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| Photo: Shutterstock |
by
Jay Walljasper, Yes! magazine:
http://www.yesmagazine.org/happiness/walking-is-going-places
Walking is going places. Over recent decades, walking has come to be widely viewed as a slow,
tiresome, old-fashioned way to get around.
But that’s changing now as
Americans recognize that traveling by foot can be a health
breakthrough, an economic catalyst, and the route to happiness.
Is walking the next big thing?
Look to the media to give you an answer. Popular lifestyle magazine
Real Simple declared it “America’s Untrendiest Trend” on its February cover. A month later
Builder,
a
construction trade journal, announced something similar on its cover:
“Walkability. Why We Care … and Why You Should Too.”
A new book
called
A Philosophy of Walking, reviewed in The New Yorker,
asserts that walking “makes it possible to recover the pure
sensation of being, to rediscover the simple joy of existing.”
And one of the year’s top
music videos,
“Happy” by soul singer Pharrell Williams, shows all kinds of people
strutting, stepping, striding, and sashaying down city streets. It’s an
exuberant celebration of walking and has been viewed more than 500
million times on YouTube.
There is sure to be continuing coverage of foot power next year when
the Surgeon General’s office releases a Call to Action on the health and
social benefits of walking and walkable communities - a step some are
comparing to the 1964 Surgeon General’s report on the dangers of
smoking.
Already the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
recommends all adults engage in 30 minutes of moderate physical
activity, such as walking, five days a week. It has been proven to
lower incidences
of major medical problems - not just heart disease, diabetes and
obesity, as you might expect, but also depression, dementia, and other
serious conditions.
This flurry of attention about walking is more than a flash in the
pan. Evidence that millions of Americans are now rediscovering walking
to fulfill their transportation, fitness, and recreation needs is as
solid as the ground beneath our feet.
Americans Are Getting Back on their Feet
“Walking is the most common form of physical activity across incomes
and ages and education levels,” explained Thomas Schmid of the federal
CDC at a conference in Pittsburgh last fall. The CDC’s most
recent research
shows that the number of Americans who walk for leisure or fitness
at least once a week rose to 62% in 2010 from 56% in
2005 - that’s almost 20 million more people on their feet.
Walking is already more prevalent across the United States than most
of us realize. Paul Herberling of the U.S. Department of Transportation
noted that 10.4% of all trips Americans make are on foot - and
28% of trips under a mile. For young people, it’s 17% of
all trips. Americans walk most frequently for exercise, errands, and
recreation, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration.
Last year the first ever
Walking Summit
was held in Washington, D.C., drawing more than 400 people from 41
states and Canada. A second summit is scheduled for October 28-30, 2015,
in D.C.
The 2013 summit, which sold out weeks in advance, marked the birth of
a new walking movement committed to: encouraging everyone to walk more;
and boosting policies, practices, and investments that make communities
everywhere more walkable.
It was convened by the
Every Body Walk!
Collaborative, a joint effort involving more than 100 influential
organizations across many fields to promote walking as part of the
solution to problems ranging from chronic disease and health care costs,
to climate change and the decline of community.
Walking also strengthens our social connections, which have been
shown to be as important to health as physical activity, says Kaiser
Permanente Vice-President Tyler. The more we are out walking, the
more people in our community we come to know.
Americans overwhelmingly view walking as a good thing, according to a national
survey . Here’s what it found:
- Good for my health (94 percent)
- Good way to lose weight (91 percent)
- Great way to relax (89 percent)
- Helps reduce anxiety (87 percent)
- Reduces feelings of depression (85 percent)
Americans Are Voting With Their Feet
Even the American dream is being remodeled to meet the public’s
growing enthusiasm for walking. 60% of Americans would prefer
to live in neighborhoods with stores and services within easy walking
distance, according to a recent
survey from the National Association of Realtors - nearly twice as many who want to live where stores can be reached only by car.
This is especially true for the millennial generation, which is now
entering the workforce and housing market in large numbers and will
shape the future of American life as dramatically as the baby
boomers did in the 1960s and 1970s.
“With drastically different views of
transportation from those of generations that came before them,
millennials are transforming communities,” notes another
report
from the National Association of Realtors. “Millennials own fewer
cars and drive less than their predecessors. They’d rather walk, bike,
car-share, and use public transportation - and want to live where that’s
all easy.”
