Walkability

Sub Categories: Walkability

Bear Street Shared Street Reconstruction

The Bear Street Reconstruction project created a pedestrian-priority street in the heart of the Town of Banff. Running parallel to Banff Avenue, Bear Street is home to a mix of services. The reconstruction transformed the street into a pedestrian-friendly space where people live, shop, dine, enjoy culture and community amenities, or relax and take in the mountains. The reconstruction project has increased visitation to Bear Street and created more economic opportunity for area businesses.

Advancing Places: Capping & Bridging Expressways

Expressways cut through communities and stand as barriers to connectivity, economic development, equity and neighborhoods in our downtowns. Learn how a partnership between ODOT, Columbus and the community developed and implemented a nationally recognized infrastructure model using freeway caps and enhanced bridges to stitch neighborhoods together and address the critical topics of quality of life, mobility, economics and opportunity.

Whose Road is it Anyway? (ATCM)

Space is at a premium. The hospitality sector needs to expand outdoors to be viable due to new capacity constraints, pedestrians need to spread out to physically distance and the car continues to be viewed as a key mode of transport with public transit usage declining this year. How do we manage these conflicting interests? Who gets priority to use our roads?

Curb Your Enthusiasm: It’s Not Just About Cars Anymore

The advent of smart and shared transportation systems, spanning from automated shuttles to electric scooters, is rapidly changing mobility in our downtowns. From creating loading zones for rideshare pick-ups, finding space for expanded bike share docks, and defining micro-mobility parking zones, to re-purposing travel lanes, designing shared spaces, managing increased shipping + deliveries, and removing parking requirements, downtowns across the country are handling new challenges creatively.

Growth Without Gridlock: Making the Case For Mobility Investments

Downtowns are transforming into more people-centered places by actively prioritizing transit, biking, and walking: the key to moving more people in the same street space. Not only does this require a different approach to planning and street design, but also requires a paradigm shift in thinking. In previously auto-centric cities, changing the status quo takes significant political will and intentional effort. In this session, hear cities’ strategies for making the case for sustainable mobility.

Downtown Mobility Planning: Connect Downtown

The Greater Des Moines Partnership collaborated with the Iowa Chapter of the Urban Land Institute and the City of Des Moines to seek transportation improvements that could help increase downtown vibrancy. Collectively, the organizations analyzed existing conditions by measuring a multitude of metrics such as traffic counts, bicycle usage, pedestrian traffic, ease of crossing at intersections, sidewalk connectivity, bicycle facilities, connections to trails, lane widths, and number of accidents.

College Town Summit 2019 Master Talk Slides

Slides from the master talks sessions featuring Downtown Durham Inc.’s Nichole Thompson, David Dixon from Stantec, and Justine Hollingshead, Chief of Staff and Assistant Vice Chancellor / Packapalooza Planning Team Co-Chair, NC State University Division of Academic and Student Affairs.

Urban Design Matters

What makes a thriving downtown? The correct answer includes policy, programming, design, execution and maintenance. All of these things matter, but design may be the one that is easiest to get right and most often gotten wrong. When done properly with the right homework, urban design may be the most powerful tool to attract people, jobs and investment to downtown.

Multi-Modal Engagement and Progress: Multi-Partner Efforts

BIDs across the U.S. describe how they advocate for planning strategies, invest in research and community outreach, support new infrastructure and technology, and develop partnerships to collaborate on multi-modal transportation initiatives that shift the language around parking challenges in downtowns. Collaborations and marketing efforts by the organizations ensure multi-modal transportation networks are successful additions to urban livability and vibrancy.

Engaging the Edges: Working Across District Boundaries

Our experience of a downtown doesn’t follow the clean boundaries of a BID or other district, and yet our charge as place managers is often defined by these hard edges. How can downtowns engage with adjacent neighborhoods to create more successful, thriving districts? Drawing upon lessons from three cities, participants will leave with a toolkit of strategies for anticipating common issues and seizing opportunities for working beyond their boundaries.

Championing Iconic Downtown Infrastructure

Explore how BIDs and community organizations are initiating and advancing the next generation of imaginative park and transportation infrastructure projects that breakdown barriers and enhance mobility, create place, enhance livability and spur economic development for downtown. Featured projects include the Crystal City to Washington National Airport (CC2DCA) Intermodal Pedestrian Connection in Arlington, VA; Rail Park and Dilworth Park in Philadelphia; and the 11th Street Bridge Park in DC.

