Book Review: Walkable City by Jeff Speck
ReFormers - Where is your favorite place to spend time in Shreveport? Is it somewhere on Texas Avenue or Marshall Street? Or maybe you prefer the Red River District or Madison Park near the intersection of Fern, Gilbert, and Gregg?
It’s very likely that your favorite place can be described as walkable. Put simply, walkability is the measure of an area that is easily and conveniently traveled on foot. The concept of walkability is an important piece of ReForm advocacy, and understanding the term can put words to what we want our city to look like and how to advocate for how to make Shreveport better.
The best primer on walkability is the book Walkable City, authored by Jeff Speck. Along with describing why walkable places make our communities stronger and more enjoyable, he outlines four key characteristics that define a walkable area:
Walking must be useful. If walking from your house to the grocery store takes 20 minutes, then this trip is not very useful. However, if that journey takes, say, 5 minutes, walking can be easily justified - plus you can get some exercise! The most walkable destinations in Shreveport have a variety of different destinations in close proximity whether that be residences, offices, restaurants, or entertainment. It’s the ‘useful’ nature of those areas that make them walkable areas.
Walking must be safe. When I (Tim) moved to Shreveport, one of the first articles I wrote was about my walk to work along Market Street. While useful, this walk was far from safe - I had to cross several driveways and intersections along busy streets that, while having a 25 MPH speed limit, had a design that encouraged 45 MPH speeds. It was common for myself and coworkers to almost get hit by vehicles that were more concerned about beating the light than noticing the walkers around them. It was clear that the workday commuter and driver through downtown was prioritized, and that made life as a pedestrian less safe.
Walking must be comfortable. The Madison Park area is one of the areas of town I’m most excited about, and is a great example of how making walking comfortable can affect an area. The slow two-lane streets, tree lined Pierre Bayou, historic housing, and a tall shade-providing self-storage building all make being outside and walking comfortable. As the area grows, keeping these elements important to walking and avoiding prioritizing car travel will be very important.
Walking must be interesting. In that same article I mentioned previously, many parts of downtown caught my attention with storefronts, greenery, and interesting architectural details. In the 600 and 700 blocks of Texas Avenue, for instance, outdoor cafes, balconies, and storefronts for Sleep for the Rich, Artspace, and On Time Fashion catch your eye and make walking interesting. More importantly, I always know that I’ll run into a friendly face when I stop into Rhino - and this deeply resonates with our humanity and improves an area that we want to spend time in.
We hope this helps to bring some language to some of the physical spaces that you enjoy spending time in Shreveport. We highly recommend picking up Jeff Specks book - or you can borrow it or any other book from our reading list on the ReForm resources page.
Here’s to advocating for more walkable places!
- Team ReForm