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Walkability
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Walkability Slide Show
Walkability Slide Show
Sidewalks for all seasons
Wind, rain and snow make walking conditions unpleasant and uninviting. Poor snow clearance, pooling water, mud, and ice are significant impediments to walking.
Snow removal
Snow and ice clearance can present a serious impediment for walkers. Seniors and people with mobility impairments are at even greater risk of slipping and injuring themselves.
The best offence is a good de-fence
Walking routes are often unnecessarily blocked with fences, barriers, bollards and gates. Removing obstacles on paths would make popular shortcuts easier and safer to use.
Missing sidewalks
In areas originally design for cars, sidewalks are often missing. Sidewaks are needed to make it easier to get around on foot.
Space on sidewalks
Walkers need enough room to walk safely without being forced into the street by the volume of walkers.
When there's a will, there's a walk
Fences interrupt the flow and 'connectivity' of direct walking routes. People often cut holes in fences or go over them, creating unsafe passageways and snags. Shortcuts should be made safer with pathways and good lighting.
Curbs and barriers
Steps, concrete blocks, and curbs limit access to people in wheelchairs, with strollers, and the elderly. Curb cuts and ramps make places more accessible.
Clear pathways make walking pleasurable
Light and sign posts, electrical boxes, and other objects should not block sidewalks and walkways. Walkers should have a clear path free of obstructions.
Walking ON the beaten path
Shortcuts help people walk directly to their destinations. By formalizing these routes, and adding lighting, sidewalks, and signage, these paths would be more safe and comfortable.
Broken and uneven pavement
It is discouraging to walk through a neighbourhood with uneven, broken pavement and potholes.
Crossing signals should be located where we cross
Crosswalks are needed where people already cross. Mid-block crossings without signals are common around schools, community centres, and malls.
Everyone should have a place
Complete street design takes all users into account. Walkers must be safely separated from auto traffic. Trees, planters, or bike lanes provide ideal buffers.
Crossing times
Crosswalk signals must last long enough to help people across all lanes of traffic.
Crosswalks should be clearly marked
Crosswalks need to be marked with bright road paint. When the paint wears off, it is unclear where walkers should go and where vehicles should be.
Crosswalks should be reasonably spaced
Safe street crossings should be provided at regular, short distances.
Rounded corners increase vehicle speed
Rounded corners at intersections encourage cars to go faster. Sharp corners reduce auto speed, which makes intersections safer for walkers.
Parking lots should have walking routes
Many pedestrian collisions occur in parking lots around malls and neighbourhood amenities. These accidents could be prevented with clearly marked and protected pedestrian paths.
Road design, for cars or people?
Wide roads with fast moving traffic make it very difficult and unsafe to get around on foot. Road design should tell drivers pedestrians are here.
Traffic calming
Traffic calming measures slow traffic and make crossing safer. These may include speed humps, on-street parking and extending curbs to shorten crossings.
Accessibility
Walkways and building entrances should be accessible and usable to everyone, allowing all sidewalk users open and safe clearance.
Dark places are uncomfortable
Good lighting is key to making pedestrians feel safe.
Blind and confined spaces are unpleasant
Narrow, confined spaces and blocked views are uncomfortable for walking. They can make people feel claustrophobic and trapped, especially with high fencing.
Sit-ability
Benches and tables encourage walking by providing resting places. Street furniture also increases social interaction and makes places safer by providing 'eyes on the street'.
Mixed-use and active streets
Popular walking streets are often animated with a mix of uses – like shops, housing, schools and services – good places to sit, and bustling street activity. Well-used public spaces are safe because all people provide 'eyes on the street'.
Parks and public spaces
Neighbourhood parks and public spaces are important places for socializing and exercising. People tend to prefer spaces that are busy, have playgrounds and activities in them.
Walkways are needed where people walk
Sidewalks are needed where people walk, and bike lanes are needed where cyclists ride.
Buffers between sidewalks and arterial roads
Walking along busy streets like these can be uncomfortable and unsafe. Buffers, like trees, green space or bike lanes make sidewalks safer.
Endless sidewalks
It's daunting and unpleasant to walk on sidewalks that are isolated and disconnected from stores, streets and houses. 'Eyes on the street' can make a neighbourhood safe and sidewalks like these don't invite pedestrian traffic.
Transit stops
Good transit service is critical to good walking environments. Bus stop should be well lit and provide sheltered places for people to wait with benches and garbage cans.
Blocked sidewalks
Light and sign posts, electrical boxes, and other objects should not block sidewalks and walkways. Walkers should have a clear path free of obstructions.
Pictures of conditions and factors that influence the walkability of a neighbourhood are offered here in a slideshow. Most of the shots were taken by Katherine Childs (http://www.khchilds.com), with additional shots from Paul Hess and Jane Farrow.
What is Walkability?
Walkability is a quantitative and qualitative measurement of how inviting or un-inviting an area is to pedestrians. Walking matters more and more to towns and cities as the connection between walking and socially vibrant neighbourhoods is becoming clearer. Built environments that promote and facilitate walking - to stores, work, school and amenities – are better places to live, have higher real estate values, promote healthier lifestyles and have higher levels of social cohesion.
When you think of an area you like to walk, it probably has certain conditions or features that make it walker-friendly. For many that means wide well-maintained sidewalks, benches, good lighting, direct routes, interesting stores, buildings and amenities. For others it might mean shady green spaces, quieter routes or places where strollers, dogs and scooters are welcome. Walkability is a subjective measurement – some people like to stroll quietly on sidestreets, while others seek out the hustle and bustle of busy commercial districts. Often these subjective considerations are about our desire to be safe, others times its about aesthetic preferences.
Examining the walkability of a neighbourhood, town or city is an important factor to consider when thinking about making places more welcoming, livable and safe. Areas where lots of people are around, shopping, going to work or school, or just hanging out are considered more desirable living places which promote social connectedness, healthy lifestyles and reduce car dependence and green house gas emissions.
Our Walkability Tool Kit is a very basic introduction to the concepts of walkability and offers some simple tools to help you measure and capture the walking environment in your neighbourhood. The process helps connect local residents, raises awareness about what makes a community walkable, and the data and observations collected can be useful in the larger goal of making improvements.
The Walkability Slide Show offers many examples of the elements and factors influencing the walkability of a given area. The Walkability Checklist provides much the same material in a document which can be printed off and used to record local walking conditions. The strengths and weaknesses of a walking environment can be better appreciated by talking about it in a group. For this we provide a list of Discussion Topics. Finally, we provide a few suggestions for what to do with your findings and how you might consider moving forward with a wider set of stakeholders, community members, planners and politicians in our section on Making Improvements.
