From PBS NewsHour — Traffic deaths surged in 2015

Fatalities rose 7.7 percent to 35,200 in 2015, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. That overall rate was significantly outpaced by non-motorist traffic deaths: Bicycle fatalities were up 13 percent; pedestrian deaths rose 10 percent, and motorcyclist deaths rose by 9 percent. Last year was the deadliest driving year since 2008, when 37,423 people were killed. It was also the year in which American drove 3.1 trillion miles, more than ever before. The fatality rate for 2015 increased to 1.12 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT), up from 1.08 deaths in 2014. Read more: PBS NewsHour on Twitter: "Traffic deaths surged in 2015, federal data shows https://t.co/Z458qPQ9by"

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From CityLab — Why Reston, Virginia Still Inspires Planners 50 Years Later

Official Trailer: Another Way of Living: The Story of Reston, VA from Rebekah Wingert-Jabi on Vimeo. 

It’s rare for a 1960s suburban development to exert a cultural pull distinct from its neighboring city, but Reston pulled it off. 

Situated about 20 miles from Washington, D.C., in what used to be northern Virginia farmland, this settlement has attracted generations of urbanists for its people-first brand of development. When Robert E. Simon Jr. bought the land and planned his flagship project, he insisted on walkability, density, access to nature and green space, and diversity of races and income levels. He didn’t invent these principles—his inspirations were hundreds of years old—but he and his successors managed to realize them at a scale and level of success that hadn’t been seen before. Read more: Why Reston, Virginia, Still Inspires Planners 50 Years Later - CityLab

From The Link — Japanese Architect Manabu Chiba Presents Alternative Design to Canadian Audience — People First Urban Planning

Graphic Madeleine Gendreau 

Madeleine Gendreau  Walking through the city, it’s often forgotten that the environment in which we live has been wholly and meticulously planned to dictate our every move. Each intersection, metro entrance and building orientation has been sent through scores of plans and approvals to be put in its exact place. Read more: A People First Approach to Urban Planning | News – The Link

From Urban Land Magazine — Growing Small: How Smaller, Infill Urban Developments Are Making a Big Difference

Small development is incremental. It is perhaps even surgical at times—helping infill the broken teeth of existing urban blocks or properties that have disappeared or become obsolete. 

Small development is often highly designed and “curated.” Infill development of a distinctive site within the fabric of an existing neighborhood is almost always a unique endeavor and cannot be formulaic. A project that works anywhere will not work in such a location. It has to be carefully thought out—optimizing a Rubik’s cube of density, parking, life-safety requirements, and appropriate contextual design, among many other elements.

Small development often manifests the best thinking in sustainability and mixed use. This is because the intellectual capital that gets poured into solving the Rubik’s cube begets more focused thinking about what the project should do for its environment and community. 

“Small” can heal and transform. Incrementally adding to neighborhoods adds new energy and activity, helping reveal or “polish” the intrinsic value of the existing fabric. “Small” is often the seed that leads to transformation of and reinvestment in neighborhoods at the edge.

Read more: Growing Small: How Smaller, Infill Urban Developments Are Making a Big Difference - Urban Land Magazine

Good point @Bill_McCreery Here's 1 #Nanaimo Fitz St commercial with rental above. @StrongTowns @UrbanLandInst pic.twitter.com/niOJrSK5dY

— TheSidewalkBallet (@1sidewalkballet) February 18, 2016

From Better! Cities & Towns — A city street is a terrible thing to waste

To stop the killing of pedestrians we have to change the way we build our streets. Until we prioritize pedestrian safety over traffic flow, we will never get to zero deaths for pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, or their passengers. But the good news is that when we do make streets that are safe for pedestrians, traffic still flows—and it becomes easy to design streets where people can want to get out of their cars and walk, enjoying public life. Which, after all, is what city life is all about. Read more: A city street is a terrible thing to waste | Better! Cities & Towns Online

Rebecca Solnit Wanderlust, A History of Walking — “In a sense the car has become a prosthetic..."

Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking “In a sense the car has become a prosthetic, and though prosthetics are...

Posted by The Sidewalk Ballet on Friday, November 27, 2015

#StreetoftheDay — Rue Alsace-Lorraine, Toulouse

Jenny Morris photo

Today my friend Jenny Morris, on her Toulouse morning walk turned a corner onto Rue Alsace-Lorraine and saw what she described as "a flotilla of umbrellas."

Jenny Morris photo

From Project for Public Spaces — Havana: Learning from and Building on a People-Centered City

With improving diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US, the country’s public space, and public life, is poised to evolve in new directions, for better and worse. In 2006, Ethan Kent of Project for Public Spaces had the opportunity to witness the unique urban environment of Havana firsthand - and collected some thoughts on what it has to teach the rest of the world, and what should be preserved, and built upon, in the face of change. More than anything though, the city offers an interesting contrast to many of the misdirected development patterns of American modernization. Photo essay at: HAVANA'S PUBLIC SPACES by Project for Public Spacespr

From walklobby.tv — How wide should traffic lanes be?