Why Walking? Why Now?
What’s driving the growing passion for walking? “It’s a convergence of factors,” says
Christopher Leinberger, a real estate
developer, George Washington University business professor, and a leading advocate for walkable communities. Those factors are:
1.
The well-established link between walking and better health
, which is reinforced by recent research pointing to the dangers of
sitting for long periods of time. A comprehensive study published in the
Journal of Clinical Nutrition
that charts 240,000 Americans between ages 50 and 71 found that
“overall [time] sitting was associated with all-cause mortality”.
2.
The accelerating costs of owning one, two, or more cars, which many Americans, especially
younger people, find a poor investment of their resources. Transportation is now the highest cost in
family budgets
(19%) next to housing (32%). In auto-dependent
communities - where walking is inconvenient and unsafe - transportation
costs (25%) approach housing costs (32%).
3.
Metropolitan areas with many walkable neighborhoods do better economically than those with just a few. Leinberger’s recent report “
Foot Traffic Ahead“
finds that walkable metropolitan areas “have substantially higher
GDPs per capita” and a higher percentage of college graduates. Office
space in walkable locations enjoys a 74% rent-per-square-foot
premium over offices in auto-oriented developments in America’s 30
largest metropolitan regions.
4.
More people discovering the personal satisfactions of walking. “Seeing
friends on the street, walking to work, strolling out for dinner or
nightlife” are among the pleasures of walking that enrich our lives,
says Leinberger.
Walking Means Business
Firms in the booming tech, information, and creative industries are
at the forefront of the trend toward walkable communities because the
coveted young talent they need to stay competitive want to work in
places that are a short stroll from cafes and cultural attractions.
The first thing Google did after buying the electronics firm Motorola
Mobility was to move its headquarters away from the freeways and strip
malls of Libertyville, Illinois, to the walkable environs of
downtown Chicago.
“They felt like they couldn’t attract the young
software engineers they needed” to an isolated 84-acre complex, says
Leinberger. Other companies that recently moved from suburban Chicago
to the city include Medline, Walgreen’s, Gogo, GE Transportation,
Hillshire Brands, and Motorola Solutions.
“Two things seem to resonate for businesses about the importance of
walkability - how to attract the best workforce and wanting to locate in
communities where health costs are lower,” says
Mark Fenton,
a former U.S. National Team race walker who now consults on public
health planning and transportation. Employees with more opportunities to
walk at work and at home are healthier, meaning lower insurance rates
for their firms.
From his vantage point at the CDC, Thomas Schmid observes, “If a
business is located in a community that is not healthy, they’re paying
more to be there. Think of it as a tax or cost of doing business
because of health care costs.” One company relocating to Chattanooga, he
said, would do so only if a walking and bike trail was extended to
their facility.
The Challenges to a More Walkable America
The walking movement has picked up a lot of momentum in a very short
time. “The wind is behind our sails,” says Kate Kraft, a public health
expert working with EBWC and America Walks. But she goes on to note
that “it took 80 years to make America unwalkable, and it will take a
lot of work to make it walkable again.”
Last year’s
national survey
on attitudes about walking accentuates these challenges. By a huge
majority, people say that walking is good for them but admit that they
should walk more (79%) and that their children should walk
more (73%). Only 11% say they meet the CDC’s recommended
daily minimum for walking - half an hour a day, five days a week.
Common reasons cited for not walking are:
- My neighborhood is not very walkable (40 percent)
- Few places within walking distance of my home (40 percent)
- Don’t have time (39 percent)
- Speeding traffic or lack of sidewalks (25 percent)
- Crime in my neighborhood (13 percent)
Solutions for a More Walkable America
Here are some of the promising developments, strategies, messages, and tools that are now emerging to promote walking:
Vision Zero for Safe Streets: As many as 4,500 Americans are
killed crossing the street every year - a tragedy that very few people
acknowledge. But there’s hope that will change now that New York City,
San Francisco, and other places are implementing
Vision Zero
campaigns to reduce traffic deaths through street improvements, law
enforcement, and public education. Similar policies in Sweden cut
pedestrian deaths in half over the past five years - and reduced overall
traffic fatalities at the same rate. “Vision Zero is the next big
thinking for walking,” says
Alliance for Biking & Walking President Jeff Miller.
