http://www.americawalks.org/nationalwalkingvision/
Vision Statement for a Walkable America
By 2020, walking in everyday life is embraced across America. Streets and neighborhoods are safe and attractive public places that encourage people of all ages, abilities, ethnicities, and incomes to walk for exercise, recreation, and transportation. Walkable community policies promote health, economic vitality, environmental sustainability, and social equity.
Principles for a Walkable America
The following principles are key to achieving our vision of a walkable America:
- Transportation systems will provide accessibility and mobility for all
- People of all abilities will be able to safely walk along and to cross all streets
- Communities of all sizes will be designed on a human scale, to encourage social interaction and commerce
- States and cities will revise existing transportation and development policies, standards, and programs to encourage walking, bicycling, and transit use
- Transportation and development design decisions will explicitly consider public health outcomes
I Support a Walkable AmericaI/We, support changes in the built environment to encourage walking as a means of achieving healthy, efficient, equitable, socially inclusive and sustainable communities.
(Source: peoplepoweredmovement.org)
![Peeling Back Pavement to Expose Watery Havens » NYTimes
“In the industrial era after the Korean War, the stream, by then a rank open sewer, was entombed by pavement and forgotten beneath a lacework of elevated expressways as the city’s population swelled toward 10 million.“Today, after a $384 million recovery project, the stream, called Cheonggyecheon, is liberated from its dank sheath and burbles between reedy banks. Picnickers cool their bare feet in its filtered water, and carp swim in its tranquil pools.”
Other cities worldwide are pursuing similar endeavours:
“By building green corridors around the exposed waters, cities hope to attract affluent and educated workers and residents who appreciate the feel of a natural environment in an urban setting.” (emphasis ours)
via urbangreens
[h/t aetercrow]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/DAS9f5yCxq5ekxfwMjm7yAsEo1_400.jpg)
