Post Grad Cliff Notes - All Communities Should Be Walkable.
September 14th - Walkable City - How Downtown Can Save America One Step At A Time
Hey friends --
Welcome to Post Grad Cliff Notes, thank you for subscribing. This week wildfires continue to light the west coast ablaze, and the Trump Administration cannot seem to provide consistent information on the coronavirus vaccine. Lastly, as of late last night, Oracle won the bidding war over Tik-Tok so it looks like the app won’t be leaving us just yet.
This week I read Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step At A Time by Jeff Speck. Speck is a city planner and urban designer who advocates for more walkable cities and safer streets. Speck also runs an award-winning private design consultancy service, Speck & Associates, that works with public officials and the real estate industry. You can listen to a TED talk by Speck here.
Speaking bluntly, I didn’t think this was an issue I'd be interested in. As many of you know, I live in Washington D.C. and like many cities in the world, it has its own story filled with the many different cultures, identities, and most importantly for the sake of this newsletter: modes of transportation.
But, this book made me think about how I travel around my city and why I appreciate it so much. I hope this book makes you think about your day-to-day interactions with where you live, and how our leaders can make our communities more accessible and safer for all Americans.
Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step At A Time (287 pages, 310 pages with notes)
Top Line:
Speck focuses in on this idea called Walkability:
Walkability is a measure of how friendly an area is to walking. The small businesses around it, the houses and apartments that surround it, along with the street connectivity and overall land use mix of the area.
Speck uses examples ranging from Washington, D.C. to New York City, and smaller cities such as Portland and Boulder, to show how expanding bike lanes and focusing on pedestrians allows cities to run better.
Speck addresses seemingly background city details, such as pedestrian crosswalk buttons and countdown signals (and why they should be banned from intersections) to parking, cycling, transit, inclusionary zoning, code reform, and climate change. He shows how these complex issues all come together in a city and why they are all important.
My Review:
“I enjoyed this book and you should read it. Speck’s conversational character is complemented by the fact that he is a professional that does not speak in absolutes and platitudes. What he says about the cities is clear and straight-forward. This is a great introductory book to urban policy.”
Favorite Quote:
“The downtown is the only part of the city that belongs to everybody. It doesn’t matter where you may find your home; the downtown is yours, too. Investing in the downtown of a city is the only place-based way to benefit all of its citizens at once.”
Something Extra:
ARTICLE: You Could Get Us All Sent Home by Anna Silman
This article looks at the difficulty of handling a COVID-19 outbreak on a college campus. Check it out.
ARTICLE: What Would Philly Look Like If Urbanist Ran The City by the Philadelphia Magazine Editorial Board
This article was just published last night! How timely. The editorial board examines how Philadelphia can do more for its citizens by embracing a more walkable and bikeable city. Also, the art in the article is drawn by a great Philly artist Sean Rynkewicz.
ARTICLE: How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled by Laura Sullivan
This article looks at plastics and the fossil fuel industry, it sort of hits on some of the same issues we talked about in last week’s newsletter.
Upcoming….
Caste - Isabel Wilkerson
1 Billion Americans - Matthew Yglesias