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San Jose Repertory Theatre
San Jose, CA
Jul 14th, 2008
[A video version of this presentation with transcripts is available at Fora.tv]
Dan Burden has traveled all over the world to see what cities everywhere have done and need to do to make living in them better. When communities are high-density, people walk more. This improves the health of their citizens, but has other benefits as well, such as increasing positive feelings about the community by providing opportunities for people to meet and spend time with each other. Walking more and driving less also has other important benefits that contribute to a better quality of life and bring about greater sustainability.
Making a city walkable not only has to do with the presence of sidewalks, but other factors. A human walking down a street sees and experiences it differently than one driving in a car. If cities want to make their spaces more welcome to pedestrians, they must consider whether these spaces excite and interest as well as make the viewer feel protected and reassured.
In order for communities to become more pedestrian-friendly, Burden suggests a variety of solutions from low-cost, easy-to-implement ideas to more fundamental measures that take future sustainability into account at the outset of planning. Cities that begin to think about their future in such a thoughtful way can re-discover what makes them great.
Note: this presentation relies heavily on visuals that were shown in the live presentation. Use the link provided to view the videotaped presentation. (Please also note that few of the visuals used were included in the videotaped presentation).
Dan Burden is a nationally recognized authority on bicycle and pedestrian facilities and programs, street corridor and intersection design, traffic flow and calming, and other design and planning elements that affect roadway environments. He has had twenty-five years of experience in developing, promoting, and evaluating alternative transportation facilities, traffic calming practices, and sustainable community design. He served for sixteen years as Florida DOT's State Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator, and he presently works as executive director of Walkable Communities, Inc., a non-profit corporation helping North America develop walkable communities.
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