Walkable Cities: Lose Weight and Save Money Now!

Is your city a walkable city? Is it necessary to use your car for getting things done every day? How far away is your grocery store? How far is your favorite restaurant? Chances are, you probably need your car for most things. Why? The answer lies in the fact that the suburb is the American dream, and you probably live in a suburb. It’s not your fault that you’re living in a suburb. You can probably blame your grandparents or great grandparents.

Walkability as part of city planning is becoming a hot topic. Walkability is one of the many components in a movement known as New Urbanism. New Urbanism is a movement which has been gaining popularity since the 1980’s. New Urbanism calls for a complete reform of how city planning is done and how houses should be built. Walkability is an integral part of the New Urbanist movement. Walkability is simple in definition; it is how accessible a city is by foot. If daily life requires the use of a car, your city is not a walkable city. I like to think that the walkability of a city is also dependent upon mass transit. Ideal as it would be, not everything a person needs to do is accessible by foot, at least in a pleasant distance, even in a walkable city. Many walkable cities are large, like New York city. Having a rail system, like a subway or surface level light rail as found in Prague or Amsterdam, encourages people to walk because distances that are out of reach by foot, suddenly become accessible again, rather than having to pull the car out of the driveway. Using New York as an example, one would usually agree that using an automobile there is torture. Although the many boroughs are far apart, one could easily get to all of them with the right combination of walking and rail use.

Suburbs are often, if not always, not walkable to the places you need to go to get errands done. Suburbs are the spread out and clutter free off shoots of the main city near by. New Urbanism looks to Europe for examples of how cities are built and their continuity as vibrant cities that do not require the use of a car. Even smaller towns or suburbs in Europe, take for example Oxford, England, still for the most part are walkable. Suburbanization dates back as early as the 1800s, but for our purposes, today’s suburbs are the fault of the baby boomer generation. Affordable housing was demanded by the government after World War 2 for returning GIs. Soon, the single family home in the suburb became the dream of breadwinners everywhere and houses started appearing in droves. Suburbs were seen a pleasant, moral place, and the packed cities were left behind. These houses were built in low density, creating the need for the automobile to get new suburban homeowners into the core of the city to get whatever they needed since suburbs are often limited in the availability of goods.

In the US today, our most walkable cities would include: Boston, Chicago, Illinois, Seattle, Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Minneapolis. This list needs to be longer. We, as a country, need to push for our cities to become more pedestrian friendly. Certain abolishments can help us out. For example, the strip mall needs to be destroyed. The strip mall is a very auto oriented development. Not only are they tacky, but they are meant to cater to cars, rather than humans. David Sucher wrote a book called City Comforts, which is a guide to building more comfortable cities, with walkability being one of the key issues. Sucher has three rules for Urban Design that makes life more comfortable and cities friendlier to humans: build to the sidewalk (or property line), make building fronts permeable (no blank walls), and prohibit parking lots in the front of a building (as found in strip malls). Sucher thinks that if a city can incorporate these ideas, that we would be better off. Sucher sees the city as a place which should be pleasant, and with everyone walking, should be a place to have chance encounters with those you know.

Walkability can solve many of America’s most pressing issues. How? It is quite simple. Americans are overweight. Why? “Poor diet and lack of exercise” is the common answer. Instead of driving to the drive-thru (another horrid urban development) of a fast food retailer, why not walk to the local market or café. Take the rising cost of gas prices. What can we do individually? Not drive. However, not driving is simply unrealistic for most, but if cities catered to our feet as well as our cars, leaving the minivan or SUV in the driveway not only saves you money, but is also good for your health and lessening the burden the US collectively has on oil. So, get some comfortable walking shoes and get on with your life. The non-fast food, and non-fast paced style of life that walking can afford someone, is a pleasant one.

Housing Shortages: Why Build When You Can Convert?

Land is getting scarcer by the day, and the growth of the world’s population is not slowing down. What can we do? Every one needs a place to live, but in some areas it is harder to come across than others. I bring this point up because I came across an article which featured a story about motels being converted into housing in Big Sky, Montana. While the idea is nothing new, I found the article interesting because it was about converting a motel to housing for employees of ski resorts. Housing is established here out of need for workers, rather than profit. Of course this is not the first time that motels or hotels have been converted to housing; but it is a nice of example of how a business tried to help out their employees rather than take money solely from tourists at a higher rate.

