Best Books About Cities

For most of human history, cities were built around people. But for the past century, most American cities have been redesigned around the needs of the automobile, with disastrous results for walkability. Pedestrians cannot thrive in cities where cars are given priority in the allocation of space, speed, and subsidies.

While cars are useful and necessary in cities, they must be tamed and controlled, not given free reign, if walkers are to flourish. This isn't about being "anti-car", but about balance. Great walking cities like New York, London and Paris have plenty of cars, but have established rules that keep them from dominating the environment and harming pedestrians.

Section: 2, Chapter: 1

Parking is one of the biggest determinants of urban form and function, yet it is often an afterthought in planning and design - and is frequently done badly in ways that undermine walkability. Based on the research of Donald Shoup:

• Parking is the single largest land use in many cities. In some downtowns, parking lots and garages cover more than half of the land area, creating dead zones in the pedestrian environment.
• Most cities require a minimum number of off-street parking spaces for every land use, forcing a surplus of parking that spreads things apart and subsidizes driving. Even dense cities often have 2-3 times more parking than needed.
• "Free" parking is anything but - it is embedded in the price of almost everything we buy, imposing enormous hidden costs on society. A single structured parking space costs $20-60K to build and $500-2500/year to operate.

Section: 2, Chapter: 3

Engineers measure street quality using an arcane concept called "Level of Service" (LOS) that prioritizes free-flowing traffic above all else. Streets are graded from A to F, and engineers aim to keep LOS high by:

• Adding turn lanes, both left and right, to prevent thru-vehicles from slowing. But these encourage high-speed turns and make crossings longer
• Widening lanes well beyond what's needed for the travel speed. 12-ft lanes are standard even on 25-30 mph streets, inducing speeding.
• Removing on-street parking, trees and other "obstacles" to create wide clear zones, despite evidence this encourages reckless driving.
• Avoiding bike lanes, bulb-outs, medians and other features that might "impede" vehicle flow but make streets safer. The result is that most American cities have streets that feel dangerous and uninviting to walk along.

Section: 2, Chapter: 5

A large and growing percentage of college-educated millennials are choosing to live in urban, walkable neighborhoods instead of auto-centric suburbs. Companies are following their lead, relocating offices from suburban campuses to downtown areas in order to attract this coveted talent pool. 64% of college-educated millennials first decide where they want to live, and only then look for a job there.

A whopping 77% plan to live in America's urban cores. Walkability has become a key factor in the competition between cities over the millennials and creatives who will power economic growth.

Section: 1, Chapter: 1

Over the past 40 years, the US has undergone an unprecedented obesity epidemic fueled largely by our development patterns:

• In the mid-1970s, only 1 in 10 Americans was obese. By 2007, that number had risen to a shocking 1 in 3 adults, with another third clinically overweight.
• The childhood obesity rate has more than tripled since 1980. 25% of young men and 40% of young women are now too overweight to enlist in the military.
• As recently as 1991, no state had an obesity rate above 20%. By 2007, only one state (Colorado) was still under 20%. Several states now exceed 30% of adults.
• Numerous studies have directly linked time spent driving with increased risk of obesity. One study found a 6% rise in likelihood of obesity for each additional hour spent in a car per day.

Section: 1, Chapter: 2

The overriding purpose of cities is to bring many uses and activities close together to facilitate interaction and exchange. But for most of the 20th century, planners segregated different uses from each other across the city, following a misguided theory that housing should be isolated from commerce and industry to protect health.

For walking to be a viable transportation option, a wide variety of uses need to be located within close proximity of each other - ideally no more than a 5-10 minute walk. Having a "critical mass" and mixture of housing, jobs, retail, parks, schools and other daily destinations nearby provides people with the access and options they need to get around on foot.

Section: 2, Chapter: 2

Walkability and transit are inextricably linked. In most cities, every transit trip begins and ends with a walk, so the quality of the pedestrian experience to and from transit stops is critical. At the same time, transit dramatically extends the distance people can travel without a car, enabling a lifestyle where most trips can be taken on foot and occasional longer trips made by bus or train.

Cities with the highest transit ridership also have the highest walking rates - the two modes are mutually reinforcing. Likewise, cities that neglect their buses and trains inevitably succumb to automobile dominance and unwalkable landscapes. Investing in transit is investing in walkability.

Section: 2, Chapter: 4

In addition to freeways, many of the streets in our cities and towns have also been overengineered for automobile speed at the expense of pedestrian safety and comfort:

• The hierarchy of street types has largely been replaced by a one-size-fits-all approach using highway design standards, leading to oversized streets where fast traffic dominates.
• Wide streets with multiple lanes induce speeding, as drivers jockey to get ahead and pass each other. More than 3 lanes is particularly dangerous for pedestrians.
• Many traffic engineers insist on wide "clear zones" along roadsides, making streets feel like speedways and increasing risks to pedestrians and cyclists.

All these design factors communicate to drivers that pedestrians are unexpected and unimportant. Overbuilt streets are the enemy of walkability.

Section: 2, Chapter: 1

Speck advocates for extensive tree planting as one of the most effective investments cities can make. He outlines many benefits:

• Increased property values and tax revenues. One study showed $1.1 billion in added property value from street trees.
• Reduced urban heat island effect and air conditioning costs
• Absorption of CO2, with street trees being 10x more effective than other vegetation
• Reduced stormwater runoff entering sewer systems
• Traffic calming and increased safety The author calculates a 12:1 ROI for street tree planting and maintenance. Cities must invest more to reap the incredible benefits.

Section: 2, Chapter: 8

Many traffic safety campaigns aimed at pedestrians - "wear bright clothing," "cross at the signal," etc. - implicitly blame the victim. They ignore the fact that streets are dangerous by design: built to prioritize maximum vehicle speed over pedestrian safety.

To reduce traffic deaths, we must address the root cause of reckless driving: streets designed like highways. Pedestrian fatalities aren't due to a lack of caution or personal responsibility among walkers. They're a direct result of wide lanes, long blocks, sweeping curves and other design factors that induce speeding and risky driving. Truly protecting pedestrians means fundamentally reshaping streets to slow cars down, not just cushioning walkers from the threat.

Section: 2, Chapter: 5

Rigorous studies have quantified the impact of Walk Score on property values. Each additional Walk Score point correlates with between $500-3000 in increased home value, all else being equal.

For example, a 2009 study by Joe Cortright in Charlotte found that an increase from a Walk Score of 54 (somewhat walkable) to 71 (very walkable) correlated with a rise in average sales price from $280K to $314K. This equates to a $2000 per-point premium, or $34,000 in added value from just 17 Walk Score points. While the magnitude varies by market, it's clear that walkability, as measured by Walk Score, translates directly into increased real estate value.

Section: 1, Chapter: 2