in Sarasota county, Fla., such pedestrian-hostile developments "produce barely more than a single family house; maybe $150 to $200 more a year," Citiwire.net reports. "(Think of all those acres of parking lots.)"

Meanwhile, a high-rise mixed-use project downtown contributed $800,000 in local property tax per acre, compared with $22,000 per acre for high-end retail shopping mecca Southgate Mall (Macy's, Saks Fifth Ave., etc.)

"Indeed, that three-quarters of an acre of in-town urban-style development is worth more property tax revenue than a combination of the 21-acre WalMart supercenter and the 32-acre Southgate Mall."

That's from a presentation by Peter Katz, director of Smart Growth/Urban Planning for Sarasota county. (See charts/stats from the property tax per acre analysis).

There may be less parking acreage in eastern Massachusetts than Florida, but nevertheless, this is one interesting and useful way to view the value of various developments. Yes, there are plenty of other factors to consider (like generating employment, cost of public services, etc.) But it can be too tempting to look at the total value of property tax per development, without considering what benefits other uses might generate on the same amount of property.

5 reasons why this pedestrian trail really works: Ogunquit's Marginal Way

Along the Marginal Way

Yes, Ogunquit, Maine's Marginal Way has spectacular views of the ocean along the full 1.25-mile walking path, and that's certainly a key reason why so many people use it. Not every community is so fortunate to have such breathtaking scenery for a trail. However, there are many other towns with beautiful coastlines, but without the popularity of Ogunquit's. (One might argue at the height of summer that perhaps it's too popular, but that's a discussion for another time.) It's not only the views that make the Marginal Way such an appealing walking environment.

Here are 5 other reasons it works so well, which can be applied to other trails without gorgeous vistas:

* Appealing destinations at both ends. When you walk the Marginal Way, you're not only enjoying the views; you also end up someplace, well, worth ending up: walkable Ogunquit town center on one end; walkable Perkins Cove at the other. (And those who  don't want to make a roundtrip  can hop a trolley bus at either end.) Something to think about when designing railtrails.

* Easy entrance/exit at several points along the trail, not just each end. There are clear, well-marked and attractive ways to join the trail at several points besides the start and finish. So you know you're not trapped (or force to cut through places you're not necessarily meant to be) when you start out.

* Not cut off from town. When you think nature trail, you might think of paths that go through woods or other nature areas, far removed from the sights and sounds of a city. However, the Marginal Way works so well for pedestrians of all types and not simply nature hikers, precisely because it's not cut off from the community. While nature is on one side, the town is very much on the other. And the homes and yards looking out at the trail help give it a feeling of safety. It's the same reason why having windows of homes or businesses close to a sidewalk in a city center makes for a much more appealing walking environment than a garage door or blank wall.

Bench along the Martinal Way

* Benches along the way. Those benches allow people who may not want to walk the full length at once not to be intimidated by the trail; and having a lot of people relaxing along the way also makes for a nicer environment for those out for a stroll.

* Great upkeep. Trash is picked up, plants are well trimmed, weeds are kept at bay. A well maintained trail also feels safer and more appealing than one with litter and out-of-control plants invading the walking area.

Better streetscapes lead to more walking

Add Scientific American to the list of those saying we need aesthetically pleasing streetscapes to encourage more walking.

Says a recent podcast:

"According to Andrew Furman of Ryerson University in Toronto [http://bit.ly/dr76ot] . . .  in many places in North America it’s just not that nice to walk. But if cities and suburbs put more effort into building better pedestrian routes, he says more people might leave their SUVs at home."

And as I mentioned and Brett commented on a recent post, European cities and towns make much more of an effort at this -- not only with effective transit systems, but with communities designed with walking in mind, not simply driving.

"With its older cities, Europe is more amenable to meandering. Think cobblestone streets and hidden gardens. But North American cities and suburbs are more modern and car-centric, which generally forces pedestrians and cyclists to always take the same, boring path from A to B," Scientific American agrees.

Attractive pedestrian paths aren't a frill. They're vital to get people out of cars and walking from place to place.