The Win-Win of Walkable Cities - Radical Alignment - Economics + Human Thriving

The best resources and studies on walkable cities encompass a range of design principles and empirical evidence highlighting the benefits of walkability. These resources provide insights into urban planning, design strategies, and the social, economic, and health impacts of walkable environments.
Design Principles for Walkable Cities
1. **Harvard University’s DASH Repository**:
- This study discusses the design dimensions of walkable cities, emphasizing the importance of neighborhood types, access to public transit, and the provision of retail and commercial amenities. It also introduces the concept of "walk appeal," which considers the attractiveness of the route and its surroundings[1].
2. **Project Drawdown**:
- Project Drawdown outlines strategies for increasing walkability through urban design and retrofitting, focusing on encouraging walking as a mode of transportation[3].
3. **Reliance Foundry’s Active Design Guidelines**:
- These guidelines identify five critical design qualities for a good walking environment: imageability, enclosure, human scale, transparency, and complexity. These principles aim to create environments that are visually engaging and comfortable for pedestrians[6].
4. **Smart Cities Dive**:
- The article discusses ten steps to creating walkable cities, emphasizing the need for pedestrian-friendly building faces and environments that engage and entertain pedestrians[7].
5. **Natural Walking Cities**:
- This resource highlights fundamental characteristics that make cities walking-friendly, such as good walking routes, deincentivizing other travel modes, and creating vibrant places with things to see and do[14].
Empirical Evidence on the Benefits of Walkable Cities
1. **Frontiers in Built Environment**:
- The review article from 2021 discusses how walkability relates to health, sustainability, and livability. It emphasizes the long-term health benefits of walking and physical activity as primary incentives for designing walkable cities[2].
2. **Nature Communications**:
- This 2024 study provides a visualization analysis of research progress in walkability, discussing various regional focuses and the application of big data and machine learning in evaluating and enhancing urban walkability[4].
3. **Journal of Urban Health**:
- Research findings suggest that walkable neighborhoods correlate with lower rates of obesity, diabetes, asthma, and heart disease, providing strong empirical evidence of health benefits[13].
4. **Taylor & Francis Online**:
- A study on the happiness of residents in walkable neighborhoods in Dublin found that walkability had direct and indirect effects on residents' happiness, particularly among younger and middle-aged adults[17].
5. **PMC Article on Walkable Communities**:
- This study highlights the impacts on residents' physical and social health, showing improvements in physical activities and social interactions after moving to walkable communities[18].
These resources collectively offer a comprehensive overview of the principles behind designing walkable cities and the tangible benefits such environments provide. They serve as essential references for urban planners, policymakers, and researchers interested in promoting and implementing walkability in urban settings.
Citations:
[1] dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/ha...
[2] www.frontiersin.org/articles/...
[3] drawdown.org/solutions/walkab...
[4] www.nature.com/articles/s4159...
[5] meetingoftheminds.org/6-princ...
[6] www.reliance-foundry.com/blog...
[7] www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/su...
[8] www.climaterealityproject.org...
[9] safety.fhwa.dot.gov/ped_bike/...
[10] www.csus.edu/college/social-s...
[11] naturalwalkingcities.com/reso...
[12] / question_are_walkable_...
[13] www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2021...
[14] naturalwalkingcities.com/how-...
[15] realtorparty.realtor/communit...
[16] www.designforwalkability.com
[17] www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/...
[18] www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
[19] walk21.com/resources/

[@lunatixsoyuz9595]

In Canada, we have the right to mobility. It's one of our fundamental rights that everybody should be allowed and able to go anywhere they want, aside from private property and dangerous or otherwise secure locations. It is the obligation to make it so EVERYBODY, regardless of their physical abilities nor financial abilities, to go where anybody else goes. This includes not being able to walk, or being unable to drive because you can't get a license or can't afford to. This means that walkable cities are a fumdamental right, as you should be free to walk the entire length of your city free of dangers, just like people can drive it. Or at least take a bus if they can't walk.

[@rewindcat7927]

My dude you’re outside and walking on green things breathing outside air and direct sunlight you are taking the whole “touching grass” thing to a new level 😯

[@bollweevil8112]

Is it interesting to you to see humans outside walking?

[@rewindcat7927]

@@bollweevil8112 it’s good to see them taking care of their health and setting a good example for others 😊

[@rewindcat7927]

@@user-wk4ee4bf8g like, participating in the creation of green? Witchcraft!!! 😄

[@ccordyceps]

stop this pointless glazing. hop of the man's jock.

