1. Livability/Health and the role of
Place and Active Transportation

2. Where do we go from here?

3. Dan Burden, Walkable and Livable Communities Institute

5. Is this the landscape we want to leave
our children?

8. Spartanburg,
SC
Albany,
California

9. How did we get here? How can we get here?
Cedar Falls, Iowa
Del Mar, California

11. Transportation
has always built
our cities.
Always.
And … it will
continue to
do so.

12. “Automobiles are often conveniently tagged as the villains
responsible for the ills of cities and the disappointments and futilities
of city planning. But the destructive effects of automobiles are much
less a cause than a symptom of our incompetence at city building.
The simple needs of automobiles are more easily
understood and satisfied than the complex needs of cities,
and a growing number of planners and designers have
come to believe that if they can only solve the problems of
traffic, they will thereby have solved the major problems
of cities.
Cities have much more intricate economic and social concerns than
automobile traffic. How can you know what to try with traffic until
you know how the city itself works, and what else it needs to do with
its streets? You can't.”
Jane Jacobs, Death and Life of Great American Cities , 1961
“How can you know what to try with traffic until ….”

13. The Advent of
Suburbia

14. 2001 National
Geographic
Magazine Article on
Sprawl
Photo by: Newsday
Levittown
New York
Las Vegas, Nevada

15. Beacon Hill, BostonBeacon Hill, Boston
1550 feet from THE CHEERS BAR, 6 other
bars, 8 deli’s, 4 banks, 3 hardware stores, 2
florists, 18 restaurants, 5 churches, grocer,
pharmacist, medical and dozens more.
America’s First DevelopmentAmerica’s First Development

16. … It is where most
American children grow
up. It is where most
economic activity takes
place. Indeed, I will make
the argument that this
process of destruction, and
the realm that is spawned,
largely became our
economy.
…..James Howard Kunstler
Geography of Nowhere, 1981
If we were to place blame on our
economic meltdown on one source,
who would we blame?

17. Below scene: Costs 1/5th
to 1/10th
to maintain as above

18. Well Designed DensityChildhood needs
1. To develop fully children need a
broad range to roam
4. Our most important neural
pathways are developed before
the age of nine.
3. Einstein roamed the streets of
Munich at the age of four,
exploring on his own
2. U.S. children today have a
range one/ninth of their parents

21. Depressive Disorders
19 million American
adults
• Leading cause of
disability in the USA
• Treatment:
• Medication
• Social Contact,
including therapy
• And…..

24. Provide
Services
Downtowns
should provide
essential
services
Postal
Residential
Commercial
Public Space
Restrooms
Ferndale
California

29. Brattleboro, Vermont

30. Hot Springs, Arkansas

31. Hot Springs, Arkansas

32. Cleveland, Ohio.
Monterey, California

33. Monterey, California

36. Marine Drive, Dundarave, B.C.
Highway 93, Missoula, Montana
USA
Canada

37. Marine Drive, Dundarave, B.C.

39. You Know When You Have Left Claremont
Claremont, California

40. Bridgeport Way, University Place, WashingtonBridgeport Way, University Place, Washington

41. Bridgeport Way, University Place, Washington

42. Bridgeport Way, University Place, Washington

43. LaJolla Boulevard, Birdrock, San Diego, CA

44. LaJolla Boulevard, Birdrock, San Diego, CA

46. LaJolla Boulevard, Birdrock, San Diego, CA

47. LaJolla Boulevard, Birdrock, San Diego, CA

48. LaJolla Boulevard, Birdrock, San Diego, CA

49. PROCESS

54. Sammamish, Washington
228th
Avenue
The Sammamish public works
director was told it would take 10
years to go from concept to
concrete.
Bulldozers were moving dirt on
this unfunded project in 300 days.
Effective public participation can lead
to shortened times to construction

56. For further information contact:
Dan Burden, Executive Director, Walkable and Livable Communities
Institute, www.walklive.org