Planning Commissioners Journal

American Makeover's SPRAWLANTA

You may recall that in March we reported on American Makeover, a film project contrasting sprawl to new urbanism. As the producers said "Our project is to visit six cities across America to create six short 'webisodes' about new urbanism. Each episode will profile an actual town or neighborhood, giving viewers a first-hand look at new urbanism and what its like to live there."

I need to note that the Planning Commissioners Journal is a backer of the American Makeover project. Having said that, I think the first episode -- SPRAWLANTA -- is very effective. But judge for yourself:

The first half of the video uses experts to set the context, calling the Atlanta metro area "the poster child of suburban sprawl," "the fastest growing settlement in the history of the planet," "the most toxic city in the country," where the average worker "drives 66 miles a day," and where in 2008 "over 60 pedestrians were killed and over 1,000 injured." 

Interestingly, the issue most strongly hammered home is the adverse health impacts from sprawl. This should resonate with many viewers.

The second half of the video then looks at one new urbanist project, Glenwood Park. Through this example, key new urbanist principles are described: walkability; mixed uses; garages in the back; and so on. 

The wrap up explains how compact, traditional development can address the problems cited at the start of the video. Again, the primary focus is on health.

To me, American Makeover is advocacy video at its best. Yes, the video has a point of view. No, it doesn't delve into the complexities and shadings of various issues. That's simply not possible in nine minutes. 

The aim of the video is to grab the attention and reach those Americans who may have a vague sense that something is wrong with the way many of our cities have developed. That's the target audience, not planners or urban designers who are already convinced that sprawling development is a problem and new urbanism one important solution. But it's up to planners, architects, and others to support efforts like this that will get the message out to the broader public.

Take a minute now to learn more about American Makeover and how you can support the project.

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The belief that health and quality of life are shaped by the physical environment brought together public sanitation advocates, settlement house workers, architects, and landscape architects at the first American national conferences on city planning in 1909 and 1910. Public health advocates focused on improving waste disposal, assuring light and air to homes, providing clean food and water, and making available safe play areas. Supporters of the "City Beautiful" idea promoted construction of wide tree-lined boulevards and urban parks and plazas.

Common ground was found on key issues such as limiting building height. Public health advocates saw this as a way of assuring light and air to buildings and to the streets below, while City Beautiful proponents viewed height limits as a way of lending visual unity and human scale to the city.

Public health was at the heart of efforts by reformers in the mid-to-late 19th century to improve conditions in tenement housing. As a result of their advocacy, New York State and City passed a series of increasingly strict tenement house laws. The first of these, enacted in 1867, required that at least one toilet or privy be provided for every 20 people, to be connected to sewers where available. Subsequent laws set minimum standards for lot width, room size, and amount of light and ventilation.

The advent of the small electric motor made it possible for many structures originally built as warehouses or residences to be put to industrial use. This greatly increased the number of people in buildings with inadequate fire escapes. The consequences were tragically illustrated by the 1911 Triangle Fire in New York City, in which over 100 working women perished. 

In response, New York and other cities established building occupancy and land use controls. Within just a few years, New York integrated its various building and land use regulations (including restrictions on building height, setbacks, and yards) into a single citywide ordinance, the Zoning Resolution of 1916.

Mass ownership of the automobile in the 1920s brought with it dangers as well as benefits. As auto accidents and pedestrian fatalities increased, emphasis on keeping through-traffic out of residential neighborhoods, separating pedestrian and auto traffic, and accommodating projected future traffic came to dominate American planning (and continue to dominate planning agendas to this day).

Air quality as a factor in community planning was of little concern until an air inversion in St. Louis in October 1939 created a major public health hazard. In response, St. Louis added an element to its zoning that restricted industrial air emissions. Another infamous killer smog occurred in the steel town of Donora, Pennsylvania in 1948. View video from the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette below.

The most effective effort to improve air quality occurred in Pittsburgh. Indeed, Pittsburgh's progress in cleaning its air triggered the city's renaissance, allowing it to attract investment and broaden its economic base.

The Environmental Protection Agency, created in 1970, implemented broad-scale federal programs to improve air and water quality, and spawned state and local environmental protection efforts. Large-scale regional threats to public health and safety, such as hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes led to creation of the Federal Emergency Management Administration to coordinate relief and reconstruction. The terrorist strikes of September 11, 2001, have lent a new urgency for planners (among others) to take into account public safety concerns.

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For more on related topics, see the following articles from the Planning Commissioners Journal:

Community Aesthetics and Planning (by Gerckens)

What Do We Mean By "Safe"

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design

Safewalks

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Text by Laurence C. Gerckens, FAICP. Illustration by Paul Hoffman.
Text & illustration copyright Champlain Planning Press, Inc. | contact: pcjoffice@gmail.com

Will Toddlers Be Envious of British Seniors?

As a baby boomer, I'm ready to head over to London to try this out! And, yes, it will be fun to be watched by a cluster of envious toddlers.

For full BBC story, London's Hyde Park to get pensioner playground

Excerpts:

"London's first dedicated 'pensioners playground' is set to open in Hyde Park after being given the go ahead by Westminster City Council.

The £40,000 playground will feature fitness equipment designed specifically to provide gentle exercise for people over the age of 60.

The playground will be signposted Hyde Park Senior Playground, although under-60s will not be banned.