[@rewindcat7927]

@@ccordyceps oh, you 😉

[@ababababaababbba]

grew up in san francisco and found it fuckin surreal once i got old enough to realize that almost every other city in the US wasnt like that, still don't understand why you'd wanna build a city at low density its like just making your life suck for yourself

[@ababababaababbba]

do not know how to drive and im 23, just never learned, use the bus

[@elliotwilliams7421]

Why would you want to live in high density and make tour life suck?

[@andoceans23]

The European economic model, especially in Scandinavia seems to work really well.

[@danibitt59]

I've just came across a 44 yo commercial neighborhood in Barueri - Brazil called 'Centro Comercial', which caught my attention. It's 100% walkable planned city blocks, with good infrastructure, gardens, and packed with bustling shops, restaurants, bars and offices. No illegal street vendors. It's not fancy, but it's just so very nice to hang around away from f* cars.

[@brunodangelo1146]

Dude not owning a car is so much cheaper, it's the most intelligent thing to do in a city. Whenever I need a car, I just do something like Uber. No car bills of any kind, no debt, no gas, no maintenance, no time wasted driving! I can listen to podcasts, watch videos, or even read while being driven around. Less money spent on liabilities means more money to spend on acquiring assets.

[@ccordyceps]

cars only help a person secure the title of "debt-based wagey". cars are a giant trap, and are a massive drain on your pockets. they only help to keep a person poorer, meanwhile the top1% of society that OWNS the car companies get richer. also cars are meaningless status symbols too. walking, public transit (when done right), and small electric bikes & unicycles are the way.

[@anonanon7553]

I wanna do this but what city do you live in? Where I live in Austin. Its just dangerous and there’s lots of pollution.

[@brunodangelo1146]

@@anonanon7553 Move out of the US asap.

[@anonanon7553]

@@brunodangelo1146 easier said than done. My family is here

[@elliotwilliams7421]

No car means less income and less opportunity. Its common sense

[@pandereodium2587]

While I am a driver myself and have multiple categories, I also advocate for no-car city centers and especially no-car residential yards. However I understand the need for commercial vehicles to have access to shops and malls

[@richrogers2157]

Thanks Dave, we need your voice advocating for the future, even though what that future holds is fraught with dark possibilities.

[@vesalaasanen2158]

I see the status value of cars changing rapidly here in Helsinki, Finland. It is actually a preferred status by many to organize your life so that you don't need a car.

[@rewindcat7927]

We’d all do well to sell the car and buy a sauna 🇫🇮💪

[@RadicalAlignment]

That's the status game I want

[@rewindcat7927]

@@RadicalAlignment That’s what I’m talking about *high five*

[@vesalaasanen2158]

@@RadicalAlignment , one example of this is for example parliament members who take pride of using either public transport or bicycle to go to work. One of these guys is now our new president.

[@Tracey66]

I live in a small city in Western Canada - when we moved here 10 years ago, we chose this house specifically because we could (and do) walk to everything here. The United States and Canada need to start with a paradigm shift away from assuming that everything we do will involve a vehicle, and work on making our cities more walkable from there. When we start with the assumption that *everything* is car oriented, that doesn't take us where we need to go.

[@gdok6088]

My daughter and her husband live in London. They have a car, but hardly use it because their neighbourhood (Islington) is walkable and totally self-contained. In addition public transportation is so good, clean and safe that they can easily get to anywhere in wider London using it. They really only use their car for trips out into rural places, although London itself has tons of green space with more trees than people and according to a UN definition, London can be classified as a forest!

[@elliotwilliams7421]

Lies. Tube has loads of crime, is dirty, smelly and full of fumes. High crime in Islington Loads of green space that's noisy, dirty and has loads of knife wars. You know nothing

[@brunodangelo1146]

Over here in Uruguay it's absurd to think about a city not being walkable. I actually can't believe people drove themselves into that corner in the US. Also I recently bought a plot of land (forseeing land becoming more valuable and hard to get your hands on) and I'm making plans to rely entirely on solar and wind energy. My dad lives close and he does that. The area is close to the beach, tons of wind all year long.

[@Pawel_Mrozek]

But in American cities, this corner is several miles away and there is not even a sidewalk to it, so you can't even walk anywhere.

[@brunodangelo1146]

@@Pawel_Mrozek That sounds absolutely dystopian

[@jeffkilgore6320]

One city block! That’s quite a goal. It seems walkable cities could be designed to satisfy most human need, if not all.

