Location: Nationwide
Website: walklive.org
The WALC Institute helps to create healthy, connected communities that support active living and that advance opportunities for all people through walkable and bikeable streets, livable cities and better built environments.
Eachyear, we directly help as many as 80 communities across North America by providing technical assistance and working alongside them to plot a course toward a more walkable future. We also develop and broadly disseminate educational materials and tools that are free to the public and that help to advance the walkability movement. And because a picture is worth a thousand words, we produce inspiring photo-visions to help local leaders and residents see for themselves how walkability, bikeability and livability can transform the community.
Showing posts with label Walkability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Walkability. Show all posts
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Sunday, June 14, 2015
WalkSF
Location: San Francisco, CA
Website: walksf.org
Since 1998, Walk San Francisco has been San Francisco’s only pedestrian advocacy organization. Through smart, targeted advocacy, Walk SF and its members, are improving city streets and neighborhoods and making San Francisco a more livable, walkable city by reclaiming streets as safe, shared public space for everyone to enjoy.
Walk SF is organized into two separate organizations: Walk San Francisco, a 501(c)4, and the Walk San Francisco Foundation, a 501(c)3. The board governs both organizations and ensures that charitable efforts of Walk SF are separate from restricted activities of the Walk SF Foundation.
Mission Statement:
Walk SF makes walking in San Francisco safer for everyone, so that our community is healthier and more livable.
Top Goals:
To make walking safer
To make walking more enjoyable by improving the pedestrian environment.
To make walking the preferred way to get around.
Current Campaigns
Everyone walks at some point in their day, but over the past century, pedestrian safety has become an afterthought in most street design. The result? A built environment in San Francisco which makes walking both unsafe and uninviting. Walk SF partners with city agencies, residents, and nonprofits to undo past decisions and prioritize the redesign of the city’s most dangerous streets - the six percent of streets where more than 60% of pedestrian crashes occur.
To improve San Francisco’s walking environment by eliminating preventable injuries, and addressing inequities for neighborhoods including the Tenderloin, Chinatown, and South of Market – where seniors, children, and underserved community members are at greatest risk -
Walk SF three core campaigns include:
Vision Zero/Pedestrian Safety Safe Routes to Schools Walkability
Past Campaign Wins
Launching the first citywide Walk to Work Day event in 2013.
Making San Francisco the first city in the state to establish safer 15-mph school zones around 181 schools citywide in 2012.
Helping design Green Connections: a new network of quiet, green streets to reach parks.
Securing funds to improve streets for walking, including a $50 million Streets Bond in 2011.
Watch-dogging the police and District Attorney to make sure they enforce laws that keep you safe when you walk.
Helping launch car-free Sunday Streets and advocating for parklets to reclaim streets as shared public space.
Improving safety on the city’s most dangerous streets, including 19th Ave, Masonic, and Cesar Chavez.
Making developers pay the real cost of car traffic and its impacts on pedestrians.
Raising fines on cars blocking sidewalks.
Winning media and decision-maker attention to all these and the perspective of people who walk!
Website: walksf.org
Since 1998, Walk San Francisco has been San Francisco’s only pedestrian advocacy organization. Through smart, targeted advocacy, Walk SF and its members, are improving city streets and neighborhoods and making San Francisco a more livable, walkable city by reclaiming streets as safe, shared public space for everyone to enjoy.
Walk SF is organized into two separate organizations: Walk San Francisco, a 501(c)4, and the Walk San Francisco Foundation, a 501(c)3. The board governs both organizations and ensures that charitable efforts of Walk SF are separate from restricted activities of the Walk SF Foundation.
Mission Statement:
Walk SF makes walking in San Francisco safer for everyone, so that our community is healthier and more livable.
Top Goals:
To make walking safer
To make walking more enjoyable by improving the pedestrian environment.
To make walking the preferred way to get around.
Current Campaigns
Everyone walks at some point in their day, but over the past century, pedestrian safety has become an afterthought in most street design. The result? A built environment in San Francisco which makes walking both unsafe and uninviting. Walk SF partners with city agencies, residents, and nonprofits to undo past decisions and prioritize the redesign of the city’s most dangerous streets - the six percent of streets where more than 60% of pedestrian crashes occur.
To improve San Francisco’s walking environment by eliminating preventable injuries, and addressing inequities for neighborhoods including the Tenderloin, Chinatown, and South of Market – where seniors, children, and underserved community members are at greatest risk -
Walk SF three core campaigns include:
Vision Zero/Pedestrian Safety Safe Routes to Schools Walkability
Past Campaign Wins
Launching the first citywide Walk to Work Day event in 2013.
