Savannah’s Victorian District is among 10 neighborhoods recently chosen by the American Planning Association’s for recognition in its Great Places series. Other neighborhoods on the list are in Oakland; Denver; Washington, D.C.; Dorchester, Mass.; Jackson, Miss.; St. Louis; Albany, N.Y.; Richmond,…
Tag: Pedestrianism
Atlanta’s Beltline: here to stay, expanding, and looking pretty cool
I don’t know enough about Atlanta’s geography or the particulars of the Beltline to say anything original about the project to create a ring of trails around the city. But my fellow blogger Ed at Peach Pundit says: “At the…
New Orleans’ St. Charles Avenue — a perfect street design for changing times
I was in New Orleans for a few days last week and traveled routinely on St. Charles Avenue. Cursory web searches didn’t turn up the date that St. Charles was first laid out, but it’s obviously a key connector that…
Allison Arieff in the NYT: Reading the City
Really great post by Allison Arieff, a design and architecture writer at the NYT: Reading the City – NYTimes.com
Washington Post: Walkability increasingly important real estate market driver in DC area
“‘Walkable’ is a feature sparking sales and energizing future development and redevelopment, according to a recent report by a George Washington University professor that calls the Washington area a national model for compact urban areas where residents can live and work without cars.”
Chatham County looks to raise fines for drivers violating crosswalk laws
Chatham County Commissioners, concerned primarily with drivers not yielding as required to pedestrians on roads like Johnny Mercer Boulevard in the unincorporated county, appear to be taking a modest step to increase fines against motorists who violate the law. From Eric Curl’s Ordinance aims to hike driver fines in Chatham County in today’s Savannah Morning News: [. . .]
Ogeechee Road and pedestrian deaths: street design matters
Another pedestrian was killed by a car yesterday on Ogeechee Road. I say “another” because such deaths have become depressingly routine on Ogeechee Road/Highway 17.
Good urban design = More human connections
I’ve been writing and reading a lot lately about urban design issues — especially streets.
Thanks to a Twitter post, I found Is Bad Urban Design Making Us Lonely? at The Atlantic Cities, which included a link to a lengthy and well-researched study of urban design and social connections in Australia: “Social Cities” by Jane-Frances Kelly for the Grattan Institute.
Tom Vanderbilt in “Slate”: “How America can start walking again”
I’ve already posted a few Savannah-centric comments about as well as links to Traffic author Tom Vanderbilt’s 4-part series in Slate about walking in America. My posts are here, here, and here. Why do Americans walk less than most other…
Walk Score: Slate series on pedestrian issues weighs validity of widely used metric
Tom Vanderbilt, in the 3rd part of his excellent 4-part series on pedestrianism and walking in America, focuses on Walk Score, “the company that tracks the “walkability†of locations around the world.”
Tom Vanderbilt on pedestrian habits in part 2 of “Slate” series
From Tom Vanderbilt’s Sidewalk Science; The peculiar habits of the pedestrian, explained:
[William “Holly”] Whyte, in his films of New York City street life, identified the street corner as an important factor in urban dynamics. Here was a zone of serendipity where people encountered one another beneath the blinking walk man, where they paused to chat before parting, where they formed small convivial islands just as pedestrian flow was surging most strongly.
Tom Vanderbilt, author of “Traffic”, on “The Crisis in American Walking”
Slate is in the midst of publishing a four-part series by Tom Vanderbilt, author of the acclaimed book Traffic, about pedestrianism — or just plain old walking — in America.
Vanderbilt’s opening from part one — The Crisis in American Walking; How we got off the pedestrian path — might be especially interesting to readers here in Savannah [. . .]