http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Fil...07_12steps.pdf

Great article about walkable downtowns.
Contrasts cities to suburbs with regard to building for the short term or long term.

NOt very applicable to center city, but seems to be applicable to other parts of the city. NoLibs for example seems to be engaged in building (or rebuiding) a walkable downtown (mainstreet) as we speak...

Pretty interesting reading...

"...The appeal of traditional downtowns—and the defining characteristic that sets those that are
successful apart from their suburban competitors—is largely based on what can be summarized
as walkable urbanism.
Since the rise of cities 8,000 years ago, humans have only wanted to walk about 1500 feet
until they begin looking for an alternative means of transport: a horse, a trolley, a bicycle, or a
car. This distance translates into about 160 acres—about the size of a super regional mall,
including its parking lot. It is also about the size, plus or minus 25 percent, of Lower Manhattan,
downtown Albuquerque, the Rittenhouse Square section of Philadelphia, the financial
district of San Francisco, downtown Atlanta, and most other major downtowns in the country...."

"...With conventional suburban development, the necessary pre-conditions for growth include the
provision of roads, water, sewer, gas, electric and communications line extensions, public safety
services, and schools. Creating walkable urbanism requires all of this and much more. There is a
need for a physical definition of the place, a comprehensive strategy for the place to be created,
and management to implement the strategy. Such a strategy must include, among other things,
the creation of walkable streets and sidewalks; intra- and inter-core transit; shared-use structured
parking; culture and entertainment; increased safety and cleanliness; and programming
and marketing...."

"...Co., Zimmerman-Volk, and Real Estate Research Co. among others—have shown that between
30 percent and 50 percent of all households in the metropolitan areas surveyed want walkable
urbanism. And certainly the rapid comeback of American downtowns over the past 15 years—
along with the many new urbanist communities and traditional-looking “lifestyle retail” projects
popping up in suburban locations—is on-the-ground evidence of pent-up demand...."

Slowly but surely, people will re-discover the tremendous infrastructure that already exists in America's abandoned cities and can support thousands of new residents tomorrow. As gas prices continue to go up, I think more people, especially younger people for whom the suburbs don't necessarily represent the American dream, will seriously re-evaluate their lifestyles.

The city that invests in safety and schools will probably benefits almost immediately. I think Philly may be in better shape for this then most people are willing to admit.

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I think it is VERY applicable to Center City.

Many of the best CC blocks are like Small Town USA's Main Streets. It is one of Philadelphia's best qualities...we are a big city still primarily made up of many human-scaled blocks.

Besides, many of CC's emptiest parking lots and most antiseptic office buildings can also be made more hospitable and "urban" by applying some of these ideas to them as they redevelop.

Thanks for the link!

Radio Times did an hourlong piece on walkable urban design back in January. If you have RealAudio, you can listen to it here: http://www.whyy.org/rameta/RT/2008/RT20080130_20_2.ram

In my more cautiously optimistic moments I have exactly these thoughts. That's why, honestly, I'm not too broken up when I see gas prices go higher & higher. Sure, it makes life more expensive in the short run. But in the longer run it may make all of our lives a whole lot better.

I so agree with this idea. I live in Mt.Airy and I chose the house I live in because I can walk to the supermarket,
the bus depot, walgreens to get prescriptions, about two
or three diffrent caribbean restaurants for beef patties and
plantains, walmart, old country buffet, and the list goes on.
I live at the edge of the city, about two blocks from route 309 and montgomery county. The proximity to so many necessary places is what has made it a pleasure to be here.
I hope this city continues to make way for more urban walkable areas, better safety, and please, better schools.
The schools are the only downside that we have experienced, even though they are much better than the ones in some other areas of the city. Maybe people would
know more about each other as neighbors if they could get out and walk more.....imagine that!

I agree.

But alas, after seeing the amount of Auto Show traffic in our area over the past couple of weeks (astounding), I doubt whether or not minds are being converted enough.

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The auto show crowd doesn't tell you a thing. I mean, come on, it's an *auto* show. Most city people aren't car fanatics (with all due respect to Malloy). You would expect most of that crowd to be suburban. What I thought was funny was all those people sitting for hours in their cars, burning $3-a-gallon gas, lining up for expensive parking...all to go and gawk at cars. It's like a gerbil wheel of unsustainable living - round and round you go, your life dominated by your four-wheeled master.

My daughter & I were having lunch in Chinatown one of those days, and when we came out 9th Street was quite literally a parking lot. My daughter said something like "maybe the auto show is right here," which is kind of a funny comment from a 7-year-old.

Until 2 years back, I've always lived in Philadelphia. Used to go to the car show every other year. Not a city vs suburban thing.

A surprising number of people did take SEPTA rail in to the auto show. I was reverse commuting home on the 1st Saturday morning of the show and found the 9:02am R6 Norristown fairly full. Where there is usually only 1 or 2 people other than myself boarding at Spring Mill, that morning there were at least a couple dozen people waiting for the train (including families) at that stop alone.

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