Making San Francisco the first city in the state to establish safer 15-mph school zones around 181 schools citywide in 2012.
Helping design Green Connections: a new network of quiet, green streets to reach parks.
Securing funds to improve streets for walking, including a $50 million Streets Bond in 2011.
Watch-dogging the police and District Attorney to make sure they enforce laws that keep you safe when you walk.
Helping launch car-free Sunday Streets and advocating for parklets to reclaim streets as shared public space.
Improving safety on the city’s most dangerous streets, including 19th Ave, Masonic, and Cesar Chavez.
Making developers pay the real cost of car traffic and its impacts on pedestrians.
Raising fines on cars blocking sidewalks.
Winning media and decision-maker attention to all these and the perspective of people who walk!
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Walking Visionaries Award
Location: International
Website: walk21vienna.com/visionaries/
Walking Visionaries Awards highlight new ideas, big and small, for fulfilling the potentials of walking for liveable communities. The programme supports individuals and organisations from across the globe, from different professional backgrounds and cultural contexts alike.
The submission phase of the Walking Visionaries Awards has now been successfully concluded. A total of 208 submissions from 47 countries on all continents have entered the collaborative competition. The awards programm has created a permanent online reference collection showing a diverse range of projects dealing with current and future potentials that walking has to foster sustainable cities and liveable communities.
Until 16 of June a public online voting is selecting the winners of the Walking Visionaries Awards that are allocated by the online vote. About 10.000 votes have been confirmed by now which shows great interest in the projects featured in the awards and a broad supported base of specific projects. We encourage you to browse the submitted projects to get inspired for your own work and pick one or multiple submission that you can support with your vote.
At this point we will not feature any specific submission as we do not want to influence the ongoing voting process. We will of course present outstanding submissions in future walking stories once the voting phase has concluded.
WalkVision submissions show potentials for future walkable and liveable cities.
The range of WalkVison submitters is very wide, representing the innovative work of, amongst others, individuals, citizen groups, NGOs, researchers, planners, designers, artists, city governments and administrative bodies as well as international institutions. The main idea of the Walking Visionaries Awards is to present those ideas on eye-level so that many diverse stakeholders are able to learn from and inspire each other. Thematically the submissions encompass: education initiatives, DIY infrastructure, smartphone applications, citizen initiatives, media and publishing projects, initiatives for reclaiming public space, participatory planning tools and strategies, governmental policies and plans, innovative ideas for human infrastructure and community building, amongst others. All of these submissions are geared towards improving the conditions for walking in cities across the globe.
The submissions represent the work done for or by, amongst others: The Buenos Aires City Government (Argentina), The City of Melbourne (Australia), The City of North Vancouver, The City of Wellington (New Zealand), EMBARQ India, ITDP Mexico, North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), The State Government of Western Australia, UN-Habitat, University of Venice (Italy), VCD Verkehrsclub Deutschland e.V.
Website: walk21vienna.com/visionaries/
Walking Visionaries Awards highlight new ideas, big and small, for fulfilling the potentials of walking for liveable communities. The programme supports individuals and organisations from across the globe, from different professional backgrounds and cultural contexts alike.
The submission phase of the Walking Visionaries Awards has now been successfully concluded. A total of 208 submissions from 47 countries on all continents have entered the collaborative competition. The awards programm has created a permanent online reference collection showing a diverse range of projects dealing with current and future potentials that walking has to foster sustainable cities and liveable communities.
Until 16 of June a public online voting is selecting the winners of the Walking Visionaries Awards that are allocated by the online vote. About 10.000 votes have been confirmed by now which shows great interest in the projects featured in the awards and a broad supported base of specific projects. We encourage you to browse the submitted projects to get inspired for your own work and pick one or multiple submission that you can support with your vote.
At this point we will not feature any specific submission as we do not want to influence the ongoing voting process. We will of course present outstanding submissions in future walking stories once the voting phase has concluded.
WalkVision submissions show potentials for future walkable and liveable cities.