[@RadicalAlignment]

In Paris you can get all you daily needs within a block

[@MegaBebb]

Definitely heavy handed when they tried it in a town in my country. They started blocking off roads and preventing people from travelling. It only stopped when people said enough is enough, kicked everyone in their local council to the curb and replaced them. I personally like the idea of everything I need being in walking distance, especially since I can't drive, but I do not trust the people who are enacting these changes

[@RadicalAlignment]

Yes it can be done horribly wrong

[@elliotwilliams7421]

​@@RadicalAlignment nobody has put a working plan forward so iys gonna be a disaster.. Why do you push this experiment?

[@daretobegreat3124]

The problem with many American cities that have grown following the advent of the car is that few people live in the cities but rather in suburbs. Walkable cities require most people live in the cities which is more often the case of cities that were established before the advent of the car.

[@smittywerbenjagermanjensenson]

Assuming we figure out alignment, things like this, solarpunk, cottagecore give me a lot of hope

[@K4IICHI]

I've never owned a car or had a diver's license because I never felt the need for it. In my city, public transit can get you pretty much anywhere, and there's trains when I want to travel. Renting a van when I need to move something heavy is not a problem either. Never understood why so many people are so enthusiastic about having a private vehicle that needs to serviced, washed, insured, fueled/charged etc. I wish my taxes were spent on creating a more livable environment for people rather than maintaining all the car infrastructure.

[@matthewwinward]

I just got into Not Just Bikes videos this week and then you drop this. Is the algorithm boosting walkable cities?

[@RadicalAlignment]

I hope so!

[@averagecanadian420]

Venus project style cities, joque fresco said he got his influence from looking @ a circular gear, I always thought "the line" in Arabia was kind of insane and totally opisit of frescos vision

[@bollweevil8112]

It’s quite frustrating to see such terrible city planning once you know of a much better way. Owning/needing a car extremely harmful in so many ways Traffic circles are also much better than lights in most cases

[@pietervoogt]

People who think this is socialism or whatever should realize that a lot of this needs less regulation, not more. Just choose one street in a suburb and allow shops, cafe's, offices and higher buildings there, and the suburb will just become a village with a main street. It is what the free market produces if you remove regulations.

[@elliotwilliams7421]

Lies

[@Vixth14]

The issue is it can't be forced upon an already existing city without it feeling/being a little tyrannical plus I believe a lot of the cities are lost causes when it comes to sustainability so I think this works if it's done with new cities where people are allowed to own property and it not be rent only

[@weber1209rafael]

Litteraly thinking “wtf are you talking about” then realizing oh yeah I live in the Netherlands, where we have more bicycles than inhabitants 😅😂

[@Reflekt0r]

I feel happier since I've sold my car.

[@fufurabumbacka]

Its 15 minutes city idea :)

[@MilushevGeorgi]

I’m walking Louisville KY with my eight year old as we speak, US cities feel so disjointed and alien

[@AlanArena]

What if I work at nuclear plant? Put another nuclear plant in the city?

[@robertlipka9541]

I need a car to get to mountains and carry my equipment. If you are happy with just walking in your neighborhood, fine. Other people may need transport they can use at immediate notice... and hiring cars for long trips is more expensive than owning one.

[@RadicalAlignment]

Walkable cities doesn't mean you ban cars from existence

[@robertlipka9541]

@@RadicalAlignment ... hopefully not. Hopefully not ban them by stealth by increasing price beyond the reach of an average person. I do walk a lot and hardly use the car most of the time... but when I need it, I want to have it 🙂 There are two points to this, if we want acceptance for these new ideas, people need to be reassured this is a proposal based on choice and does not contain a ban by stealth.

[@DustedAsh3]

Wait, who thinks this is Communist/Socialist? It just makes sense.

[@RadicalAlignment]

American conservatives hate the idea of walkable cities. They think it's too "centralized management"

[@kjmorley]

Imagine a world where not every - single - thing is viewed through a polarized political lense.

[@jeffkilgore6320]

We used to be able to do this.

[@liberteus]

I'm all for walkable cities, if it's not coerced. 15mn cities WEF style, with restrictions to rights, nope. They want to price carbon so high nobody but the very elite will be able to move around. No traffic jams for them, no clogged airports, then their favourite beaches, historic cities etc will be people free and they'll have them all to themselves. Already in Quebec a city is enforcing a "pass" to visit, and you can't leave without showing an id card and paying... With ai and cameras it's going to be even more efficient. Exactly what super rich elite wants, get you out of their way.

