Pedestrians are vital, says urban planner

Pedestrians are vital, says urban planner

By Linda Golz
Beacon Journal staff writer

POSTED: 10:50 p.m. EST, Jan 20, 2011

About 100 people braved driving on snowy roads Thursday to hear a famous urban planner argue that cities must become more friendly to pedestrians.

''Make it safe to walk, make it comfortable to walk and interesting to walk,'' said Jeff Speck at the kickoff of the University Park Alliance's Urban Innovators Speaker series.

The University Park Alliance is dedicated to revitalizing and transforming the area around the University of Akron.

Speck said the kind of people that are drawn to live downtown first are the ''risk-oblivious'' — the young adults.

''So much is necessary to keep younger people here,'' he said.

Another group that can be drawn to live in the city are the empty nesters, he said.

Speck said access to nature is important and so is having interesting things to do. But a key is the ability to get around the city easily on foot.

''What's more important is the day-to-day hustle and bustle,'' he said.

During his presentation ''City Design: As if People Mattered,'' Speck showed how zoning over the years has created sprawl.

Zoning, he said, has created large swatches where people live, work, shop, go to church, where hospitals and public institutions are and where parks and ball fields are — all in separate places.

''New places should be modeled after old places,'' he said. ''Some of the best cities.''

Speck said thriving cities are where people want to live, work and visit.

He said city officials need to ask if there is ''any reason [for people] to get out of their vehicle?''

''Most American cities have been shaped around the automobile,'' he said. ''Most streets have been designed . . . to move cars through them quickly.''

Instead, Speck suggested, the streets should be redesigned around pedestrians and bikers.

''Cars are a greater risk than crime'' to pedestrians, he said.

He also said that streets lined with parking lots are not as interesting as shops and buildings, where people are.

''Nothing interests us more than other people,'' Speck said.

Speck is principal of Speck & Associates LLC in Washington, D.C. He has written extensively on smart growth and sustainable design.

He is contributing editor for Metropolis magazine and co-author of Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream with Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. He and Duany also wrote The Smart Growth Manual.

From 2003 through 2007 he served as director of design at the National Endowment for the Arts. Prior to his federal appointment he spent 10 years as director of town planning at Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co.

Linda Golz can be reached at 330-996-3640 or lgolz@thebeaconjournal.com.