The range of WalkVison submitters is very wide, representing the innovative work of, amongst others, individuals, citizen groups, NGOs, researchers, planners, designers, artists, city governments and administrative bodies as well as international institutions. The main idea of the Walking Visionaries Awards is to present those ideas on eye-level so that many diverse stakeholders are able to learn from and inspire each other. Thematically the submissions encompass: education initiatives, DIY infrastructure, smartphone applications, citizen initiatives, media and publishing projects, initiatives for reclaiming public space, participatory planning tools and strategies, governmental policies and plans, innovative ideas for human infrastructure and community building, amongst others. All of these submissions are geared towards improving the conditions for walking in cities across the globe.
The submissions represent the work done for or by, amongst others: The Buenos Aires City Government (Argentina), The City of Melbourne (Australia), The City of North Vancouver, The City of Wellington (New Zealand), EMBARQ India, ITDP Mexico, North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), The State Government of Western Australia, UN-Habitat, University of Venice (Italy), VCD Verkehrsclub Deutschland e.V.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Jane's Walk
Location: International
Website: www.janeswalk.org
Jane’s Walk celebrates the ideas and legacy of urbanist Jane Jacobs by getting people out exploring their neighbourhoods and meeting their neighbours.Free walkin g tours held on the first weekend of May each year are led by locals who want to create a space for residents to talk about what matters to them in the places they live and work.
Since its inception in Toronto in 2007, Jane’s Walk has expanded rapidly. In May of 2013, more than 800 walks were held in over 100 cities in 22 countries worldwide.
The main Jane’s Walk event takes place annually on the first weekend of May, to coincide with Jane Jacobs’ birthday. Jane’s Walks can be organized and offered any other time of the year by enthusiastic local people or organizations, although the first weekend in May is where we focus our organizational energies and resources.
Jane’s Walk honours the legacy and ideas of urban activist and writer Jane Jacobs who championed the interests of local residents and pedestrians over a car-centered approach to planning.
Jane’s Walk often takes Jacobs’ ideas to communities unfamiliar with her ideas, in order to advance local engagement with contemporary urban planning practices. The walks helps knit people together into a strong and resourceful community, instilling belonging and encouraging civic leadership.
Thousands of people have taken part in a Jane’s Walk. Past walks have explored a wide range of urban landscapes, from social housing slated for redevelopment to areas with a rich architectural and cultural heritage, to teen hangouts and secret gardens.
Walks are led by individuals and small groups. Some are focused around historical themes more than geographical areas, for instance, some strolls have been built around ideas like the urban forestry, gay and lesbian history, places of relevance to the homeless, the history of ‘skid row’, and urgent planning matters facing certain neighbourhood. The walks offer a more personal take on local culture and issues. They are not a tourist driven initiative but an insider tour of a neighbourhood that helps open up a friendly, engaged discussion amongst interested participants.
As always, people face a complex array of challenges and hazards in our social and built environments. The decline in physical health is a problem that is exacerbated by our reliance on mechanical modes of transportation that burden our environment and infrastructure.
When it comes to making improvements to the livability and vibrancy of neighbourhoods, people are often isolated or unaware of others who may share their interests. Jane's Walk attempts to do this by the following:
- Help bridge these gaps and encourages people to explore the sidewalks they use for the basic tasks of daily life – tasks like shopping, getting to school and work.
- Help make cities and streets safe for all users. We encourage people to get out and walk not just for recreation, but for basic tasks of daily life, shopping, schools and work. Walking not only improves health, it increases social cohesion and connection.
- Help pedestrians by providing a simple walkability tool kit, available on our website, which gives the basic tools for recognizing, discussing and improving local walking conditions.
Jane’s Walks are usually organized by a broad network of people and groups who share a common concern for making cities more livable but a spectrum of approaches and observations about the neighbourhood, the city, the past and future are welcomed.
As with all community organizing, the wider the network, the lighter the organizational load for everyone. A key principle of Jane’s Walk is that it is self-organizing and self-selecting. Tour guides don’t have to be familiar with Jane Jacobs’ work to lead a tour, but we encourage people to find out more by reading her books or consulting our website for more links and primers on her ideas.
Jane’s Walk was inaugurated on May 5, 2007 in Toronto by a group of Jane Jacobs’ friends and colleagues who wanted to honour her ideas and legacy. They decided upon a simple, adaptable, and what would prove to be, an internationally successful concept – free neighbourhood walking tours led by local volunteers. Mary Rowe, Margie Zeidler, Chris Winter, Alan Broadbent and Ann Peters made the first Jane’s Walks happen that year with 27 tours. Attendance and buzz exceeded all expectations.