Federal Action Plan on Pedestrian Safety: New U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx recently announced an
all-out effort
to apply the department’s resources to boost bike and pedestrian
safety the same as they do auto and airline safety. Secretary
Foxx - former mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina - notes that pedestrian
deaths rose 6% since 2009. “Bicycling and walking is as
important as any other form of transportation,” he says.
Safe Routes to Schools: Half of kids under 14 walked or biked
to school in 1969. Now it’s less than 15%. Safe Routes to School
campaigns work with families, schools, and community officials to
identify and eliminate barriers that block kids from getting to school
under their own power. “We’re finding that the best interventions
include both infrastructure improvements and programming. You put the
sidewalks in but also get parents involved,” explains Margo Pedroso,
deputy director of the
Safe Routes to Schools National Partnership.
Walking as a Basic Human Right: Walking has been shown to
optimize our health and strengthen our communities, which means everyone
should have equal opportunity to do it. But low-income people often
find it difficult or dangerous to take a walk in their neighborhoods,
which often lack sidewalks and other basic infrastructure. Studies show
that pedestrians in poor neighborhoods are up to
four times
more likely to be injured in traffic accidents. This theme is now
being addressed by many transportation activists and professionals.
Communities for People of All Ages: The mark of a great
community is whether you’d feel calm about letting your 80-year-old
grandmother or 8-year-old son walk to a nearby park or business
district, says Gil Penalosa, former park director of Bogota, explaining
why he founded
8-80 Cities. Too
many young and old people today live under virtual house arrest,
unable to get anywhere on their own because driving is the only way to
go.
Complete Streets: The simple idea that all streets should
offer safe, convenient, and comfortable travel for everyone - those on
foot, on bike, on transit, in wheelchairs, young, old or disabled.
Twenty-seven states and 625 local communities across the U.S. have
adopted
Complete Streets policies in some form.
The Healing Properties of Nature and the Outdoors: Not all exercise offers the same health benefits, according to a growing
body of research
showing that outdoor physical activity, especially in nature, boosts
our health, improves our concentration, and may speed up our natural
healing process. A walk in the park is not only more interesting
than a workout at the gym, but it may also be healthier too. The
Wingspread Declaration - recently signed by 30 of America’s leading
health officials, researchers, and non-profit leaders - calls for
business, government, and the health care sector to step up efforts
to reconnect people with nature.
Walking as a Medical Vital Sign: There’s an initiative afoot
among public health advocates to encourage health care professionals to
chart their patients’ physical activity the same as they do weight,
blood pressure, smoking, and family health. Ascension Health (with 1900
facilities in 23 states), Kaiser Permanente (648 facilities in 9
states), Group Health (25 clinics in Washington state), and Greenville
Health System (7 facilities in South Carolina) are among the health
providers already doing it.
Walk With a Doc: Walking has the lowest drop-out rate of any
physical activity, which is why Ohio cardiologist David Sabgir started
Walk With a Doc: to sponsor events in parks and other public places
where people can talk to health care professionals while taking a casual
walk.
Walk With a Doc now operates in 38 states.
Signs of the Times: Many people are so out of practice with
walking that they don’t realize how convenient it is. That’s why
architecture student Matt Tamasulo posted signs in Raleigh, North
Carolina, explaining that key destinations were only a few minutes away
by foot. The city soon embraced his guerrilla campaign, and official
walkway-finding signs can now be found around town. Tamasulo has
launched
Walk [Your City] to help other communities show how easy it is to get around on your own power.
Walking is Fun: “Walking is still not seen to be as sexy as biking,” says Robert Ping, program manager for
Walking and Livable Communities Institute.
“We could focus more on walking as recreation - the stroll through the
neighborhood after dinner, going around the block, walking down to the
park, meeting your neighbors. Something that’s not only utilitarian and
good for the environment, but that’s fun!”
Jay Walljasper writes, speaks, edits and consults about creating stronger, more vital communities. He is author of
The Great Neighborhood Book and
All That We Share: A Field Guide to the Commons. He is also a contributor to
Sustainable Happiness: Live Simply, Live Well, Make a Difference, from YES! Magazine. His website: JayWalljasper.com.
