ILLUMINATED CROSSWALK STRIPS IN DOWNTOWN MEDELLIN
Crosswalk edges light up neon green to
tell pedestrians it is time to cross safely.
Most of these are in La Candelaria
Medellin Colombia — the congested and chaotic centro.
Alternately, the edge of crosswalks in
the urban core light up neon bright red — to signal pedestrians that it is not
safe to cross.
The red-green “walk” system helps
combat the ambient noise confusion created by motorcycles, cars and booming
music.
BUT MIAMI DOES NEXT TO NOTHING TO STOP IT
PASSAGEWAY BLOCKS WHEELCHAIR USERS
Dear City of Coral Gables.
Paseos do not work when they are blocked by tables and chairs when restaurants use them illegally for storage.
This perpetually destroys
mobility for people with disabilities on Giralda.
The trash can is highly symbolic.
It means merchants treat wheelchair users like trash.
Because they block the paseo with trash cans etc.
Ironically, this is one a pedestrian only corridor that should be great for people with disabilities.
How can
hundreds of city employees and officials walk past this every day and not see
this blocks those who use wheelchairs for mobility?
It took us pointing this out on social media for the city to address the long-festering problem.
CONSTRUCTION THAT CREATES BARRIERS DESTROYS INDEPENDENCE AND DIGNITY FOR THOSE WHO USE ASSSTIVE MOBILITY DEVICES
The triumph
and failure of cities can be evaluated in the way they accommodate the
vulnerable pedestrian population.
In the case
of Miami, its inhumanity shows abject failure.
This is the gateway between two of Miami’s biggest icons — the waterfront
skyscraper Brickell district and culturally vibrant historic Little Havana.
Yet it
blocks people with disabilities and is a tripping hazard to all with bumpy
crappy asphalt.
This is an
Americans with Disabilities Act violation.
Barriers created by construction then neglected for ages strip all independence and dignitiy for those who uses wheelchairs for mobility.
GRATIFIED TO BE PART OF THE EQUITABLE CITIES TEAM
WORKING WITH THE VIRGINIA WALKABILITY ACTION INSTITUTE
I was
thrilled to combine my passion for access and inclusion with my expertise in
creating a better environment for people with disabilities.
I was the featured
speaker for Universal Design Day with Virginia Walkability Action Institute
(VWAI).
It was hosted by Virginia's Department of Health through its PATHS partnership
with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT).
It’s a joy to work with Equitable Cities.
I’ve worked
with its founder Charles Brown on his Arrested Mobility podcast and with some
writing projects about equity in the public realm.
It was great
to work with Virginia point person Valeria Menendez on Equitable Cities, in historic
and artistic Richmond.
I led a 3.5
mile walk through Richmond to highlight Universal Design assets and challenges.
Assets included Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) with ramped boarding platforms with outstanding wheelchair access directly into buses that do not require lifts/ramps for smooth, inclusive transit.
Challenges included the pedestrian portion of a bridge over 195 -- a major highway.
There are no
curb ramps at the end of this viaduct – on two of the most major streets in the
entire region: Broad Street and Monument Avenue.
Cities, counties and regional authorities benefit from my “design for all” expertise.
Please contact
me to schedule my combination of walking/rolling pedestrian 3+ mile accessibility
tour plus workshop/keynote speech.
One in four
people experience some level of disability.
Hundreds of
thousands of your constituents and clients need my services.
AND OFTEN CAN BE DONE AT A LOW COST
I don’t have statistics, but common sense would also prove that when you increase walkability/rollability, thus connectivity to education, jobs, community activities – you increase earning power.
That increases income (and the tax roll) for people with disabilities.
In the United States,
people with disabilities are the most under- and unemployed of any marginalized
group.
Access in
the public realm isn’t just the right thing to do, it is sound public policy on
many levels.
AND OFTEN CAN BE DONE AT A LOW COST
Adding curb ramps, protected crosswalks, wider sidewalks and smoother surfaces can be blended into all of those complete streets, pavement repaving, mainstreet sidewalk enhancements and other public works projects.
When done
from scratch, rather than a retrofit to fix poor planning for accessibility,
the cost is rarely more than fractionally more costly than not building for
access for all.
AND OFTEN CAN BE DONE AT A LOW COST
Smooth, wide, safe, gently sloped surfaces also are beloved by those who wear heels (reduces tripping hazard) and the army of delivery people who wheel our daily online purchases to our doorstep.
I also want
to bust the myth that making something accessible (we call it compliant with
the Americans with Disabilities Act in the United States, but hundreds of
nations have similar law to make life better for people with disabilities while
protecting their civil rights) doesn’t mean busting the budget.