CBC broadcaster Jane Farrow, one of the inaugural tour guides, quickly came on board to explore how Jane’s Walk could be shared with other cities. That fall, she organized the event in New York City, making sure to include a range of neighbourhoods outside the core and in the process showcased an exciting variety of perspectives on city-building and community organizing. It was clear that Jane’s Walk filled a need people had to talk about issues affecting their neighbourhoods, and as such, had unlimited potential in helping communities find their voice.
Since then, Jane’s Walk has been successfully exported and adapted to many more cities. The event and its namesake, Jane Jacobs, mobilizes local residents to get out and share the stories of the urban spaces they know and love, to meet neighbours, to explore common cause in making improvements and celebrating their successes.
Jane’s Walk has expanded beyond the confines of an annual event by researching urban and suburban walkability conditions in association with Paul Hess of the University of Toronto Geography Department.
We are also engaged in consulting with planning firms and municipal stakeholders in how to make the city more walkable and welcome the input of local residents. Jane’s Walk has been adapted in schools and used both in classes and as an extra-curricular activity.
The City of Toronto has made good use of our bank of neighbourhood tour guides, getting employees out on ‘discovery walks’ and getting to know how their policies have an impact on people and places.
Website: www.janeswalk.org
Jane’s Walk celebrates the ideas and legacy of urbanist Jane Jacobs by getting people out exploring their neighbourhoods and meeting their neighbours.Free walkin g tours held on the first weekend of May each year are led by locals who want to create a space for residents to talk about what matters to them in the places they live and work.
Since its inception in Toronto in 2007, Jane’s Walk has expanded rapidly. In May of 2013, more than 800 walks were held in over 100 cities in 22 countries worldwide.
The main Jane’s Walk event takes place annually on the first weekend of May, to coincide with Jane Jacobs’ birthday. Jane’s Walks can be organized and offered any other time of the year by enthusiastic local people or organizations, although the first weekend in May is where we focus our organizational energies and resources.
Jane’s Walk honours the legacy and ideas of urban activist and writer Jane Jacobs who championed the interests of local residents and pedestrians over a car-centered approach to planning.
Jane’s Walk often takes Jacobs’ ideas to communities unfamiliar with her ideas, in order to advance local engagement with contemporary urban planning practices. The walks helps knit people together into a strong and resourceful community, instilling belonging and encouraging civic leadership.
Thousands of people have taken part in a Jane’s Walk. Past walks have explored a wide range of urban landscapes, from social housing slated for redevelopment to areas with a rich architectural and cultural heritage, to teen hangouts and secret gardens.
Walks are led by individuals and small groups. Some are focused around historical themes more than geographical areas, for instance, some strolls have been built around ideas like the urban forestry, gay and lesbian history, places of relevance to the homeless, the history of ‘skid row’, and urgent planning matters facing certain neighbourhood. The walks offer a more personal take on local culture and issues. They are not a tourist driven initiative but an insider tour of a neighbourhood that helps open up a friendly, engaged discussion amongst interested participants.
As always, people face a complex array of challenges and hazards in our social and built environments. The decline in physical health is a problem that is exacerbated by our reliance on mechanical modes of transportation that burden our environment and infrastructure.
When it comes to making improvements to the livability and vibrancy of neighbourhoods, people are often isolated or unaware of others who may share their interests. Jane's Walk attempts to do this by the following:
- Help bridge these gaps and encourages people to explore the sidewalks they use for the basic tasks of daily life – tasks like shopping, getting to school and work.
- Help make cities and streets safe for all users. We encourage people to get out and walk not just for recreation, but for basic tasks of daily life, shopping, schools and work. Walking not only improves health, it increases social cohesion and connection.
- Help pedestrians by providing a simple walkability tool kit, available on our website, which gives the basic tools for recognizing, discussing and improving local walking conditions.
Jane’s Walks are usually organized by a broad network of people and groups who share a common concern for making cities more livable but a spectrum of approaches and observations about the neighbourhood, the city, the past and future are welcomed.
As with all community organizing, the wider the network, the lighter the organizational load for everyone. A key principle of Jane’s Walk is that it is self-organizing and self-selecting. Tour guides don’t have to be familiar with Jane Jacobs’ work to lead a tour, but we encourage people to find out more by reading her books or consulting our website for more links and primers on her ideas.