Big Sky Resort is no small resort. Big Sky Resort employs about 900 people. Big Sky, Montana is an area just north of Yellowstone National Park, with its next biggest city being Bozeman, a thirty two mile drive from Big Sky. Thirty two miles is not that long of a commute; however, when the road one drives on is a two lane highway covered in ice, the closer alternative to work is not only safer, but probably more economical in the end.

Big Sky is not a big town, but with land prices being high as they are, Big Sky employees needed an affordable solution to their housing needs during their peak season, which happens to be winter. Their solution came in the form of an old Comfort Inn motel. The Whitewater Inn is now the new incarnation of the old Comfort Inn. The Whitewater Inn still serves its function as an affordable alternative for lodging for the numerous tourists who flock to Big Sky every winter, but Big Sky’s primary intention for the purchase was to house employees. According to the Whitewater Inn’s website, nightly rates start at $115 and go as high as $160.

Four workers from Brazil at the Whitewater Inn share a room for just under $1000 a month, which would be about two nights stay worth of rent per worker at the regular nightly rate for tourists. Sounds like a steal in comparison doesn’t it? Rates do differ based on an employee’s duties at the resorts.

The Yellowstone Club, a private Ski and Golf community, also purchased a motel to house their employees. The Yellowstone Club has both summer and winter attractions, so staff are constantly on hand throughout the year. The Yellowstone Club is now the new owner of Buck’s T-4 Lodge which is close to the Whitewater Inn. Buck’s T-4 Lodge has 74 rooms available to their employees.

Both companies did an excellent job by taking a proactive role in finding housing for their employees. While it is not mandatory that employees rent from their companies, it is a smart move. At the same time, the companies are not obligated to rent the rooms to employees since both motels still operate as tourist lodging. Unfortunately, rent is not the same for everyone. Both companies decide their rent based on what position the future renter holds at the resorts. The criteria for establishing rent prices was not mentioned in the article, but either way, it is meant to serve as an affordable and safer alternative to renting in Bozeman. Employees are valuable, and with the high numbers of deaths reported on the two lane pass every winter, it is pleasant to see that companies take an interest in their employee’s livelihood by trying to accommodate them closer to the workplace.

Although as mentioned above, the idea is not ground breaking to buy a motel near the resort to house employees, but there is a small element of sustainability involved here. Neither resort built dormitories for their employees. While it would be costly to do so since property values are always on the rise, it was certainly a possibility, but instead both resorts opted to occupy buildings that were already built.

Giving Others the Spotlight

This week I scoured the web to find some topics that I think are not only interesting, but also have something fun incorporated in the planning and developing field. Rather than creating a blog, this week I looked at other’s blogs to see what was exciting and interesting to them in the blogosphere. In particular, I’ve been reading up on sustainability. Although profit is in the equation for my desire to be a developer, I also wish to maintain a sense of social responsibility. Sustainability and “green” incorporated planning are topics which seem like they are fun issues to tackle, but also gives back to our earth for the damages we cause to it. Another topic that is of interest to me is the walkability of cities. I want to give credit to anyone who wants to incorporate the idea of leaving our cars behind to get around town so I found a blog on walkability as well. Below are my comments that I left at other blogs.

Making A Utah Suburb Walkable

To see walkability of a city making a comeback as a planning priority is something that is definitely welcomed and should be applauded. It is unfortunate that walkability is a thing of the past. In a country such as the United States, where we are so spoiled with the vast amount of open land we have to build on, huge lots and huge houses become the norm for desirability. Much of the “evils” of present day (gas guzzling SUVs, horrid gas prices, traffic, etc.) can be attributed to the dire need for an automobile in the United States.

Walkability of a city is a positive development for the general population’s health and mental well being. By being less dependent on automobiles, we can greatly improve our lives. Kudos are definitely due for planners and developers who are taking steps toward attaining a more walkable America. Hopefully there will come a day when in all major cities, we can leave behind our automobiles to get the basic necessities of life done.

