Encouragement & Education
Walking is more than a mode of transportation—it can also be a form of recreation, exercise, or exploration; a habit; or simply a pleasure. These tactics include large-scale projects, such as mobility education and pedestrian wayfinding systems, as well as small-scale initiatives that individuals could undertake, such as incorporating walking in the workplace, or leading a group walk through a neighborhood.
Add+
Create a SmartTrips Program
Definition
A SmartTrips program is a direct, individualized marketing program that encourages neighborhood residents to switch from car-based transportation to transit, biking, and walking. Programs use various approaches, such as direct mailings, email and website outreach, text messages, blogs, social media, bike delivery of materials, and free events to educate and encourage residents to change their travel behavior.
Guidance
- Use an established planning process to create the SmartTrips outreach program. Social marketing guidance created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that a program include:iSmart Trips Neighborhoods: Lessons Learned. St. Paul Smart Trips. October 2011.
- Problem description
- Formative research
- Strategy development
- Intervention design
- Evaluation
- Implementation
- Schedule at least six months to plan the program and five months to run it. St. Paul’s Smart Trips Neighborhoods recommends planning in the fall for a May–November programiSmart Trips Neighborhoods: Lessons Learned. St. Paul Smart Trips. October 2011.; a five-month program better engages residents through more events, newsletters, and emails, and encourages them to walk and cycle in cold weather
- Use software tools to help track and organize program elements, such as ConstantContact, MailChimp, EventBrite, Woofoo, Qualtrics, and SurveyMonkey
- Partner with:
- Advocacy organizations for in-kind support
- Public-health agencies for program planning and evaluation
- Community groups for outreach assistance
- Businesses in planning events and activities
- Allow participants to customize their information packets and travel-behavior goals within trackable parameters (e.g., which mode and how many trips per week)
- Make program events and materials accessible, including providing materials to those who use screen-reading or screen- enlargement software
- Create a neighborhood-wide goal with a reward to encourage peer pressure to meet it
- Document the program:
- Encourage staff to photograph outreach efforts and events
- Encourage participants to contribute their perspectives
- Evaluate the program, including effectiveness of outreach materials. Portland and St. Paul have published reports detailing survey methodology and results
Read Case Study
Back to Top
Add+
Establish Walking Meetings at Work
Definition
Walking meetings are small-group business discussions that take place while walking, usually outdoors, instead of around a conference table.
Guidance
- Determine the meeting agenda beforehand
- Determine the route and length of the walking meeting beforehand, taking into consideration the fitness and mobility levels of attendees
- Inform everyone they should wear comfortable shoes
- Schedule the walking meeting early to set the tone for the day; or late in the afternoon to reenergize attendees
- Check the weather and prepare accordingly
- Avoid noisy roads and those that are distracting and/or dangerousiFeet First. Guide to Walking Meetings.
- Give employees individual pedometers to track and encourage walking
Read Case Study
Back to Top
Add+
Use Walk Score to Your Advantage
Definition
The web-based real estate assessment tool Walk Score allows users, whether they are city-planning departments or individuals, to see and assess the walk-, bike-, and transit-friendliness of addresses and neighborhoods.
Guidance
- Incorporate Walk Score into real estate evaluations to encourage development toward more walkable goals
- Incorporate Walk Score data into planning analyses for transit-oriented developments
- Incorporate Walk Score data when evaluating the walkability of sidewalk and street networks and prioritizing improvement projects
Read Case Study
Back to Top
Add+
Seek Recognition
Definition
Applying for a Walk Friendly Communities (WFC) designation, managed by the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center, provides national recognition for your city’s efforts to encourage and improve walking.
Guidance
- Create an application committee with members from multiple agencies and backgrounds, including planners, engineers, law-enforcement officials, and advocates
- To find information requested by the application, reach out to and coordinate among municipal, county, and school district agencies and departments including the police, planning, public works, and engineering departments, and local transit. Other information may come from local nonprofits, advocacy groups, or elected officials
- Mention any state or national programs that have had a positive impact in your community, or any programs from local departments, private organizations, or advocacy groups that have improved the walking environment—also include any specific efforts to create a culture of walkingiWalk Friendly Communities Assessment Tool.
Back to Top
Add+
Create a Pedestrian Wayfinding System
Definition
Pedestrian wayfinding systems are navigational systems that help pedestrians determine where they are and where they need to go to reach a destination. Traditionally consisting of signs, wayfinding systems can now also involve GPS systems, web connectivity, and mobile technology. Wayfinding systems can be designed and implemented formally by municipalities and business improvement districts, or informally by walking advocates.