CC2DCA Pedestrian Connection Feasibility Study

The Crystal City BID saw an opportunity to further leverage the DCA airport’s proximity to their downtown by bringing it a few steps closer. A new pedestrian connection could harness the multitude of transportation assets in Crystal City, seamlessly link them into a multimodal hub, and position the neighborhood to attract additional rail services such as Amtrak, regional commuter rail, and even a future high-speed rail station.

Commonwealth Canal Promenade

The Commonwealth Canal Promenade was a key revitalization component to Chandler’s long-term redevelopment plan. The project included clearing oleanders and palm roots, re-establishing the flow line and concrete lining, and constructing a canal promenade. Other improvements included an art fence, railings with historic information panels, a courtyard, landscaping, lighting, drainage and roadway reconstruction. Collaboration with all involved parties ensured the project’s successful completion.

Coxe Avenue Complete Street Demonstration Project

The project was initiated to accelerate mobility improvements to a developing corridor in an Asheville neighborhood. Coxe Avenue formerly contained a high density of automotive uses but is now the site of mixed-use developments and dining options. The project involved a public engagement process, held on a compressed timeline. The design features a shared-use path and an intersection mural. The final installation includes eight new crosswalks, a multi-use path, and the 6,000 sq. ft. mural.

Winter Walk SF

Winter Walk SF was an effort to replace above ground construction with a holiday themed pop-up activation. The Union Square BID developed a concept for the construction moratorium period. It was based on creating a flexible, contemporary urban space that invited shoppers and visitors, was easy to maintain, opened up new lines to the stores and allowed extensive programming. The final design included an allowance for food vendors, green turf, and lighted benches for people to enjoy the open space.

Downtown Tulsa Walkability Study

The team conducted a street-by-street analysis (20 miles total) of existing conditions including lane width, sidewalk width, on-street parking, traffic speeds, pedestrian traffic, and ground floor vacancy to gauge how existing conditions impact the efficiency and economic functionality of downtown. With fieldwork completed, the team engaged with city planning and traffic engineering staff to better understand the thought and efforts going into street reconstruction and striping efforts.

The Urban Backyard Project

The Urban Backyard Project is a series of vinyl wraps covering existing Los Angeles Department of Transportation signal cabinets. Building off similar public art programs, the wraps display wayfinding information including directional signage, maps, points of interest, and walking distances. Because of the low cost of installation, as the neighborhood changes individual panels will be updated and replaced, allowing the project to provide updated pedestrian wayfinding in a changing environment.

Downtown Orlando’s North Quarter Transportation Vision Study

To better serve area residents and businesses, and accommodate multiple forms of transportation, the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) hired a consultant to assess the feasibility of the two-way restoration. The results this process yielded supported the creation of a complete streets environment with a two-way restoration of Orange and Magnolia Avenues, more on-street parking, additional pedestrian crossings, enhanced landscaping, and completing a gap in a bicycle beltway.

Ease Into Midtown

Midtown Association sought the creation, and execution of a parking and transportation communications plan that would invite a target demographic, females 25-45 years of age, into Midtown by presenting an ‘easy’ outlook of various transportation options available. The campaign highlighted transportation methods and parking in Midtown and showed the ease of using technologies associated with on-street and off-street parking and alternative transportation including bicycling, transit and walking.

37th Street Streetscape Improvement Project

The Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance came up with several innovative solutions to improve 37th Street between 9th and 10th Avenue in midtown Manhattan so that it is both functional and inviting. The BID added a series of elements to the street, including a mid-block crossing, three neckdowns, protected seating, over 30 planters, two murals and an extra-wide the parking lane, creating a de facto bike lane until an actual bike lane can be installed.

Jeff Speck Master Talk

Jeff Speck, AICP, CNU-A, LEED-AP, Honorary ASLA is a city planner and urban designer who advocates internationally for more walkable cities. As Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 through 2007, he presided over the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and created the Governors’ Institute on Community Design.