Jane’s Walk was inaugurated on May 5, 2007 in Toronto by a group of Jane Jacobs’ friends and colleagues who wanted to honour her ideas and legacy. They decided upon a simple, adaptable, and what would prove to be, an internationally successful concept – free neighbourhood walking tours led by local volunteers. Mary Rowe, Margie Zeidler, Chris Winter, Alan Broadbent and Ann Peters made the first Jane’s Walks happen that year with 27 tours. Attendance and buzz exceeded all expectations.
CBC broadcaster Jane Farrow, one of the inaugural tour guides, quickly came on board to explore how Jane’s Walk could be shared with other cities. That fall, she organized the event in New York City, making sure to include a range of neighbourhoods outside the core and in the process showcased an exciting variety of perspectives on city-building and community organizing. It was clear that Jane’s Walk filled a need people had to talk about issues affecting their neighbourhoods, and as such, had unlimited potential in helping communities find their voice.
Since then, Jane’s Walk has been successfully exported and adapted to many more cities. The event and its namesake, Jane Jacobs, mobilizes local residents to get out and share the stories of the urban spaces they know and love, to meet neighbours, to explore common cause in making improvements and celebrating their successes.
Jane’s Walk has expanded beyond the confines of an annual event by researching urban and suburban walkability conditions in association with Paul Hess of the University of Toronto Geography Department.
We are also engaged in consulting with planning firms and municipal stakeholders in how to make the city more walkable and welcome the input of local residents. Jane’s Walk has been adapted in schools and used both in classes and as an extra-curricular activity.
The City of Toronto has made good use of our bank of neighbourhood tour guides, getting employees out on ‘discovery walks’ and getting to know how their policies have an impact on people and places.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
People St
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Website: www.peoplest.org
People St offers communities within the City of Los Angeles the opportunity to transform underused areas of LA’s largest public asset – our 6,500 miles of city streets – into active, accessible public space.
Community organizations, business owners and other groups can apply for opportunities to enhance the quality of the public realm through installing three innovative design treatments, including plazas, parklets and bike corrals.
This website is your one stop shop for information, resources and materials on People St Plazas, Parklets, and Bike Corrals, and the process for applying to bring these projects to your neighborhood.
Building from lessons learned from the city’s first six pilot projects, LADOT has been working closely in an unprecedented collaboration with community members, elected officials, and other city staff to develop People St into a program that will expedite project development and implementation with a clear, consistent process.
People St facilitates partnerships between the community and the City of Los Angeles to implement projects that transform redundant or under-used areas of street into high-quality public space.
These cost-efficient conversion projects use simple elements like moveable tables, umbrellas and chairs; paint and plantings; and lively and entertaining programming to create relatively instant transformations to improve the life of a street.
Bringing a People St project to life requires the active participation of community partners to build neighborhood support for a project, identify an appropriate site, conduct outreach, raise the money required, and provide and fund long-term maintenance.
The goal is to create true public-private partnerships on projects that are initiated and driven by and for communities.
People St contributes to more active, livable streets, enhancing quality of life in the City of Los Angeles. Providing expanded public spaces can increase safety for people who walk, bike and take transit, encourage increased levels of walking and bicycling, and support economic vitality.
New local gathering spaces can foster a greater sense of community and social cohesion. Plazas, parklets, and other new types of public space can also become centerpieces of neighborhoods, providing venues for events and celebrations.
All this activity is shown to support local businesses as more pedestrians come to and spend time in neighborhoods.
Website: www.peoplest.org
People St offers communities within the City of Los Angeles the opportunity to transform underused areas of LA’s largest public asset – our 6,500 miles of city streets – into active, accessible public space.
Community organizations, business owners and other groups can apply for opportunities to enhance the quality of the public realm through installing three innovative design treatments, including plazas, parklets and bike corrals.
This website is your one stop shop for information, resources and materials on People St Plazas, Parklets, and Bike Corrals, and the process for applying to bring these projects to your neighborhood.
Building from lessons learned from the city’s first six pilot projects, LADOT has been working closely in an unprecedented collaboration with community members, elected officials, and other city staff to develop People St into a program that will expedite project development and implementation with a clear, consistent process.
People St facilitates partnerships between the community and the City of Los Angeles to implement projects that transform redundant or under-used areas of street into high-quality public space.
These cost-efficient conversion projects use simple elements like moveable tables, umbrellas and chairs; paint and plantings; and lively and entertaining programming to create relatively instant transformations to improve the life of a street.
Bringing a People St project to life requires the active participation of community partners to build neighborhood support for a project, identify an appropriate site, conduct outreach, raise the money required, and provide and fund long-term maintenance.