More http://t.co/dRKf5dYnU0 discussing better mobility design approaches http://t.co/Wql7CGB9t3

— Howard Blackson (@hblackson) September 2, 2015

"Just to be safe, our traffic lanes are wide enough to be dangerous. Just to be safe." #bikeVA #infra pic.twitter.com/9LeHFhWuTq

— Andy Boenau (@Boenau) September 2, 2015

In a car dependent city alternative modes can't be achieved without reducing car infrastructure #streetdiet

— TheSidewalkBallet (@1sidewalkballet) July 25, 2015

From Business in Vancouver — City streets are being returned to pedestrians

Peter Ladner (pladner@biv.com) co-founder of Business in Vancouver. 

He is a former Vancouver city councillor and former fellow at the SFU Centre for Dialogue, author of The Urban Food Revolution.

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Something very odd happened when the City of Vancouver recently announced yet another bike lane reducing car capacity on the Burrard Bridge: nothing.

A small furor rose like an angry baby alligator from the swamp, then settled back into the mud. (“Absolutely ridiculous. The amount of bike traffic doesn’t warrant another bike lane,” snarled the most-liked comment under CBC’s story, even as daily bike trips across the bridge were topping 6,000.) The Vancouver Sun printed a widely circulated editorial effectively saying “no big deal.” The NPA stared menacingly and moved on. The Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association was in favour. Read more: More steps being taken to return city streets to pedestrians | Transportation | Business in Vancouver

From born to walk — Walking meetings

Walking is increasingly part of the program at urbanist conferences and wellness conferences, and it shares the stage with cycling and mass transit at active transportation and sustainability gatherings, but we obsessive walkers get really excited when there’s an event where walking, as Henry David Thoreau wrote in his 1862 essay “Walking,” is “itself the enterprise and adventure of the day.” Every Body Walk! will be hosting its second annual National Walking Summit in Washington, D.C., in late October, but the cream of the crop is arguably the annual Walk21 conference, to be held in Vienna from October 20 to 23. This year’s motto is “stepping ahead,” and the event is intended to promote “activities and innovations towards the future of our resilient cities and healthy living environments.” Read more: Walking meetings | born to walk

Street of the day: Istanbul, Turkey — @NathanNWE

#streetoftheday Istanbul, Turkey. pic.twitter.com/af4yJAzdZd

— Nathan Lewis (@NathanNWE) May 17, 2015

From @Park_People — Making Connections: Planning parks & open space networks in urban neighbourhoods

Our report | Making Connections: Planning parks & open space networks in urban neighbourhoods http://t.co/Qzg42ay1Tn pic.twitter.com/wkKOTkwkHC

— Park People (@Park_People) April 22, 2015

From CityMetric — Stand up for pedestrians – the forgotten travellers

Image: Matt Cornock via Flickr.

Almost all of us walk somewhere every day of our lives. According to the UK’s most recent National Travel Survey 22 per cent of all trips are undertaken on foot – and walking continues to be the second-most important form of transport for all journeys after travel by car or van. When it comes to short trips of less than a mile, walking is totally dominant, accounting for over 78 per cent . One third of all trips less than five miles in length are also on foot. Read more: Stand up for pedestrians – the forgotten travellers | CityMetric

La Habana Vieja #streetoftheday

@jen_keesmaat @NathanNWE La Habana Vieja — pic.twitter.com/IuftjWKKiX
— TheSidewalkBallet (@1sidewalkballet) April 18, 2015

Pedestrians and cyclists battle for the road in Toulouse

#Pedestrians and #cyclists battle for the road in #Toulouse, #France @KatelynHewett http://t.co/o071H402az

— Renée van Staveren (@GlobalSitePlans) April 3, 2015

Why Cities Around The World Are Suddenly Ditching Traffic Lights

Why Cities Around The World Are Suddenly Ditching Traffic Lights @FastCoExist Via @PPS_Placemaking http://t.co/8f39zRaJfI

— TheSidewalkBallet (@1sidewalkballet) March 19, 2015

From Price Tags — How Vancouver does successful retail

Sam Newberg – known as ‘Joe Urban’ – sent this request to Price Tags:

 We’re having a crisis of urban design in Minneapolis. (How the City of Minneapolis Actually Influences Building Design). We’re talking too much about materials and not enough about frontage. One of the comments in this post is from a city planner who is sticking up for his staff at the city, but I still think we need to do a better job at frontage. More doors, more active, not just windows. Any advice on what specifically Vancouver does to get better results? More at: Advice for Minneapolis: How Vancouver does successful retail | Price Tags

Parking Madness 2015! It's depressing what we've done to downtowns @schmangee @StreetsblogUSA

Sorted through 26 N. American parking craters this year to make this list. http://t.co/ZoPInUpVFg pic.twitter.com/xiKKlMphxy
— Angie Schmitt (@schmangee) March 12, 2015

It's depressing what we've done to downtowns. We've featured 48 of these now. It's endless http://t.co/ZoPInUpVFg pic.twitter.com/O7khMKn1gw

— Angie Schmitt (@schmangee) March 12, 2015

More at: Parking Madness 2015! First Match: Camden vs. Mobile | Streetsblog USA

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