John Bela Master Talk

John Bela is an urbanist and public space designer with Gehl Studio San Francisco. He combines a background in art, science and environmental design to create vibrant, dynamic and resilient urban human habitats. A pioneer in user-generated urbanism, John has successfully completed many projects that involve radical new formulations of social space. John is a senior lecturer at the California College of Arts in San Francisco and a distinguished lecturer at U.C. Berkeley.

Larisa Ortiz Master Talk

Larisa Ortiz is Principal of Larisa Ortiz Associates (LOA), an award‐winning downtown retail advisory firm, and a Mayoral appointee to the New York City Planning Commission. Since founding LOA in 2008, Larisa has developed retail and implementation strategies for over 200 districts worldwide. Larisa is the author of “Improving Tenant Mix: A Guide for Commercial District Practitioners” (ICSC, 2015) and “Real Estate Redevelopment and Reuse” (IEDC, 2000).

Envision Downtown: A Public/Private Partnership Advancing a Downtown Pittsburgh for All

While retaining its traditional role as the major jobs center for Western Pennsylvania, downtown Pittsburgh has grown in prominence as a cultural, dining, and entertainment destination and seen the rapid growth of its residential population. Despite this evolution, the physical infrastructure systems of downtown –roadway, parking, bus, and pedestrian– have not kept up with the increasing and changing demands placed on them.

Downtown Development Framework

The Downtown Development Framework (DDF) is both a vision for downtown Oklahoma City and an innovative set of guidelines The DDF provides specific direction for development, by defining land uses and density and guiding the design of the public and private realms. Application of these development guidelines will help perpetuate downtown as a dense, vibrant, and sustainable core of commerce and culture in Oklahoma City.

Mode Split

Seattle is notorious for bad traffic. For the business community, this fact presented an obstacle for job growth. The Downtown Transportation Alliance formed Commute Seattle, a transportation management association incorporated within and managed by the Downtown Seattle Association, which collaborates with businesses to enable them to achieve community transportation objectives.

More Awesome Now Laneway Project

The people of downtown Vancouver wanted a connected series of activated alleyways that are welcoming spaces with hidden gems to discover galleries, restaurants, and art walls. Between April 2016 and September 2016, DVBIA worked with the city to obtain permits, developed partner agreements, did construction, and launched the laneway. The More Awesome Now Laneway project was referenced in city council’s approach to creating a new places and spaces strategy for downtown.

Downtown Greenway and Park Connector

For decades, two of the major parks and greenway segments in Downtown Huntsville were disconnected due to historically poor urban design and planning. This prevented downtown users from realizing the health, recreational, and multi-modal transportation benefits of an inter-connected downtown greenway network. One of the most unfortunate parts of the disconnection was that the segments contained affordable housing, senior housing, and newly developed urban lofts on each side.

Connect Downtown

Connect Downtown is an initiative led by the City of Des Moines, Urban Land Institute Iowa and the Greater Des Moines Partnership to investigate opportunities to make getting around downtown Des Moines safer, more comfortable and more convenient. The Connect Downtown project began with a survey of existing conditions in downtown including: traffic counts, bicycle usage, pedestrian traffic, ease of crossing at intersections, sidewalk widths, sidewalk connectivity, bicycle facilities, and more.

Downtown Mobility – How Technology is Changing the Way our Streets and Cities Function

Emerging transportation technology, new mobility concepts, and smarter infrastructure is helping cities tackle congestion and pollution challenges in new ways. From autonomous vehicles to artificial intelligence, connected service will create opportunities for new mobility options and force our streets to work differently than they ever have before. It is important that cities prepare for these changes to encourage seamless integration with existing public transportation.

Top Issues Council: Prioritizing Pedestrian Improvements

In many ways, urban place management organizations such as business improvement districts (BIDs) continue to lay the foundation for pedestrian improvements by creating a clean, enjoyable environment for pedestrians. However, more effort is now needed to develop the infrastructure necessary to further capitalize on the trend of living, working, and playing in downtown areas. As global populations shift toward urban centers, the opportunity is ripe for downtown areas to improve walkability.

Unlocking the Power of Actors in Pedestrian Zones

New residential and retail development is remaking downtowns into 24/7 neighborhoods. The changes have made a 70s-era pedestrian zone and several other previously unnoticed corners into more important public spaces, but planners face challenges as they try to cater to new pedestrian needs. See how local planners used low-cost experiments, sensor technology, social media, and new ways to communicate the value of public space to make change happen.