Making Walkability Happen: Practice wisdom, derived principles

and ideas for action

M. Katherine Kraft, Ph.D.

September 9, 2014

• Purpose: Use practice wisdom to identify actions that are

essential for developing walkability

• Interviews with seasoned practitioners with recognized

successes (“tribal elders”)

- Reflect on successful projects and identify factors that made them

successful

- Identify key characteristics of walkable communities

• Interviewed to date

Purpose and Methods

Dan Burden

Victor Dover

Mark Fenton

Pete Lagerway

Lauren Marchetti

John Moffat

John Norquist

Jeff Olson

Lynn Richards

Jennifer Toole

Gary Toth

Charlie Zegeer

Developmental Phases to create walkability

Getting Starting and Engaging Community

Assessment Planning and

Priorities

Policies, Zoning and Design Guidelines

Institutionalization, Incentives and Market-based

Effective Approaches and Tactics

Getting Started

Listen and Vision

Develop Champion and

Vision

Walkability Principles

- Guidelines for practice

- Expedite outcomes

- Integrate our work

Defining Walkability

• The extent to which the built and social environment is safe, convenient, and attractive to people living, shopping, enjoying or spending time in an area on foot.

• “We want to build a place that people love.” • “The places we love were not created as a solution to

a traffic problem, they were created to bring joy to humanity.”

What we learned – general observations

Optimistic

“The wind is behind our sails, our task is to figure out how to use it.”

Top down, decide, announce and defend no longer works

“..most successful community change agents are those that listen and inspire.”

What we learned – ideas and actions

Process: How you work with communities

Project: Necessary features/elements

Policies: How we sustain them

How you work with communities: Community Engagement, Cultivating Champions, Finding Vision keepers and Empowering Leaders

“Community members are the true experts of where they live.”

How you work with communities?

Listen and Frame

Inclusive Process

Vision and Values

Leadership Matters

No One Size Fits All

Listen and Frame

Listen to the community and respect the local community traditions and norms

“Make no assumption about what the answer should be.”

“Understand the real community concerns and frame the issue in a way that addresses these concerns.”

“Get a good grounding in the social context of the place.”

An Inclusive Process is Vital

• “A multi-disciplinary team is useful, do not stay in one sector, broaden thinking.”

Vision and Values

Talk about the community vision and values – describe the place in 50 years and 100 years into the future

“One should not do anything in a place if it doesn’t advance the community vision.”

“Best advice is focus on community building and placemaking, then walkability and livability will follow.”

Leadership Matters

Empower a champion, Find a Vision Keeper

“Make it somebody’s job.”

“I think it really comes down to leadership. Leadership in two areas, one that represents political will, and a project champion – someone that feels strongly. Having that one person who lives, breathes this; is more important than political will. “

No One Size Fits All

No single policy solution – No silver bullet

“ Each community has its own traditions, its own culture, its coming from a place already, ….Acknowledge that every single community is going to have a slightly different starting point..respect that and build off of that instead of trying to one size fits all. “

Projects

“Walkability does not appear to happen organically. The machinery of development and re-development will not take you there without a conscious effort.”

Gateway Projects

• Use temporary and lighter, quicker, cheaper projects to show what is possible.

• “We have a mismatch between how people really want to live and the rules and regulations that guide development and land use.”

“Slow the the traffic” “Make the streets beautiful” “Streets are places, return to their multiple purposes.” “It doesn’t really matter what the question is, the answer is a good street network and bringing the buildings to the street.”

Policies and Incentives

• Change the incentive structure so that we move away from auto dependency

• The rules and the money have to steer the community toward healthier designs

In the words of our elders…

“It is not technical….we need the real essence of a social movement, to begin to function like a

movement and support one another. Hundreds of advocacy groups pushing own little niche, try

to create a broader movement.”

Process Principles: Big Idea

• Engage everyone possible, and find champions to push it forward, and eventually create collective community ownership of the vision and the process to get there.

Project Principles: Big Idea

• Mixed land use, an active transportation network, and human scale design that is appealing, safe, and universally accessible are central to walkable, livable places

– Gateway Projects

– Job descriptions

Policy Principles: Big Idea

• The rules and the money have to steer the community toward healthier designs – zoning ordinance must require and reward

compact, mixed-use development

– Roadway design guidelines must fully reflect Complete Streets principles and should create a transportation hierarchy of walking, cycling, transit, and motorized vehicles, in that order

– MPO funding scoring for projects should emphasize the active transportation modes

– Transportation plans and forecasts can not just focus on motor vehicle Level of Service and projections, but must also consider pedestrian, bicycle, and transit Levels of Service

– Parking policies must require that parking “pay for itself”