Guidance
- Create distinct, visible, consistent design for wayfinding signage
- Post signs on both sides of the street or trail along major walking routes
- Orient maps so that whatever direction the pedestrian is facing is at the top; indicate the orientation with the underlined phrase “You Are Here” where the pedestrian is within the map, and place an upward arrow under it
- Define distances by the time needed to reach them (e.g., “It’s a 15-minute walk away” or circles encompassing destinations within a 5-, 10-, or 15-minute walk)
- On signs with maps, create a standard prioritization system to limit the number of landmarks identified
- Illustrate the facades of important landmarks on maps to help orient pedestrians
- Include indexes of major landmarksiTurner, Julia. Legible London: Can better signs help people understand an extremely disorienting city? Slate. March 4, 2010.
- Make public data available to private organizations to develop smartphone applications (“apps”) at no cost to governmental agencies. QR codes can be incorporated to improve information delivery and reduce visual clutter
Read Case Study
Back to Top
Add+
Demonstrate Street Improvements
Definition
Spearheaded by the Better Block Project, this strategy is a collaborative effort to design and install a one-day demonstration of pedestrian-oriented streetscape improvements along an urban block. Typical demonstrations set up temporary pedestrian plazas, pop-up businesses in vacant storefronts, street trees and greenery in planters, bike lanes, additional street lighting, and (rented) sidewalk benches, tables, and chairs.iBetter Block Project.
Guidance
- Address safety when planning the demonstration:
- Does it feel safe to cross the street, walk on the sidewalk, or linger in the area?
- Does the area have obstacles that reduce sight lines?
- Is the area filled with debris, graffiti, overgrown landscaping, etc.?
- Do businesses have window bars or opaque windows?
- Address accessibility when planning the demonstration:
- Do pedestrians have easy and clear access to the area?
- Do bicycles feel welcome in the area?
- Is the area easily accessible from neighborhoods?
- Is the area inviting to children, seniors, those with mobility impairments, and dog owners?
- What would make the block attractive?
- Are there wayfinding signs?
- Are there amenities that encourage people to linger, such as seating and tables?
- Are there food options and/or places to eat outdoors?
- Are there maps, bulletin boards, or games that encourage people to linger?
- Create a broad-based implementation team including community activists, nonprofits, artists, businesses, students, and planning/ architect associations
- Coordinate the demonstration with an existing event, such as an art crawl or fun run, to raise awareness of the upcoming demonstration
- Work with property owners to allow access to vacant spaces
- Develop pop-up stores in vacant spaces and reach out to existing businesses for retail ideas and/or products
- Apply for a street-closure permit that still allows one lane of vehicle traffic. This helps residents see that a street design that better accommodates cyclists and walkers is a feasible everyday option
Read Case Study
Back to Top
Add+
Create Open Streets
Definition
Temporarily closing streets to automobiles and organizing public activities to encourage healthier transportation and living habits.
Guidance
- Build political, financial, and community support early on. Chicago’s Active Transportation Alliance used foundation funding to take local officials to cities with Open Streets initiatives. Once they experienced the event firsthand, Chicago officials started championing a car-free event of their own
- Create a coalition of stakeholders and coordinate regularly with city, community, and law-enforcement partners
- Identify a lead project manager
- Allow enough time for the permitting process (deadlines vary by jurisdiction)
- Frame open streets as an economic engine, cultural event, and means to promote healthy lifestyles
- Brand and promote the program. Market it as a continuous program rather than a one-off eventiPedestrian and Bicycle Information Center.
- Partner with local groups to establish uniquely local events and bring in attendees
- Seek nontraditional partners, such as medical foundations, in addition to transportation organizations
- Hold a follow-up meeting to debrief after each event
Back to Top
Add+
Create Play Streets
Definition
Play Streets programs temporarily close a section of a street off to cars, typically for a morning or a day on a regular, but seasonal, basis, for use as a public playground. Activities are often organized and supervised by volunteers or city workers.
Guidance
- Plan ahead: Contact potential partners and brainstorm activities in winter or early spring
- Reach out to community partners early and often, from the permit application process onward
- Organize community-outreach meetings, recruit volunteers, and brainstorm ideas and partnerships
- Recruit supervisors and activity coordinators from community groups, local police athletic leagues, municipal parks department employees, or summer youth-employment programs
- Schedule regular, consistent activities
- Publicize your play street: Create an activity schedule and share it with local blogs, newsletters, community meetings; post it in grocery stores, community centers, and other activity hubs; spread the word through social mediaiTransportation Alternatives. Play Streets Program Partner Resource Guide. 2011.
