Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time

by Jeff Speck

the main reasons that Canadians “cycle about three times more than Americans” are “Canada’s higher urban densities and mixed-use development, shorter trip distances … [and] higher costs of owning, driving and parking a car”12—all conditions associated with city living. Second, and also cited by the authors, are “safer cycling conditions and more extensive cycling infrastructure”●—in other words, streets that have been designed to welcome bikes. Of these two categories, the former equates with walkability. The conditions that support pedestrians are also needed to entice bikers. Once they are in place, the further provision of a truly useful biking network should be enough to allow a cycling culture to grow. Build it and they will come.