[@justinleemiller]

I lived in walkable cities my whole adult life. The most miserable thing about the place I have moved to is the driving 👎

[@Voorhees94sg]

In this respect, Poland is not much different from the United States. After the fall of communism, people were fascinated with the West (especially the USA) and wanted to live like people from these countries. Everyone wanted to have a car because it is a symbol of "freedom and independence". This thinking has become so deeply rooted that even the very proposal to reorganize the city often arouses anger and voices say that these are "stupid ideas of communists from the EU." It's hard to change that.

[@Pawel_Mrozek]

I can't agree. Mentally, there may be a car cult in Poland because there is a large group of boomers who wanabe USA, but cities in Poland are not even remotely as sprawling and car-centric, and public transport is at a completely different superior level than in the states. I live in a medium-sized city in Poland, quite far from the center and I have a car which I rarely use because near my house I have a bus, a tram, a fast train and a city bike, and I still do most of my shopping on foot because everything I basically need is on my street.

[@Pawel_Mrozek]

American cities are mostly lost. I deal with urban planning and I know that changing the regulations will not change anything here. Urban-sprawl has already killed walkability. Walkability is only possible if cities are dense and American cities have rural density. Maybe in cities such as Detroit that have collapsed, it is still possible because there, thanks to the escape of people, more rational space management can be introduced, but in such successful cities as San Francisco, Atlanta, Heuston, Los Angeles, there is no chance for this. You can only mitigate the effects by trying to improve public transport and introducing multi-functional quarters in the downtown, but it will still be far from the comfort that is effortlessly provided by an average European city.

[@ccordyceps]

it would have to be like what David is saying in the video: not 100% walkable, rather you want SOME sorta changes where cities can be more hybrid with some more focus on pedestrians. right now things are far too car dependant. simply throwing your hands up in the air and declaring something as a bust just off a concept & no actual trial seems a little.. well, closed minded is all.

[@crazyeightsable]

i have never had a car.i could never afford to pay for the car and all the expenses that go with it and pay rent and bills and buy food.

[@TurokAgi]

Ight now touch bluegrass 😶

[@3335pooh]

robo taxis will reduce need to own a car and reduce number of cars on the roads

[@aaroncrandal]

The baby was thrown out with the bathwater already in cities that cemented car-centric design.

[@agustinpizarro]

You dont need a 4000 pounds car to move around. You just need a small, light, cheap, but safe, "car" for 1 or 2 people. For 5000$ or less it could be full electric with 50 miles range and quite fast charge. But nobody will BUY it.

[@ThinkAI1st]

Didn’t you post a video sometime ago where you talked about moving “away” from the city. Does that mean your a conservative 😂😂

[@limitisillusion7]

Walkable cities are not something I see developing purposefully. I foresee them being the bi-product of a regenerative agricultural movement and the general economic efficiencies of free-market capitalism. I believe it's going to become increasingly obvious that the soil is where all our problems start, and we are basically going to revert much of our culture back to a communal nature... but with upgrades that our technology has enabled. So instead of everyone working for giant corporations that grow all the food thousands of miles away from the population centers, worker co-ops and unions will create small farms on every corner. The infrastructure will adapt accordingly. In making this reality comes true, consider a simple thought exercise: Picture what your city or town will look like in a utopia and take small steps every day to make that picture come true. Your actions will feed into your community. I consider myself lucky with all the bike trails near me. I can get just about anywhere I need to go in my city with a bike, and I barely have to ride on roads. It might sound strange, but there are places in my hometown that have recently given me deja vu back to some recurring dreams I had in my childhood of beautiful gardens and joyous community squares. It's almost as if those dreams were the seeds of my utopic vision. Just putting the pieces back together...

[@jeffreyh3881]

Walkable cities are great, but please tell the “urban planners” that you don’t create a walkable city by just banning cars or taking away parking spaces.

[@jeffkilgore6320]

I don’t know why you’ve italicized urban planners. That’s a legitimate branch of knowledge. And with that, urban planners are intelligent professionals and would think of something this childish.

[@jeffkilgore6320]

Wouldn’t

[@jeffreyh3881]

@@jeffkilgore6320 because someone that calls themselves an urban planner that’s just focused on banning cars is a plague, not an urban planner.

[@hydrangeadragon]

I think car culture will die off with boomers

[@RadicalAlignment]

Partly. Having been places with real public transit, yes I will say that no one really needs a car if the environment is correct. But USA is indeed huge. But even so, walkable cities don't mean you destroy all cars. Just means you don't need one on a daily basis.

[@agustinpizarro]

Having all the services and products at walking distance is going to be VERY inefficient. You will need to have VERY small shops. Economy of scale!!!

[@fufurabumbacka]

In Europe we have it and its suffitient.

[@agustinpizarro]

@@fufurabumbacka Wasting resources.