The goal is to create true public-private partnerships on projects that are initiated and driven by and for communities.
People St contributes to more active, livable streets, enhancing quality of life in the City of Los Angeles. Providing expanded public spaces can increase safety for people who walk, bike and take transit, encourage increased levels of walking and bicycling, and support economic vitality.
New local gathering spaces can foster a greater sense of community and social cohesion. Plazas, parklets, and other new types of public space can also become centerpieces of neighborhoods, providing venues for events and celebrations.
All this activity is shown to support local businesses as more pedestrians come to and spend time in neighborhoods.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
WALK [YOUR CITY]
Location: Nationwide
Website: www.walkyourcity.org
In 1960, 1:4 citizens took one useful, 10 minute walk each day. Now that number is 1:10.
More people live in cities now than ever before. What makes a place more or less walkable is determined by the choices you have to walk somewhere useful as part of your everyday routine. Walkability is becoming a major factor in how we, both citizens and cities, are shaping our future communities.
Take ownership of your streets, improve or share the walkability of your street.
Walk [Your City] empowers you to promote walkability in your community by creating, producing and installing pedestrian wayfinding signage. Signage that is consistent communication and organization of navigational cues from our surrounding environment (i.e. directional signage to get aroundBuild a sign!
Walking builds the local sense of community and helps citizens become more engaged.
Our platform helps community groups, schools and non-profits become neighborhood advocates by making it easy for you to promote walkability.
Interested community group?
Contact us to get more info or go ahead and build a sign.
Website: www.walkyourcity.org
In 1960, 1:4 citizens took one useful, 10 minute walk each day. Now that number is 1:10.
More people live in cities now than ever before. What makes a place more or less walkable is determined by the choices you have to walk somewhere useful as part of your everyday routine. Walkability is becoming a major factor in how we, both citizens and cities, are shaping our future communities.
Take ownership of your streets, improve or share the walkability of your street.
Walk [Your City] empowers you to promote walkability in your community by creating, producing and installing pedestrian wayfinding signage. Signage that is consistent communication and organization of navigational cues from our surrounding environment (i.e. directional signage to get aroundBuild a sign!
Walking builds the local sense of community and helps citizens become more engaged.
Our platform helps community groups, schools and non-profits become neighborhood advocates by making it easy for you to promote walkability.
Interested community group?
Contact us to get more info or go ahead and build a sign.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Walk Score
Location: Nationwide
Website: www.walkscore.com
Walk Score's mission is to promote walkable neighborhoods. Walkable neighborhoods are one of the simplest and best solutions for the environment, our health, and our economy.
Our vision is for every property listing to read: Beds: 3 Baths: 2 Walk Score: 84.
We want to make it easy for people to evaluate walkability and transportation when choosing where to live.
Walk Score Professional, which makes it easy to integrate Walk Score into other websites. We also provide Walk Score data to researchers.
We have multiple patents pending on our scoring and search technologies. We show over 10 million scores every day and over 20,000 sites use Walk Score services. Walk Score has been featured in hundreds of newspaper articles and TV segments.
The Walk Score advisory board includes urban planning, environmental and technical experts from institutions such as the Sightline Institute and the Brookings Institution.
Website: www.walkscore.com
Walk Score's mission is to promote walkable neighborhoods. Walkable neighborhoods are one of the simplest and best solutions for the environment, our health, and our economy.
Our vision is for every property listing to read: Beds: 3 Baths: 2 Walk Score: 84.
We want to make it easy for people to evaluate walkability and transportation when choosing where to live.
Walk Score Professional, which makes it easy to integrate Walk Score into other websites. We also provide Walk Score data to researchers.
We have multiple patents pending on our scoring and search technologies. We show over 10 million scores every day and over 20,000 sites use Walk Score services. Walk Score has been featured in hundreds of newspaper articles and TV segments.
The Walk Score advisory board includes urban planning, environmental and technical experts from institutions such as the Sightline Institute and the Brookings Institution.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Metropolitan Cityscapes
Location: International
Website: www.metropolitan-cityscapes.org
As devotees of Architecture we often travelled to visit famous buildings, not satisfied to only view them in books. Each Architectural quest brought us to places we might never have thought to visit, walking streets we otherwise would not have walked. In the end, it was the journey and not the destination that mattered. In these places and on these streets, we bore witness to scenes outside our usual experience. The array of foreign sights, sounds and smells quickened our senses as we breathed in these new vignettes of urban life.