Urban Cohousing for the 21st Century

Cohousing could make a comeback as a chic or progressive idea, if it ever was in the first place. Although it is not particularly hard to find or build a condominium or townhouse complex, to find or build one with an emphasis on neighborhood interaction as well as the integration and preservation of green space, can be a little difficult. It would definitely be a nice way to give back to Mother Nature if developers would start incorporating more green space to their dwellings, especially in the noted urban environment. Green space can contribute directly to an improvement of life since it is always pleasant to find a nice patch of grass to sit down on and read or do something of the sort. A development like this which incorporates a good amount of green space can definitely have an indirect effect on the value of the properties on the premises since open areas of green can be an area for children to roam around and play in should potential buyers have children. Finding sizeable backyards in a town-home is difficult, if not impossible. To have a communal yard sounds like an excellent idea.

Sustainability: Let's Get With It.

Our world is one that is being developed at an alarming rate. Real estate is an industry where something new is constantly being developed. At what cost? Not only are we building upon the ever decreasing amount of open space left, but the materials used to make buildings, and the completed buildings themselves deplete our precious natural resources. This is why contractors and real estate developers should start incorporating more environmental awareness in their design. Sustainable development is the answer.

Sustainability in its most general concept is creating a way of life that is less harmful to the environment. In a lot of ways sustainability gives Mother Nature a helping hand in getting back to a better state of health. Sustainability not only helps out our Earth, but it is good for us as well. Sustainability is an idea that applies to many things: food, traffic, natural resources, health and development among other things. Building sustainable cities is something that should be on the minds of urban planners, but even local level contractors and builders can incorporate sustainability in their designs.

Take for example the Alberici Enterprises corporate headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri. Alberici Enterprises is a contracting company that most recently finished expanding St. Louis University’s Business and Administration school. Alberici’s corporate headquarters “boasts the highest LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating ever awarded by the US Green Building Council: 60 points out of a possible 69” according to WorldChanging.com. Exactly what did Alberici do with their corporate headquarters to earn this very high rating? First, their electricity is generated by a wind operated turbine that was salvaged from California. This not only saves the company money on their electricity bill, but it also does not take from the city’s power grid. A sustainable concept is also used here in the fact that the power generating turbine was a second hand unit, therefore not letting it go to waste or the company having to buy a new one which would require new parts that would be fabricated at the cost of the environment. Fortunately, the building is so well built and maintained climate wise in terms of sustainability that rarely any electricity is used at all. Lighting is natural for the most part (as long as it is light outside). The building is built so that natural light comes in at every possible point of entry. Employees are encouraged to keep the windows open in the summer to let in a cool breeze to keep temperatures lower inside the building. Asphalt is not used around the building to keep the amount of heat radiated by the ground surface at a minimum. Parking is in a tiered garage built into the building. No extra surface area on the property was developed to facilitate parking. The building itself was not even built by Alberici . The corporate headquarters occupies a building which was built almost half a century ago. Sustainability pointed out here again in the sense that nothing had to go to waste; the building was salvaged and put to use all over. Plumbing is even done in a sustainable way. Water is drawn from the roof via a storm water collection system. Should the amount of water collected be too much for use at the current time, the water drains off into a pond nearby so that the water does not affect St. Louis’ sewer system.

Is all this necessary? Probably not. Is it a good idea? Of course. This level of sustainability is difficult to achieve in a family home or typical residential neighborhood, but Alberici should be applauded for their pioneering spirit in their endeavors. Corporations usually have large headquarters. Corporations can have a lot of money as well. For the companies who make a large enough margin, they should take it upon themselves to build their corporate headquarters in a sustainable way. If most commercial buildings could be built in a sustainable way, that would greatly reduce the negative impact a large building could have. Even if the plumbing and water usage at your neighborhood Target was conducted using rain water that would consume so much less water. Baby steps like this should be implemented. Of course it is almost impossible to cool down a large indoor mall with just windows, but plumbing using rain water or electricity generated by a private windmill or turbine is something that seems feasible and also smart as a long term investment.