![]() ![]() “ Aging Issues in Brief: Walkable Communities”. “ Creating Walkable Communities: A guide for local governments”. – Bicycle Federation of America Campaign to Make America Walkable. Why not get healthy by walking your children to school, or walking to your public transport stop? Finally, I think we need to make it happen, to give politicians the “courage” to really support walking, livability and a civilized city. Walking is a big recreation activity for people. We need to encourage people to make the choice to walk. We have to make it possible for people to walk more, with better, planned suburbs, well-maintained footpaths, and appropriate speed limits, safe road crossings, responsive traffic lights, seats, signs, more “local” shops, all of those important things that often get forgotten when the focus is on getting vehicles to their destinations. It is harder to make the changes we need than it sounds. We can conclude that, walkability is the extent to which the built environment is friendly to the presence of people living, shopping, visiting, enjoying or spending time in the area. Violation of sidewalks (Alexandria-Egypt) This shows the backwardness visual image and the absence of the slightest public taste and culture for the architectural and urban levels of society. Also, some violations obstruct vision like putting obstacles which cut off the sidewalk, for example, to create a distinctive entrance to a mosque. ![]() There are some violations have the purpose of decoration such as planting trees which hinder movement. It is worth mentioning that all such violations is due to lack of professionals. Unfortunately, this can be seen in areas such as Ramel Station (city downtown), El Manshya, amongst other places. There are no specifications or standards to respect the pavement or sidewalk display materials, construction and real estate. The street is occupied with stalls of various kinds, barriers and obstacles and advertisements in various forms. I am very sorry to mention that the fact of the sidewalks in Egypt is a violator of everyone without exception. The sidewalk and street should link points of interest and activity, provide clean lines of sight and travel and include simple instructive signage. It is a clear, understandable and organized sidewalk, street and land use system consistent with the scale and function of the surrounding urban context. What are the general characteristics of walkable cities? To answer this question, a city needs to address the following elements: What Makes Walkable Cities? 1. Jan Gehi stated that: “ A good city is like a good party. The solution lies in the benefits of walkability and the key components to become more walkable cities. This can be seen in cities across the world which have begun to recognize and address this problem. Subsequently, people become largely dependent on the automobile (Lehman and Boyle, 2007). As a result, decentralization of metropolitan population and centers of employment to suburban locations, increased travel distance to work, school and other daily tasks. Second, the land outside the city is more affordable and offers a blank slate for development. A built environment meant for cars may prevent residents from aging in place (Community AGEnda, 2014). Unfortunately, most of our cities are designed for automobiles and actually discourage people from walking. First, the arrival of the automobile and the massive investments in the highway systems made it feasible to live many miles away from work. So, it is important to understand that there are several problems affecting walkability in cities. It is not that we don’t have the desire to walk, but it is more like we can’t. Pedestrians walking through the large median (Ramblas-Spain)Ĭourtesy of Ting Why Cities are Less Walkable? However, there are certain cities that are choosing to be entirely free from cars. They keep jobs and attract young adults, families and children (Urban planners of countries like Denmark and the Netherlands paid more attention to design more bike-friendly passageways and bridges. Walkable cities are livable built environments which lead to whole happy and healthy lives for the people who live in them. They lead to addressing many social and economic problems through social interaction, physical fitness, diminishing crime and increasing wellness. Walkable cities return urban environments to scale, pattern and mix for sustainability of resources (both natural and economic). Thus, the construction of a walkable city provides the most affordable and equitable transportation system, where any community can plan, design, build and maintain. Walking remains the cheapest form of transport for all people. Walkability is the key to an urban area’s efficient ground transportation. ![]() Main pedestrian street (Stockholm-Sweden) ![]()
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