AND OFTEN CAN BE DONE AT A LOW COST
One in four, more than one billion – people have some kind of disability.
That is neither outlier or special interest, by any definition.
When you design something that makes it easier for a wheelchair user to move about your city –
you also have made pedestrian mobility better for young children,
elderly people, those with visual impairments and dozens of others (including
those who use scooters, walkers or crutches.)
AND OFTEN CAN BE DONE AT A LOW COST
When I see a design that serves everyone with equity and inclusion.
Ableists (wrongly) see something that blows up traditional placemaking for a “special interest.”
Experts around the world have proven that one in four people will experience some kind of disability in their lifetime.
There are more than one
billion people on earth who have a disability that impacts their daily lives.
AND OFTEN CAN BE DONE AT A LOW COST
I have spent nearly four decades as a writer, planner, educator and advocate.
My specialty
is advocating for good urban design and town planning that not only encourages
walking, but also makes it easy, safe and comfortable.
I am one of
the few people in my field whose prime focus is design for people with
disabilities.
I’d be lying
if I didn’t share that I often get frustrated by urban designers and town
planners who push back on the notion of design (or retrofit) that serves all.
PROUD TO FOCUS ON MICROMOBILITY FOR THIS PRESENTATION AT THE AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2022 IN SAN DIEGO
Creating an inclusive and accessible environment requires more than adhering to basic ADA requirements, avoiding ableist terminology, or providing closed captioning for city meetings.
These actions are important, but local governments must be dedicated to widespread accessibility and mobility.
Otherwise, micromobility for some — like scooters — creates outright travel hazards for more vulnerable pathway users.
Examine these and other common mistakes in planning for accessibility and learn how local governments can adopt a more comprehensive approach to accessible transportation and mobility for people with disabilities.
PROUD TO ANCHOR
THIS PRESENTATION AT THE AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2022
IN SAN DIEGO
People with limited abilities are often "designed out" of places, events, and activities.
Three
decades after adoption of the ADA, the COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the need
for planning for inclusion and equitable access and accepting the challenges of
safely separating users and uses.
COVID’s
silver lining may be renewed emphasis on safer pedestrian travel, transit, and
more open outdoor-recreation spaces.
Mobility
remains a sometimes-insurmountable challenge for people with disabilities.
Scooters,
bikes, and utilities often block wheelchair users and trip blind people.
Transit
access depends on compliant sidewalks with clear paths to accessible stops.
Ride-share,
mobility, and other first mile/last mile “solutions” are not accessible to
wheelchair users and many other disabled folks.
There are
always challenges to providing elegant designs that retrofit existing and
historic buildings and sites.
Often, the
only (inequitable) solutions offered put accessibility features in the back.
After thirty
years of halfway accessibility solutions, it is time for planners to address
equity and inclusion challenges.
THE SINGLE MOST CRITICAL PIECE OF INFRASTRUCTURE
Fabian De La
Espriella, AICP, principal of Miami-based Urbe Studio, has nearly two decades
of experience in transportation planning — and is a big fan of what sidewalks
provide, particularly when it comes to equity.
"Sidewalks are the single most critical piece of infrastructure when it comes to reducing disparities between communities, especially those that are currently underserved, which coincidently are also suffering from disproportionate pedestrian death rates," says De La Espriella, vice chair of APA Florida's Gold Coast chapter.
"This equity approach applies to sidewalks being of vital importance for people with disabilities, no-car households, children, and the elderly.
Sidewalks in some communities are key to getting access to
transit, food, parks, or schools."
Every
planning agency, local jurisdiction, and government official should prioritize
safe sidewalks, he says.
"Having
safe, healthy streets is part of increasing a city's competitiveness.
A key component to achieving this outcome is having safe sidewalks, which increase access and create a higher value place," he says.
"It is time that we
acknowledge the responsibility of transportation investments in increasing
equity in our communities, especially when it comes to sidewalks."
FIRST AND LAST MILE MVP
"You can build a premium bus stop with shelters and amenities, but if you can't get to it, the transit fails," says David Haight, FAICP, a planner and senior project manager with planning, design, and engineering firm Atkins.
"Without accessible sidewalks, transit doesn't work."
Apart from being wide enough to accommodate pedestrians with mobility aids like wheelchairs, accessible sidewalks should include pathways that don't flood, have crosswalks, and help people navigate from bus stops through parking lots to retail.
Designers should work to understand and match users' expectations,
too.
"People walk in a straight line.
They will try to cross — without the protection of a painted crosswalk or `walk' sign — rather than cross two additional lanes of busy traffic to get to the official crosswalk," he explains.
