Feet First’s look at pedestrian news for the week of July 22, 2011.
Weekly Walk Around the News
Posted by Derrick Van Kirk
July 22, 2011
Local
Seattle was ranked as the sixth most walkable city of the 50 largest cities in the US, according to Walk Score’s 2011 city rankings.
According to the Spokesman Review, a proposed Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan for the City of Spokane Valley is getting criticism from City Council members.
National
Walks Score has announced that more than 10,000 real estate websites are using its neighborhood mapping and data services to market their properties. This represents an increase of 250 percent over the past year.
According to The CityFix, an online resource for sustainable transport news, research and best practice solutions from around the world, walking and biking is the key to reversing the childhood obesity epidemic in the US.
The worlds coolest pedestrian bridges (photos included), according to AOL Travel.
The City of Portland is working with the community to put together a strategic plan to accommodate population growth over the next 25 years. Included in the plan is the Healthy Connected Neighborhoods Strategy which proposes connecting neighborhoods through a system of greenways and habitat corridors that would result in 20 minute neighborhood.
What makes a community more livable? Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (And What it Says About Us), explains that getting rid of cars may be a good start.
Toyota has created a Pre-Collision System (PCS) that will steer a car away from an object that is in its path in the hopes of reducing pedestrian deaths.
International
This article from the North Shore news in Vancouver, BC gives one person’s take on how to teach your children to become safe pedestrians.
If you come across any interesting pedestrian news or stories, please send a link to derrick@feetfirst.org.
Photo of shoes courtesy of Flickr user blond avenger under the Creative Commons license.