![]() ![]() Researchers in Toronto found that having 10 more trees on your block has health benefits similar to being seven years younger or making $10,000 more per year. Portland offers it up in spades with the number and frequency of parks and squares downtown, providing ample shade, grassy spaces, and an opportunity to linger and decompress in the busy city. Here in many Portland neighborhoods, every thirty or forty feet, you have a new topic.Īmple studies have been done on the power of biophilia and green in the city. Smaller building widths help contribute to an engaging environment, which is why more people linger in the West Village than the Upper East Side in New York. Steve Mouzon calls this pedestrian propulsion, which makes for Walk Appeal. Opportunities to observe other people is something that incentivizes the walker to move through the environment. We can admire beautiful streetscapes or stunning buildings, but there’s nothing that keeps us moving down the street more effectively than sidewalk cafes, pubs, and shoppers. However, there’s nothing that people find more interesting than other people, making activity on the sidewalk essential for entertaining places. The reflective glazing diminishes the opportunity to see into the shopfront. Depending on the local context, somewhere between 50% and 70% of the frontage needs to be clear glass, to provide an entertaining environment. Clear glazing requires a special order, and therefore an understanding of how important it is to make it happen. The trouble is, when you buy standard shopfront kits, they generally come either reflective or tinted. Working in the delightfully walkable neighborhoods in and around Portland this week, we are reminded of three key elements that create a walkable neighborhood: it has to be entertaining, feel safe, and provide meaningful destinations.īeing able to see into the shopfront is critical to the pedestrian experience. The Surgeon General points out that design and land use are critical components to increasing walkability, but leaves it up to all of us to define what walkability means at home. The purpose of the Call to Action is to increase walking across the United States by calling for improved access to safe and convenient places to walk and wheelchair roll and by creating a culture that supports these activities for people of all ages and abilities.” The Surgeon General noted, “Improving walkability means that communities are created or enhanced to make it safe and easy to walk and that pedestrian activity is encouraged for all people. We are excited to see the high level of understanding in the Surgeon General’s Step It Up call to action last week, to promote walking and walkable communities.
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