"One of the transcultural constants of town-making in history is the idea that a quarter mile is the maximum distance that the average person will walk to get somewhere on a routine basis. Beyond a quarter mile, some people will either seek transport or not bother going. This theory is born out in many different cultures around the world and is clearly due to the universality of the human scale. The quarter-mile standard therefore seems to present an optimum arrangement. It permits people to go about routine business without a car. Chores that require many separate, tedious car trips in sprawl can be accomplished in a single outing on foot. (In a culture of walkable neighborhoods, shop owners adapt by offering home delivery of bulky merchandise.) Walking allows a person to visit many different types of shops--thereby promoting small scale, locally-owned businesses, which, in turn, promote manifold civic benefits from the support of local institutions to the physical caretaking of the street. Walking down the street permits casual socializing. Pedestrians make streets safer by their mere presence in numbers. Finally, walking down the street is spiritually elevating. When neighborhoods are used by pedestrians, a much finer scale of detailing inevitably occurs. Building facades become more richly ornamented and interesting. Little gardens and windowboxes appear. Shop windows create a continuity of visual spectacle, as do outdoor cafes, both for walkers and the sitters. There is much to engage the eye and the heart. In such a setting, we feel more completely human. This is not trivial."
No comments:
Post a Comment