Planning Livable Communities

Washington, D.C. is launching what Time magazine calls “America’s first high-tech bike-sharing program,” featuring “key-card locking systems and tracking devices to prevent theft.”

The idea is inspired by popular bike-sharing programs abroad, especially Paris’s Vélib. Notes Time:

“Although places like Copenhagen, Lyons and Barcelona are big on bike-sharing, the City of Lights boasts the crème de la crème, with 20,600 bikes and about 1,450 stations–four times the number of Parisian metro stops. It’s hard to walk more than two blocks without running into a bike rack, which helps explain why the program has already yielded a 5% drop in car traffic. Paris has also removed lots of parking spots to make way for bike stations.

But making things convenient for riders is a major production. Some 400 people work full-time to ensure that the Vélib program runs smoothly. Every day trucks have to move bikes around to meet rush-hour demands, and a barge along the Seine serves as a floating bike-repair shop. “

Not surprisingly, America’s first effort is very much more modest, with just 120 bicycles and 10 stations. However, city officials know that will need to scale up considerably in order for the program to be a serious commuting alternative.

In Paris, the effort is quite serious. “We conceived of this as a public-transportation system, so it operates as one,” Bernard Parisot, head of the company running Vélib, told Time. In contrast, most U.S. communities view cycling as a hobby indulged in by a few, and not a key mode of transport on par with autos or even subways. Then again, most U.S. communities view walking as an optional activity, not an important mode of transport, as evidenced by lack of snow clearing in winter, not to mention roadways actively hostile to people walking from place to place (case in point: it’s all but impossible for me to walk from my office to Shoppers World, less than a mile away, because of dangerous intersections and lack of sidewalks).

A few cities, though, are taking cycling seriously for transportation, such as Portland, Minneapolis and Denver, Time notes. “For bikes to become a mainstay of the morning rush, cities need to spend time and money expanding bike fleets and making streets safer for two-wheelers. That means creating dedicated bike lanes and ticketing cars that double-park in them.”

Perhaps soaring gasoline prices may finally create more pressure for municipal officials to take cycling, walking and mass transit more seriously as alternatives to the private automobile.

If you think about your favorite urban spaces, chances are good they’re “mixed use” in many ways. They likely encourage multiple forms of transit, not just the automobile; and they mix people living, working, shopping and relaxing so there’s street life throughout the day and evening. Add in some outdoor space and restaurants with outdoor cafe seating, and if it’s well designed, chances are you’ve got a space worth visiting.

That’s why I was so encouraged to see that Boston officials are thinking of putting some kind of sit-down eatery in Boston Common. Adding a place to enjoy lunch or dinner in the midst of the city’s green oasis is a great idea that, if done well, will make the Common more of an appealing destination. City officials reportedly traveled to New York City recently to check out a restaurant in Central Park.

“Boston officials, marveling at the vibrant scenes they found in New York, said they are exploring the idea of establishing a full-scale restaurant, a simple food kiosk, or something in between to attract diners to the Common,” the Boston Globe reported. Both parks were designed by famed landscape architect Frederic Law Olmstead.

Many other cities have eateries in their public parks, adding to the enjoyment of visiting. For example, Geneva’s botanical garden features an outdoor cafe (buy food inside, bring it out to your table) where you can get beer & wine as well as a nice lunch, and sit outside on a nice day.

“Mayor Chris Koos of Normal, IL, has introduced a resolution making the case that bicycling should be integrated into our nation’s transportation, climate, energy and health policy initiatives, for consideration and adoption at this year’s U.S. Conference of Mayors Annual meeting, June 20-24 in Miami,” according to American Bicyclist Update. Several mayors have already signed on as co-sponsors, including those in Denver, Redmond (Wash.), Santa Barbara, Minneapolis and Charleston (SC).

The resolution notes that since 1980, American miles driven has grown three times faster than the population; that 10% of all global oil production goes to fuel American driving; and that we could save 462 million gallons of gasoline a year by increasing cycling from one percent to one and a half percent of all trips.

One of the major missed opportunities in Framingham was not leveraging the presence of the Sudbury River into our residential and commercial development patterns. It’s easy to spend hours in the Saxonville commercial district and not even notice the nearby river; you have to know about it in order to walk around and behind various buildings to get to the little park near the mill, or to find the Carol Getchell nature trail.

Contrast that with, say, Waltham, where there are obvious walking paths along the river from the heart of the business district, and where restaurants and housing were built to take advantage of being riverfront. Instead, we’ve got things like a car rental lot blocking views at one of the prime pieces of riverfront commercial real estate in Saxonville. Sigh. Hopefully, someday the old Saxonville Lumber site can be redeveloped to take better advantage of the nearby river. Outdoor cafe seating overlooking the water, anyone?

