Walkable City - Jeff Speck - 4 stars

[Shelly]

Who would have thought a book on urban planning would be so interesting?! I never thought about it, but car culture rules America and fast moving traffic and parking are the main drivers of city planning and policies. Even though millions of Americans either do not want or cannot afford a car, cities are still being built around cars. To make it worse, the health and wealth of our cities are being destroyed by an inability to provide an alternative. Multi-use communities built around transit hubs, with walkability and bikeability would attract young creatives and empty nesters. Ecomies would grow and everyone would be healthier and probably happier.

This book left me plenty to think about, including where and how I live, in Asheville NC. I don't live downtown where it might be possible to ditch the car (or at least drive far less). I cannot go anywhere on foot from my home. I cannot even really go out for a walk, at least not a pleasant walk. There is rarely a day when I don't drive somewhere. And now I see the consequences of that more clearly. I think about how sustainable that lifestyle is, as I age.

Speck includes many examples of changes that can be made to make cities more walkable. One of them was recently put into play in Asheville. A main commercial roads was put on a "road diet." Four lanes were turned into 1 lane in each direction and a left turning lane in the middle and bike lanes on both sides. I drove there today and the traffic transformation is fantastic. So things can change and Speck has some great ideas for big and small meaningful changes. I hope he can convince some more planners and mayors to think about walkability as an important goal.