Play areas for older people are already popular in China and parts of Europe.

Located in the park's pavilion tennis and bowls centre, the playground is intended to help adults continue active and healthy lifestyles in later years."

But there's some competition, as a seniors playground also recently opened in Manchester, England, and at lower cost. From an article on the Saga web site, Seniors playground swings into action:

"Members of the local resident’s association ... started the project after being inspired by a similar play area in Germany. 'It's brilliant,' says Louise Huntington, spokesperson for Northwards Housing who funded the project, 'The idea is to bring the community together and encourage older people to exercise and have fun at the same time. The equipment is very gentle and it's just next to a children's playground so grandparents can nip over while the grandchildren are playing next door.' "

Valuable Stats on Biking & Walking in U.S.

From PCJ Editor Wayne Senville: In yesterday's post, I reported on Reid Ewing's findings on the growing interest in having walkable communities. Today's post is also about walking -- and bicycling.

The Alliance for Biking & Walking, with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has released a remarkably useful report for anyone interested in bike, pedestrian, public health, and traffic safety issues. Bicycling and Walking in the United States 2010 Benchmarking Report is available to download as a pdf file; you can also separately download the Executive Summary.

The Report is replete with data. In fact, there's an almost overwhelming amount of data, covering a wide range of topics. But what's most important is how well organized and designed the report is -- and how easy-to-read the charts, maps, and graphics are (several are included below with permission of the Alliance). It's a pleasure to come across a document like this.

Some of the information that caught my eye:

"States where bicycling and walking levels are lowest have the highest levels of obesity." Not surprising, but well-documented in the report. As with most of the data, you can see how your state ranks; rankings are also listed for major U.S. cities.

Related to this, "states with the highest levels of bicycling and walking have a greater percentage of the population meeting the recommended 30-plus minutes a day of physical activity."

 

The Report notes that: "Walking and bicycling have great potential to improve public health. In 2001, 41% of trips in the U.S. were shorter than two miles and 28% were shorter than one mile. Since bicycling can accommodate trips of up to two miles and most people can walk at least one mile, there is a lot of hope to use this form of travel in our communities." -- Amen to that.

 "On average, states spend just 1.2% of their federal transportation dollars on bike/ped projects (based on the 5-year funding period from 2004-2008). This amounts to just $1.29 per capita for bicycling and walking each year." Distressing information. -- But, on the bright side, there's lots of room for improvement.

"The number of people who bicycle to work has increased steadily, rising 29.8% between 1990 and 2007 from 466,856 to 664,859 people who bicycle to work nationwide. During the same time period the number of people who walk to work fell 12% despite population growth of 21% (from roughly 249 million people in 1990 to roughly 301 million people in 2007)." Again, room for improvement.

"Cities plan for roughly 60% more miles of bicycle and pedestrian facilities as the amount they currently have." -- Ah, good news!

 "Cities averaged 22.5 bicycle parking spaces per 10,000 people. Minneapolis has the highest amount of bicycle parking per capita with 430.3 bicycle parking spaces per 10,000 people." -- And it can sure get cold in Minneapolis from November through April (see below).

Finally, something we also think about a lot up here in Vermont where the Planning Commissioners Journal is located: does weather influence the choice to bicycle?

"The Alliance compared average summer and winter temperatures to bicycle share of work trips in 50 states and did not find any compelling evidence that weather is a major influence. Montana and Alaska, for example, are among states with the coldest temperatures, yet are also among the states with the highest levels of bicycling." -- While I'm not totally convinced that weather is irrelevant, it's still good to hear that bicyclists are not easy to deter! See a video about winter bike commuters in Chicago.

Again, those are just some of the highlights. Take a look for yourself, I'll bet there's some interesting information you'll find.

Note: graphics from the Report are reposted here with permission of Alliance for Biking & Walking.

Piano Stairs

You might have noticed that we previously posted separate stories about the health benefits of using stairs and a piano map of Ohio. Then we came across a video that actually combines both! This very enjoyable short (under 2 minute) video was filmed in Stockholm, Sweden. If you like it, take a look at the two other videos on thefuntheory.com web site. 

Take the Stairs ... for Health

 How often do you use the stairs when there's an elevator available? Some public health advocates and architects are starting to give more attention to the value of stairs as a physical fitness tool.

See: If You Build It, They Will Walk, by Alex Pasternack in GOOD.Is (The Slow Issue)

Excerpt: "An idea quietly floated by New York City health commissioner Thomas Farley this summer might have sounded like a sinister joke to the city’s tired office workers and walk-up dwellers: make elevators smaller and slower. But to public-health experts, the notion -- part of an effort to encourage more walking-friendly design -- has legs. 'We have become very good at engineering physical activity out of our lives, and the price of this is staggering,' says Richard J. Jackson, a professor at the University of California Los Angeles School of Public Health, who considers stair-climbing a superior and cheaper alternative to gym membership.

Increasingly, designers are applying walking-oriented urban-planning ideas to buildings, and some see elevators as the architectural equivalent of the value meal: unhealthy, unsustainable, and bad for social exchange. Provide people with nicer, more centrally located stairs where they can interact with others, some designers say, and they’ll skip the elevator."

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See also:

• Architecture Can Make Us Fit (TreeHugger.com)
• Stairs as Fitness Tool? (NY Times blog)