Elie: Elie moved page Old:Walkability to Archive:000/Old:Walkability without leaving a redirect: Huge_refactor

2024-10-26T20:30:05Z

Elie moved page Old:Walkability to Archive:000/Old:Walkability without leaving a redirect: Huge_refactor

← Older revision	Revision as of 15:30, 26 October 2024
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Elie: Created page with "A '''walkable''' neighborhood has most of what people need within walking distance from home. {{minor|Walkability is a continuum. It's unlikely for a neighborhood to have ''everything'' for ''everyone'', but the more it has, the less people have to drive or use public transit.}} ==Things worth having within walking distance== * Groceries and other stores * Schools * Parks * Recreation centers * Places where people..."

2024-02-24T12:14:41Z

Created page with "A '''walkable''' neighborhood has most of what people need within walking distance from home. {{minor|Walkability is a continuum. It's unlikely for a neighborhood to have ''everything'' for ''everyone'', but the more it has, the less people have to drive or use public transit.}} ==Things worth having within walking distance== * Groceries and other stores * Schools * Parks * Recreation centers * Places where people..."

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A '''walkable''' neighborhood has most of what people need within walking distance from [[housing|home]].

{{minor|Walkability is a continuum. It's unlikely for a neighborhood to have ''everything'' for ''everyone'', but the more it has, the less people have to drive or use [[public transit]].}}

==Things worth having within walking distance==
* [[Food|Groceries]] and other stores
* [[Education|Schools]]
* [[Green space|Parks]]
* Recreation centers
* Places where people [[Labor|work]], in general
* Outdoor public spaces for events & festivals

{{minor|''Got something to be add to this list? Join the {{talk}}.''}}

The goal is to have a neighborhood that people can actually enjoy spending time in, and not just at home.

==Motivations for walkability==
* Transportation is a major contributor to [[climate change]].
* [[Electric vehicles]] may not be a [[Term:viable|viable]] solution soon enough.
* In many parts of the world, neighborhoods are designed in a way that forces us to drive a lot.

==Tradeoffs of new construction==
Although walkability could save [[energy]] by decreasing reliance on transportation, this has to be weighed against the energy footprint of constructing brand new buildings to make walkable areas.

A much better solution is to repurpose existing space as much as possible.

==Repurposing existing space==
===Suburbs===
The majority of people in USA & Canada live in suburbs that are very ''not'' walkable.
{{minor|This was originally by design, due to automobile companies lobbying for specific policy decisions made back in the 1950s. Many of the policies are unfortunately still in place, as [[zoning]] laws.}}

Although it's hard to have true walkability if a suburb's density is low, there are still '''improvements''' to be made:
* Commercial space
** Repeal some [[zoning]] laws: Allow homeowners to run small businesses from their homes. Most homeowners wouldn't, but there'd be a few enterprising folks who might [[residential to commercial|turn part of their house]] into a small grocery store, or coffee shop, or yoga studio, or whatever else you'd typically see in less-suburban areas.
*** In some cases, someone might buy a house specifically to repurpose it into a small business. This could be good in moderation but would be a problem if too many investors did it (a big concern for the first neighborhoods to try such a policy). So there would need to be policies ''limiting'' this. Also, any decrease in housing should be offset in other ways.
** Office space
*** People are increasingly working from home.
* Public events
** Use part of a park (suburbs usually have a lot of them) as a "public square"
* [[Housing]] density
** [[Subdividing]] some houses into duplexes. Good for walkability - and even more importantly, helps alleviate the housing shortage. Note: This doesn't mean subdividing ''all'' houses, just some percentage of vacant ones.

Archive:000/Old:Walkability - Revision history

Elie: Elie moved page Old:Walkability to Archive:000/Old:Walkability without leaving a redirect: Huge_refactor