the opposite of transportation livability is killability

the opposite of

Planners, don’t we love our buzzwords?

Livability is one of the most popular terms

across the fields of planning, design, and

engineering.

Planners, don’t we love our buzzwords?

Livability is one of the most popular terms

across the fields of planning, design, and

engineering.

Livability is a fancy way of describing

places where people can live long and

prosper.

Planners, don’t we love our buzzwords?

Livability is one of the most popular terms

across the fields of planning, design, and

engineering.

Livability is a fancy way of describing

places where people can live long and

prosper.

What happens when we don’t consider

livability when planning and designing

transportation infrastructure?

Another life lost on an American street.

―what a senseless death,

caused by boneheaded

street design subsidized by

this poor person’s family!‖

This presentation isn’t intended to

dwell on the boneheads.

Well, not too much.

Professionals want the

senseless killing

to end.

Planners and engineers feel

just as unsafe

at the side of a road

as you do.

I think they want to make things right.

We’ve been

conditioned to think

that some pedestrians

are ok while others

are undesirable.

A person standing outside

converting a local street

into a highway is valued.

His daughter

crossing the street

to get to school

is a nuisance.

Minneapolis, 1920

This wasn’t always true in America.

People used to be free

in our public streets.

Streetcars were in the middle – you

EXPECTED people to wander

around the middle of a city street.

Modernist traffic models would

buckle under the projected rush

hour operations!

And look where we are today.

―Mission accomplished!‖ –Traffic Engineer

Level of service A.

Average vehicular delay…negligible.

And look where we are today.

―Mission accomplished!‖ –Traffic Engineer

Level of service A.

Average vehicular delay…negligible.

Average number of people willing to

walk across 8 to 10 lanes of

taxpayer funded streets like this…negligible.

They understand context!

But wait!

Here’s the problem.

Humans —even professional planners and engineers— have a way of outsmarting common sense. (You might say especially professionals.)

If a department of transportation doesn’t think pedestrians or bicyclists belong, they figure a highway design will keep people away.

Transportation planners connect land use and transportation!

(said every DOT everywhere)

The next image is an example of

typical American infrastructure labeled

livable transportation.

What makes it livable?

Usually crosswalks and wheelchair-

accessible ramps are enough for

professionals to congratulate

themselves.

Transportation planners are praised for

providing multimodal accommodations.

Meanwhile, we somehow ignore the

fact that our community streets have

turned into high-speed racetracks.

The

experts

have followed

industry-approved

design manuals

and

outsmarted

common sense.

20

40

Liva

ble

K

illab

le

When a car moving at 20 mph

hits a person walking,

that person has a 95% chance of survival.

When a car moving at 40 mph

hits a person walking,

that person has an 85% chance of death.

When a car moving at 20 mph

hits a person walking,

that person has a 95% chance of survival.

When a car moving at 40 mph

hits a person walking,

that person has an 85% chance of death.

Now consider how many streets you drive daily

are posted at 45 mph in densely populated

cities and suburbs.

Have you ever noticed

that public works employees or

street designers

insist on wearing helmets and reflective vests

when they make a field visit?

Pop-up retail, downtown

stores, street vendors…

these people

live and die by foot traffic.

They need a livable

transportation network in

order to thrive.

Cities are about exchange—

exchange among people,

not the motor vehicles they

sometimes drive.

Redemption

Redemption

Here’s one example

of how we can end the

status quo street design.

Roundabouts almost

completely eliminate fatalities

compared to stop lights.

And they reduce total crashes by 70-80%.

One

day

this

modernist

auto-scale

street design

will be a

short blip

in history.

28

500+

0

agencies & local governments support complete streets

states including Washington, DC support complete streets

agencies & local governments think they support killable streets

Those commitments mean something.

The next images show what can happen when

mindsets about city streets change.

Street improvements

can be as simple as

putting out some folding chairs, a bench, and a cooler.

If departments of transportation,

public works departments, and

other professionals expect people to

be in and around streets,

then they’ll be more inclined

and pressured to design streets

for people.

Messaging is so important.

Look at that Sheetz sign.

Marketers know how to tell a

mouth-watering story.

Livable transportation infrastructure

needs more than just

informational signs about

calories burned.

Livable transportation infrastructure needs more than just informational signs about calories burned. We need mouth-watering propaganda campaigns with an irresistible message.

So what are you going to about it? How will you reclaim your streets? Get working on a propaganda campaign. Focus on a simple idea that resonates with real people.

Let the traffic engineers have their vehicular operation metrics. Your common sense knows better than computer models and rulebooks!

Reclaim your streets.

active

This young kid is not going to remember vehicular queues at nearby intersections. He’s not going to remember that he was walking and playing near a major arterial. He’s going to remember using up an entire bucket of sidewalk chalk with his brother and his dad. The boy had fun on a livable street.

Here’s a picture of the past. And I’m hoping in some ways it’s a picture of the future. Just with a bit more high-tech gadgetry… …like maybe drivers having to push a button in order to cross streets filled with human beings.

You can make your streets livable again!

APA’s 2013 National Planning Conference