Meanwhile, if you long for the river to be better integrated into our community (as I do), we’ve got Riverfest! 2008 this weekend.  Framingham activities include a historic Saxonville walking tour Saturday at 1, an easy canoe trek from Framingham Centre to Saxonville Sunday at 10, and a bird walk along the Carol Getchell Nature Trail Sunday at 7 am.

Other nearby Riverfest activities include Concord River pontoon boat tours in Bedford, Assabet River Walk in Concord, Concord River Paddle (Bedford), History Paddle (Wayland), free canoe rides on the Sudbury River (Southborough), Twilight Canoe (Lincoln), rubber duck race (Sudbury) and lots more. The full listing of activities is here.

The Framingham Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee’s next meeting is Tuesday, June 10, 7:30 p.m. in Conference Room 1 of the Memorial Building (Town Hall), 150 Concord Street. Looks like the main item on the agenda will be a working session to review draft chapters of the new Framingham Open Space and Recreation Plan that are relevant to pedestrians, hikers and bicyclists.

It is eye-opening to see how differently people view meals and mealtime in much of Europe vs. the U.S. To many people in Italy, France and elsewhere, meals are to be savored and unhurried. in the Northeast U.S., these days it seems that taking time out for meals is often considered extravagant, wasteful and even lazy.

When we first arrived in Italy, I noticed that my friends and I were always by far the quickest eaters wherever we were, in and out while everyone around us was still enjoying a less hurried meal. By the end of our trip, we had slipped into the rhythm of delightful hour and a half or longer dinners, and unrushed lunches. But that’s a hard habit to maintain once back home.

In Italy, many stores close at lunchtime, and even in Florence, the shops close by dinnertime despite the hordes of tourists still filling the streets. Yes, they could probably be making more money if they stayed open; but unless you’re in the food-service/hospitality industry, it’s expected that you’ll be having your meals during lunch and dinner, not working. Interesting and different perspective. I can’t describe the look one of my friends in Slovenia gave me when I explained that during my lunch break, I take a 20-minute walk, and then go back to my desk to eat because I’ve pretty much used up the break time I feel I can take. He couldn’t have been more appalled if I’d told him I eat my lunch in the toilet. There’s a completely different viewpoint about the importance of mealtime to living a civilized life.

Is there truly a good reason why I couldn’t leave later from work in exchange for taking a longer lunch break from time to time? I don’t think so. Much of this is self-imposed, because we live in a culture where if you’re not running around busy all the time, you fear being seen as not “hard-working” enough, not interested enough in “success.” The results of all this pressure have now filtered down to kids, where many “high-achieving” high school students now don’t take a break during the day, according to a story in yesterday’s New York Times. “I would never put lunch before work,” one junior told the Times, as she vowed to work through what will become a new mandatory lunch break. I find that sad.

I wrote awhile ago about the “postcard test” — if you’d buy a postcard of a streetscape, it’s a good measure that it’s likely to be a livable, pedestrian-friendly place.

Now, upon returning from a two-week holiday, I’d like to offer up a corollary: the “vacation test”: Is your community a place where someone would want to spend some free time?

Of course, not every town can be an ocean-front retreat or idyllic mountain resort. And not every community can be a place where out-of-towners want to spend a week.

But if your town isn’t a place where someone would want to spend even half a day, finding something to enjoy and hold their interest, well, what does that say about it as an appealing place to live beyond your own private space? True quality of life requires quality shared public space along with one’s own private home.

After spending some time overseas earlier this month, in towns that are so pretty, compact and walkable, it’s clear that this is a much lower priority in much of America than, say, many countries in Europe.

In Framingham, along with our largely pedestrian-hostile but regionally appealing shopping (Rte. 9) and eateries, movies and arts center, we’re fortunate to have the botanical jewel Garden in the Woods. I was there over the weekend, and it was definitely attracting a crowd from well beyond the town’s borders. With so many things in full bloom and beautiful walking paths, it definitely passed the vacation test as someplace you’d want to enjoy on a day off. Callahan State Park is another.

However, our neighborhoods could use even more public space where it would be so pleasant to while away an afternoon, outsiders would be drawn there as well as locals.

After NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to charge drivers for taking private vehicles into some areas of Manhattan was killed by political opponents, the city’s transportation department last month unveiled a more modest proposal aimed at “bring[ing] a green approach to transportation that will simultaneously ease travel conditions in our growing city while squarely facing the problem of climate change and improving the city’s quality of life.”

Sustainable Streets will increase bus service, as well as add bus lanes, bike racks and 200 miles of cycling lanes next year, among other things, according to the Gotham Gazette. There are a few more details (including video introducing the program) at Streetsblog.