Each journey's end left a growing desire, a need to create something we could hold onto to remind us of where we had been, a special keepsake to rekindle our memories and enable us to share stories with friends. And so the expeditions began.
We started with Sydney, then our home, walking every street, recording every building. We then moved onto Berlin, explored Paris and then London. It became an addiction. Eckard cycled for two solid weeks to capture the dense, intricate hive of Tokyo. He hiked up and down the steep lanes of Hong Kong and travelled twice to Beijing to document a city that was rapidly changing for the Olympics, taking more than 3000 photographs.
Cities are divided by a multitude of invisible boundaries; surprises are waiting around every corner. Walking every street means crossing these boundaries, a tedious process leading to exciting discoveries. We became accidental explorers, and inevitably perceived the city through different eyes.
The centre of a city, its beating heart, is a palimpsest overflowing with imagery. Layers upon layers of stories have accumulated and disappeared through time. Behind each facade, each brick, each pathway, untold stories, memories and dreams are waiting to be narrated. Above all the noise, if you listen carefully, you can hear your own tale of the city.
To tell our stories of the city, we peeled away all the complex urban layers so that only the bare bones of place remains. Each line drawn and cut on every cityscape has a distinct story. Metropolitan Cityscapes are a new vision of the city as organism. Each city is as different, and as beautiful, as we are.
Metropolitan Cityscapes is an homage to the cities we have visited and those that have inspired us. In making them, we hope to create a starting point for your own stories and experiences.
Current and former residents of Berlin, Sydney and Tokyo, Chauntelle Trinh and Eckard Buscher have a long held fascination for cities and the urban milieu. Working in the fields of Architecture and Design, they dealt with the minutiae of the city but yearned to explore the macrocosm of metropolitan life. They have been making art collaboratively since 2007.
Website: www.metropolitan-cityscapes.org
As devotees of Architecture we often travelled to visit famous buildings, not satisfied to only view them in books. Each Architectural quest brought us to places we might never have thought to visit, walking streets we otherwise would not have walked. In the end, it was the journey and not the destination that mattered. In these places and on these streets, we bore witness to scenes outside our usual experience. The array of foreign sights, sounds and smells quickened our senses as we breathed in these new vignettes of urban life.
Each journey's end left a growing desire, a need to create something we could hold onto to remind us of where we had been, a special keepsake to rekindle our memories and enable us to share stories with friends. And so the expeditions began.
We started with Sydney, then our home, walking every street, recording every building. We then moved onto Berlin, explored Paris and then London. It became an addiction. Eckard cycled for two solid weeks to capture the dense, intricate hive of Tokyo. He hiked up and down the steep lanes of Hong Kong and travelled twice to Beijing to document a city that was rapidly changing for the Olympics, taking more than 3000 photographs.
Cities are divided by a multitude of invisible boundaries; surprises are waiting around every corner. Walking every street means crossing these boundaries, a tedious process leading to exciting discoveries. We became accidental explorers, and inevitably perceived the city through different eyes.
The centre of a city, its beating heart, is a palimpsest overflowing with imagery. Layers upon layers of stories have accumulated and disappeared through time. Behind each facade, each brick, each pathway, untold stories, memories and dreams are waiting to be narrated. Above all the noise, if you listen carefully, you can hear your own tale of the city.
To tell our stories of the city, we peeled away all the complex urban layers so that only the bare bones of place remains. Each line drawn and cut on every cityscape has a distinct story. Metropolitan Cityscapes are a new vision of the city as organism. Each city is as different, and as beautiful, as we are.
Metropolitan Cityscapes is an homage to the cities we have visited and those that have inspired us. In making them, we hope to create a starting point for your own stories and experiences.
Current and former residents of Berlin, Sydney and Tokyo, Chauntelle Trinh and Eckard Buscher have a long held fascination for cities and the urban milieu. Working in the fields of Architecture and Design, they dealt with the minutiae of the city but yearned to explore the macrocosm of metropolitan life. They have been making art collaboratively since 2007.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Walk Denver
Location: Denver, CO
Website: www.walkdenver.org
WalkDenver creates and advocates for quality walkable built environment that fosters healthy lifestyle and economic growth.
Our vision for Denver is to become a network of well-connected neighborhoods that are people-focused, culturally vibrant, active, and economically thriving.
We recognize that walking is the most basic form of transportation. We are all pedestrians “by design” and being able to walk safely is a basic human right.