Read Case Study
Back to Top
Add+
Activate Streetscapes through Temporary Uses of Vacant Buildings and Sites
Definition
Organizing temporary uses of vacant buildings or land for socially beneficial purposes, which helps create safe dynamic streetscapes and walking destinations.
Guidance
- Collaborate with local organizations to determine the temporary use
- The following elements are suggested for a community garden or urban farm:
- Organize regular and frequent programming at the space
- Co-produce temporary programming with local groups to reflect the local context and widen community outreach
- Require written proposals from programming partners articulating exactly when and what will be occurring at the space
- Collaborate with local organizations and municipalities to procure general liability insurance for the temporary use
- Approach potential property owners with a proposal of what would take place, general liability insurance, and a contract template
- Build relationships with local businesses for mutual support strategies, such as distributing neighborhood maps with local discounts, and distributing materials about the temporary use in nearby stores
- Reach out to neighborhood associations to inform them of the temporary programming and gain their approval
- Create a multifaceted marketing strategy to let the public know where and when the temporary installation will be open. The strategy should reach out to local organizations and their memberships, as well as traditional and social media outlets, and include wayfinding signage
- Track how many people visit the site during its temporary use for property owners and use in future proposals
Read Case Study
Back to Top
Add+
Promote Park(ing) Day
Definition
Popularized by the San Francisco–based design group, Rebar, Park(ing) Day is an annual event on the third Friday of September during which activists and community groups legally take over a curbside parking spot and reinvent the space for pedestrian purposes. Groups have created public parks, public reading rooms, curbside cafes, bocci courts, and mini beaches within parking spots. By 2011, 35 countries have hosted nearly 1,000 Park(ing) Day events.
Guidance
- The goal of Park(ing) Day is to experiment with new forms of public space. Avoid exploiting the premise with commercial or promotional activities
- Consider your audience when choosing a location: If creating a park, consider a spot in an area underserved by public parks; if advocating for a public-policy change, choose a spot near that public agency
- Provide seating and shade
- Install a ground cover for better visual impact
- Set up plastic bollards or cones to buffer your space from cars
- Prepare to pay: Scope out the payment system of your parking spot, and have quarters or a credit card handy
- Create a team of collaborators to share planning, transportation, and implementation responsibilities
- Install signs to inform the public about Park(ing) Day and your event
- Research local parking laws and publicspace ordinances to address any concerns of residents or police officers
- Promote your event: Alert the media, post information on community listserves and blogs, and post wayfinding signs
- Prepare talking points about the goals of your Park(ing) Day event
- Document the event with photos and/or video
- Recycle project materials wherever possible
- Clean up your park(ing) spot thoroughly afterward to avoid fines or tickets
Back to Top
Add+
Start Up Jane’s Walks
Definition
Jane Jacobs Walk is a series of neighborhood walking tours (and/or bike rides, transit rides, or wheelchair rides) that helps community members learn and respond to the complexities of their city through personal and shared observation. All tours are given and taken for free and coordinated through the Center for the Living City, a nonprofit organization created by supporters of Jane Jacobs. The event takes place annually on the first weekend of May.iJane Jacobs Walk. What is Jane Jacobs Walk? About Jane Jacobs Walk. n.d.
Guidance
- Reach out to a broad base of potential walkers, including neighborhood associations, business improvement districts, community groups, youth organizations, and school associations for tour themes and to recruit tour-takers
- Schedule your tour for the first weekend in May to build on the legacy of Jane Jacobs and highlight walking advocacy
- Make sure locations and routes are accessible
- Go on a trial run of your tour before the event to time the route and ensure locations haven’t been blocked by unforeseen circumstances
- Read up on Jane Jacob’s theories and highlight them during the tour
- Create a listserve, website, Facebook page, or some way to update participants about tour themes, locations, and logistical details
- Encourage participants to ask questions and offer insights. The tours work best as a collective conversation about everyone’s shared surroundings
- Share the experience afterward: Upload pictures to your website, Facebook page, or shared online photo account. Write blog posts or send out a follow-up email about the eventiMunicipal Arts Society. Jane's Walk NYC. 2012.
Back to Top
Add+
Use Apps to Encourage Walking
Definition
Using open-source data, geographic information systems, and mobile technology, software developers can create phone and online applications to tell people when the next train, taxi, or bus is coming, that there’s a fun landmark or park around the corner, or how to use a myriad of transportation systems effectively to get from point A to point B without using a car.
