In conjunction with this year’s Jane’s Walk, Urbanspace Gallery at 401 Richmond is displaying a “Walkability Slide Show” — a photoessay about the elements in our streetscape that make walking unnecessarily difficult. It’s also available online on the Jane’s Walk website. (Sentence revised in light of correction).
The slideshow is based on the walkability studies in low-income tower neighbourhoods around the city. Each slide has a description of the walkability problem, a photograph of the problem in action, and a quote from a local resident about its impact. It serves as a great primer on the key issues of walkability.
The slideshow illustrates an issue that I have been talking about for some time in Spacing, and that I talked about in my own Jane’s Walk this year — how small details of our urban environment can make a big difference in how much people walk.
A great way to explore walkability is to go on walks oneself, and sometimes it’s nice to have one laid out for you. Finding a walk to follow just became easier thanks to a great city initiative, the City of Toronto’s Self-Guided Walking Tours Database. All walks include a PDF map, and several also include an MP3 file you can listen to along the way. Walking in groups with a live guide is enjoyable too, of course, and the page has links to live guided tours as well.
One comment
Appropriately, today’s G&M has a piece on the association between unwalkable communities and obesity/diabetes. This slideshow would have made some great evidence to explain their claims.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/unhealthy-neighbourhoods-play-big-role-in-obesity-diabetes-epidemic/article2024476/