The horror of congestion

If only our rush hour looked like this:

At the dark end of the street

A recent article in the Harvard Business Review has revived interest in Dr. Lawrence Frank's work. Frank is a University of British Columbia professor who documents how the physical environment impacts level of physical activity. He notes that residents of walkable neighborhoods are 2 and a 1/2 times more likely to be physical active than people who don't live in walkable neighborhoods. And street connectivity really matters: residents in who live in a highly connected street grid drive 26% fewer vehicle miles than residents who live in areas with many cul-de-sacs. The end result is that if you drive more you have a greater chance of gaining weight: Frank reports that for each 1/2 hour of driving per day is associated with a 3% greater chance of being overweight.

Frank summarizes the urban elements that are the most influential for increased physical activity in a neighborhood:
• presence of a continuous sidewalk system;
• presence of dedicated bicycle facilities;
• building setbacks;
• the design, supply, and location of parking;
• ability to cross streets;
• buffering from vehicular traffic;
• size of block faces;
• lighting;
• presence of other pedestrians;
• “eyes on the street”;
• presence of public spaces;
• levels of employment density;
• levels of residential density;
• levels of land use mix; and
• overall continuity of the street network

The ability to arrive at a destination is also an important consideration to promote more walking. In a well connected street network, there is greater choice and a higher possibility that a spectrum of destinations are available for the walking trip, as seen in the following graphic which shows possible one kilometer trips from the red dot in the center of the map.

Going big time

Stories like these that sensationalize the expansion of the American waistline are all too frequent. I wonder what will be the big shocker that causes a reversal in this trend. The alarm bells are clanging but the people who most need to pay heed to the emergency are not listening. We need make the healthy choice an easy choice. Listen up city planners, politicians, DOTs, school districts, Big Food: You better get your act in gear or the military is going to make you.

Transit certainty

Transit plays a significant role in active living since every transit trip involves some sort of walk trip. Transit use, however, is often seen or experienced as inconvenient, and often there's a clear basis for that observation. One way to make transit use more attractive is to remove the uncertainty about when the bus or train will arrive. The wait often feels much longer than it actually is.

Enter the increasingly ubiquitous smart phone. Transit operators have begun to release the raw transit vehicle location data and programmers have created apps, so transit riders can have the information sent to their smartphones. Three cheers for Transit 2.0!