Guidance
- Encourage transit and transportation agencies to publicly release relevant data
- Encourage mobile-technology application innovation through app competitions
- Use satellite and GPS technology to track uses, taxis, and trains in real time
Read Case Study
Back to Top
Add+
Expand Driver’s Education into Mobility Education
Definition
Mobility education supplements traditional driver’s education to teach multimodal and trip-planning skills in addition to driving techniques. Mobility education informs students how to do the following: ride a bike, judge the walkability of streets and neighborhoods from a pedestrian’s perspective, take and plan transit trips, account for the financial responsibility of car ownership, compare the health impacts of transportation behaviors, and consider the mobility possibilities of new technologies such as Skype and car-sharing.
Guidance
- To better integrate mobility education into existing driver-education methods, craft mobility education into supplementary modules that can be taught either by specialized instructors or by instructional DVDs with accompanying pre-made tests
- Build mobility education into state and national campaigns against distracted driving
- Frame mobility choices in terms of financial responsibility: the difference between an annual $8,000 outlay for car ownership and the savings of reducing or investing that amountiMobility Education Foundation. New Transportation Thinking for a 21st Century World Brochure.
- Incorporate parental involvement into curriculum, use crash statistics involving teenaged drivers, and create a parent-student driver contract based on safety and mobility choices
- Familiarize drivers with traffic-control devices used for traffic calming and bicycle routes
Read Case Study
Back to Top
Add+
Create a Safe Routes to Schools Program
Definition
Safe Routes to School programs make it safe, convenient, and fun for children to be able to walk to and from schools. The program targets pedestrian and bicycle improvements around schools and is based on evaluation, education, encouragement, enforcement, and engineering
Guidance
- Form a Safe Routes team at the school including parents, school officials, and city officials
- Form a task force at the city or school-district level to encourage collaboration between the city and schools to improve traffic safety and promote the program
- Prioritize schools based on traffic-safety needs
- Use the 5E’s:
- Evaluation: Start with an evaluation of existing conditions at the school or school district. Use standardized data-collection forms for student tallies and parent surveys
- Engineering: Begin with a community walking audit of barriers for children walking and bicycling to school. Request signal timing based on the slower walking speeds of children (3′ per second)
- Education: Teach children bicycle and pedestrian traffic-safety skills in the classroom. Educating parents to drive safely also improves traffic safety
- Encouragement: Organize walk- and bike-to-school days, contests, and other promotions to encourage walking. Also set up walking school buses and bike trains (parent-led programs where neighbors to walk with children)
- Enforcement: Partner with law enforcement to station crossing guards at street corners
- Implement improvements: Use regular maintenance funds for short-term improvements such as striping and signage. Apply to departments of transportation for longer-term infrastructure needs, or find additional funding
- Use the Safe Routes to School to School National Partnership’s Local Policy Guide to support the program
Read Case Study
Back to Top
Add+
Create a Safe Routes to Transit Program
Definition
A Safer Route to Transit program targets pedestrian improvements around transit stops and the walking or cycling routes used to reach them.
Guidance
- Demonstrate the need. Collect:
- Baseline data, such as the number, attributes, and circumstances of pedestrian crash injuries and fatalities
- Traffic volumes and speeds
- Ridership attributes (who arrives to stations and how)
- Population statistics by geographical distribution (e.g., area densities of senior populations or youth populations)
- Adequacy of existing infrastructure (sidewalk gaps, crosswalks, etc.)
- Also survey residents about mobility concerns and priorities
- Publicize the demonstrated need for targeted infrastructure improvements:
- Set up meetings with local representatives, advocacy groups, community organizations, and city agencies
- Write press releases and invite mainstream and social media representatives to cover the story
- Collaborate with departments of transportation, city planning, transit providers, local residents, and advocates to systematically address safety concerns and improvements
Read Case Study
Back to Top
Add+
Create a Safe Routes for Seniors Program
Definition
- A Safe Routes for Seniors program targets pedestrian improvements in areas with senior centers, hospitals, and large numbers of senior residents.
Guidance
- Demonstrate the need. Collect:
- Baseline data, such as the number, attributes, and circumstances of pedestrian crash injuries and fatalities
- Traffic volumes and speeds
- Population statistics by geographical distribution (e.g. area densities of senior populations)1
- Adequacy of existing infrastructure (sidewalk gaps, crosswalks, etc.)
- Also survey residents about mobility concerns and priorities
- Publicize the demonstrated need for targeted infrastructure improvements:
- Set up meetings with local representatives, advocacy groups, community organizations, and city agencies
- Write press releases and invite mainstream and social media representatives to cover the story
- Collaborate with departments of transportation and health, transit providers, senior center staff, seniors, health-care providers, and advocates to systematically address safety concerns and improvements
- Request signal timing based on the slower walking speeds of seniors (3 feet per second) to give pedestrians enough time to safely cross
Read Case Study
Back to Top