WalkDenver promotes walking as the most sustainable form of transportation. No resources (other than a pair of shoes) are needed to allow people to travel as pedestrians. Therefore pedestrian impact on the environment is minimal.
Walking is a social activity. People like to be surrounded by other human beings; walking allows for opportunity to “bump into” an old friend, a conversation, an observation, and a participation in activity.
Walking is the most basic, free and easy form of exercise. When integrated into an everyday lifestyle walking can provide enough activity to maintain a healthy weight and reduce risk of diabetes and heart disease. Outdoor activity and human interaction associated with walking contributes to better mental health.
Pedestrians are also the ones that shop, dine and spend money. Pedestrianism is an economic driver. Creating pedestrian oriented districts leads to higher retail revenue and increased commercial activity.
The benefits of walking are numerous and WalkDenver advocates that pedestrians are given priority in public and private infrastructure investments.
There are several elements that contribute to positive pedestrian experience but the most important one is safety. Safety is determined by the quality of infrastructure and amenities. Sidewalks, pedestrian crossings, lighting, way finding, landscaping and street furniture contribute to physical environment that is necessary for perception of safety and comfort.
WalkDenver advocates for inclusion of pedestrian safety measures in the city design standards. We monitor that the standards are included in project budgets and implemented. We also ensure that the maintenance standards are enforced.
Pedestrian experience goes beyond safety. Pedestrian destinations, retail stores, coffee shops, active recreation opportunities are necessary to make walking FUN! Vibrant streets, plazas and waterfronts are elements that draw peoples’ activity. Farmers’ markets, art districts, shopping malls are places that are successful because they are pedestrian friendly.
WalkDenver advocates for creating pedestrian districts connected by a network of safe streets, bike trails and public transit.
We recognize that Denver is a great city with even bigger potential. Our downtown framed by pockets of local neighborhood activity is an ideal foundation for creating a pedestrian oriented city. Our neighborhoods build on the grid of streets provide a good framework for pedestrian activity. At WalkDenver, we believe that Denver has a potential to become a model walkable, livable and sustainable city that others will follow.
Website: www.walkdenver.org
WalkDenver creates and advocates for quality walkable built environment that fosters healthy lifestyle and economic growth.
Our vision for Denver is to become a network of well-connected neighborhoods that are people-focused, culturally vibrant, active, and economically thriving.
We recognize that walking is the most basic form of transportation. We are all pedestrians “by design” and being able to walk safely is a basic human right.
WalkDenver promotes walking as the most sustainable form of transportation. No resources (other than a pair of shoes) are needed to allow people to travel as pedestrians. Therefore pedestrian impact on the environment is minimal.
Walking is a social activity. People like to be surrounded by other human beings; walking allows for opportunity to “bump into” an old friend, a conversation, an observation, and a participation in activity.
Walking is the most basic, free and easy form of exercise. When integrated into an everyday lifestyle walking can provide enough activity to maintain a healthy weight and reduce risk of diabetes and heart disease. Outdoor activity and human interaction associated with walking contributes to better mental health.
Pedestrians are also the ones that shop, dine and spend money. Pedestrianism is an economic driver. Creating pedestrian oriented districts leads to higher retail revenue and increased commercial activity.
The benefits of walking are numerous and WalkDenver advocates that pedestrians are given priority in public and private infrastructure investments.
There are several elements that contribute to positive pedestrian experience but the most important one is safety. Safety is determined by the quality of infrastructure and amenities. Sidewalks, pedestrian crossings, lighting, way finding, landscaping and street furniture contribute to physical environment that is necessary for perception of safety and comfort.
WalkDenver advocates for inclusion of pedestrian safety measures in the city design standards. We monitor that the standards are included in project budgets and implemented. We also ensure that the maintenance standards are enforced.
Pedestrian experience goes beyond safety. Pedestrian destinations, retail stores, coffee shops, active recreation opportunities are necessary to make walking FUN! Vibrant streets, plazas and waterfronts are elements that draw peoples’ activity. Farmers’ markets, art districts, shopping malls are places that are successful because they are pedestrian friendly.
WalkDenver advocates for creating pedestrian districts connected by a network of safe streets, bike trails and public transit.
We recognize that Denver is a great city with even bigger potential. Our downtown framed by pockets of local neighborhood activity is an ideal foundation for creating a pedestrian oriented city. Our neighborhoods build on the grid of streets provide a good framework for pedestrian activity. At WalkDenver, we believe that Denver has a potential to become a model walkable, livable and sustainable city that others will follow.
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