And at four-lane roads, a median should be large enough to serve as a haven for those who can make it only halfway to the other side of the street.
Otherwise, people
— some with kids, some using assistive mobility devices — are stuck on a tiny
piece of ground with huge trucks and speeding cars rushing by them.
A CONNECTOR FOR PEOPLE (AND ROBOTS?)
Amin Gharebaghi, co-founder and CEO of GeoMate, is preparing sidewalks for an increase in traffic.
His firm works with multiple cities across North America to analyze key
features impacting urban accessibility like curb ramps, slope, width, and
surface quality.
"Sidewalks act as a main connector in municipalities, bringing residents closer to their communities and local economies," he says.
And it's a critical time to
ensure that those connections work at the human level first.
"As
cities become increasingly dense and new mobility technologies [like delivery
robots] begin to operate on sidewalks, enhancing sidewalk safety and
accessibility is becoming more important now than ever," he explains.
A TOOL OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
The founder
and president of nonprofit Strong Towns, which focuses on pedestrian-friendly
development, believes sidewalks and streets play an important role in
environmental justice.
"Sidewalks are often treated as afterthoughts in urban transportation projects," says Charles Marohn, P.E.
"This is backwards. The function of an urban street is to serve as a platform for building wealth.
On a street, we're attempting to
grow the complex ecosystem that produces community wealth."
One big way that can be accomplished is through proper maintenance.
Marohn advocates for city plowing of sidewalks, instead of making snow and ice clearance the responsibility of thousands of individual property owners.
He says it's equally
or even more important than street plowing — which often creates impediments to
pedestrians.
"In most of our poorest neighborhoods, the public sector is neglecting their maintenance responsibilities, and this contributes to a vicious cycle of decline," says Marohn, author of Confessions of a Recovering Engineer.
"When the streets have more potholes, the parks have more weeds, and the
sidewalks have more cracks and gaps than the ones in our affluent
neighborhoods, the signal being sent is that decline is going to continue,
regardless of what the property owners do."
MORE SPACE FOR PEOPLE PLACES
"Often, the pedestrian realm is undersized and relegated to the leftover space within the right-of-way after the traffic engineers have taken all the space they need for vehicular lanes," says Michael Huston, AIA, LEED-AP, owner of Urban Arts, Inc. and partner of Civic Plan Studio.
To support a
healthy, active "pedestrian realm" that people of all ages and
physical abilities can enjoy, he says our sidewalks need to be much wider.
"To accommodate the necessary sidewalk clear zone and streetscape furnishings needed to create a comfortable pedestrian environment, a minimum of 15 feet is recommended between the street curb and the building," Huston adds.
"It is not unusual to have a pedestrian realm that is 20 to 30 feet
wide on streets that have intensive pedestrian and outdoor dining use."
ELIMINATE GENDER DISPARITIES
According to Leslie Kern, PhD, associate professor of geography and environment and director of women's and gender studies at Mount Allison University, research shows that women take more pedestrian trips daily as part of their commutes and household-serving errands.
That means effective sidewalks are of heightened
importance to their daily lives.
"Barrier-free, wide, and well-maintained sidewalks are particularly important for women, who still do a higher share of caregiving work," says Leslie Kern, author of Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World.
"Navigating sidewalks
with strollers and small children is difficult if there is not enough space, if
there are barriers at curbs or a lack of curb cuts, or if the sidewalk must be
shared with cyclists."
Plus, there's
the obvious safety component, she adds. In neighborhoods without sidewalks,
people are forced to walk in the street, providing no protection from speeding
vehicles — or the people operating them.
"Women and people of marginalized genders regularly experience harassment from car drivers," she says.
"If sidewalks can create more distance between
pedestrians and drivers, this might either cut down on this form of 'drive-by
harassment' or reduce the fear it causes in walkers."
GREAT BANG FOR OUR BUCK
As producer
of Perils for Pedestrians Television, a safe walkability public affairs series
that airs in 150 cities across the U.S., John Wetmore says sidewalks provide
"clear economic benefits."
"When people walk more, they are healthier, and society will save on health care costs.
When people drive less, they spend less on gas and maintenance.
If living in a walkable neighborhood lets a family get by with one less car, the savings can be several thousand dollars a year," he says.
"However, the biggest benefits from walkable neighborhoods have to do with the quality of life.
Walking can play a big role in one's independence, which is fundamental
to one's quality of life."
Wetmore cites initiatives like Safe Routes to School, which the new infrastructure law is expanding, as proof that a broad base of consumers supports safer, well-connected sidewalks.
"The city needs to invest in the sidewalks,
crosswalks, and other basic infrastructure that will make it not just possible
to walk, but desirable to walk," he says.
