Posted by Zoe Harris and Drew DeVitis
Local
Seattle will install traffic cameras at five more schools in June to enforce a 20 mph limit during arrival and departure. The sites are Roxhill Elementary, Holy Family School, Dearborn Park Elementary, Bailey-Gatzert Elementary, and Eckstein Middle School.
The Seattle Department of Transportation is hosting an open house to discuss the Northgate Pedestrian and Bike Bridge project. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 3rd at Olympic View Elementary from 5:30 – 6:30 pm.
Seattle is the seventh fittest city in the country according to a report by American College of Sports Medicine, which uses walkability and the rate of walking commuters as factors to rank urban areas.
National
A news report from Preservation Green Lab titled Older, Smaller, Better: Measuring How the Character of Buildings and Blocks Influences Urban Vitality finds that neighborhoods containing a mix of older, smaller buildings of different ages support greater levels of positive economic and social activity.
Kaid Benfield from the National Resource Defense Council describes the key elements that make 
up a good main street, which includes superior pedestrian design and density, but at a human scale.
Los Angeles is set to hold the sixth annual Big Parade this weekend, a free urban hike expected to draw up to 600 walkers. The participants will traverse more than 35 miles and climb about 100 public stairways.
A Walking School Bus program in Rhode, Iowa is working to curb obesity and improve grades.
International
Jane’s Walk in the Uptown Rideau neighborhood of Ottawa, Canada, sheds light on three particular challenges to walkability that are present even in dense, human-scaled communities.
Three English soccer fans are on a 1200+ mile trek from Mendoza, Argentina to Porto Alegre, Brazil to watch England play in the World Cup, and also raise £20,000 to help build a water well in an impoverished area of Brazil.
If you come across any interesting pedestrian news or stories, please send a link to zoe@feetfirst.org.
Photos courtesy of Seattle Department of Transportation and Big Parade LA