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Walk21 - Leading the Walking Movement
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A Busy and Productive Time for the Walk21 Network !
We have had a dense time these last few months. With trips to contribute to conferences and meetings in Kazahkstan, France, London and Poland before heading to Hong Kong for our first Walk21 conference in Asia. And what an intense, successful week of new ideas, political engagement and some good walking to explore Hong Kong. No rest after that great event, before it was off to Quito Ecuador to attend the UN Habitat III urban congress with 35,000 others! The New Urban Agenda has been agreed and it places walking at the very heart of our ambitions for our urban communities into the future.
And now meetings in Calgary to plan forwards to Walk21 2017, 20-22 Sep, so save the date!
Meanwhile, our project - FLOW, is inviting participation from consultants in the field of innovative pedestrian and cycling planning to reduce congestion. And our colleague, Jody, invites you to do a short survey about contemplative walking to inform her work. Take a little time, as you do for your walking, to fill in the survey.
We are buoyed by the inspiration from these events and meetings with colleagues, as well as the momentum from new friendships and alliances to grow the Walk21 Network and continue supporting walking and walkability around the world. This newsletter is an update for you from within these exciting times.
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Walk21 Hong Kong: Five Conclusions
The Walk21 conference in Hong Kong was a great success. Over fours days, 140 speakers from 38 countries discussed walkability issues in one of the most dense and walking-intensive cities in the world.
We were excited about the participation of various groups of stakeholders, including, urbanists, academics, private investors and activists. The conference is always a great celebration of walking, as well as an opportunity to explore and learn about new initiatives and ideas. The full conference proceedings will be available shortly on our website, along with images and highlights of the event.
As is the way at Walk21, Jim Walker shared his conference conclusions to close the event. Here is a summary of the five conclusions that we take-away:
1. The Right to Walk
The International Physical Activity and the Environment Network studies, shared at the conference, confirmed that investment in walkability DOES lead to more walking. Partnerships in cities, between communities, governments and developers, need to confirm the right to walk as well as provide the facilities to make that right safe, accessible and attractive with meaningful connections.
2. The Value of Space
The new Global Street Design Guide Manual and International Walking Data Standard give further clarity to understand how to evaluate our streets’ potential and steer investment to most effectively realise it. Compact, green and connected cities are a planning shorthand to successful places that are interconnected by a network of walkable public spaces.
3. Rail is a walker’s best friend
The examples of Hong Kong and Stockholm were powerful reminders of a public transit system that takes responsibility for the environment around stations, to stitch those stations into the community and to make them accessible and safe and in which trips can be started and completed as conveniently as possible on foot.
4. Symbolic Change
Cities all over the world are taking confidence from the published evidence and are transforming from car-centric to people centred places. Step change is often best achieved from symbolic campaigns such as Krakow’s commitment to tackle pavement parking; Guangzhou’s green corridor programme and Seoul’s highway demolition. Political will can bring citizens from vocal opposition to active collaborators to enhance a city's welcome to people on foot.
5. Taking Responsibility
Walking happens most across communities when people’s hearts and minds are won and their environments invite them to walk. We must not be distracted from this deliverable transformation however by the temporary hopes of electric cars and driverless vehicles. Clean congestion is still congestion and demands the same inefficient use of public space.
By taking responsibility for our trips at an individual level we can collectively re-imagine our cities to create safer, more equitable and pleasant cities where people enjoy walking as primary mode of urban transport.
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Calgary to Host Walk21 Conference in 2017
We are glad to announce that Calgary, an emerging walking city, will be hosting the Walk21 conference in 2017. In partnership with the University of Calgary and supported by the City of Calgary, the conference will be organised with a focus on the relationship between academics and practitioners, how to bring research into real life and how motor-centric cities can re-imagine themselves as walkable cities of the future.
We are very excited to be bringing the conference to Calgary in 2017 to understand and strategise how Calgary can become a great city to be experienced and (re)connected by people walking.
SAVE THE DATE: Walk21 Calgary, Canada, 19 - 22 September 2017.
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Maura Wong, CEO of Civic Exchange, hosts of Walk21 Hong Kong, hands over the conference chair to John Brown from the University of Calgary. Their gift for this traditional exchange was a pair of silk, hand embroidered slippers - too beautiful to wear!!
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Highlights of the UN Habitat III Conference
More than 35,000 people interested in the future of our urban world, met last week during the United Nations' Habitat III conference in Quito, Ecuador. Walk21 Development Director Bronwen Thornton was present during the gigantic event to emphasize the importance of walking at the heart of the New Urban Agenda.
During the conference we met with allies in walkability matters and forged new relationships for creating future cities that centre around walking as the "glue" for a human-scale urbanity in future cities. On the final day of the conference Walk21 hosted a signing event of the International Charter for Walking in the exhibition stand of HealthBridge Canada's Liveable Cities Program. It attracted politicians, locals and activists alike.
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Walk21 Development Director Bronwen Thornton addressing participants at the PPMC Transport Day in Quito. Bronwen also presented at the Ecomobility workshop on Safe and Healthy Routes to school: Global Initiative for Child Health and Mobility with FIA Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, WRI Cities and Amend.
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Manuel Velarde, Mayor of San Isidro, Lima, Peru, signs the International Charter for Walking. He is implementing a strong urban agenda for pedestrians in San Isidro, including plazas, safe crossings and reallocation of road space.
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Medie Lutwama of ACTogether Uganda signs the International Charter for Walking. Media is working to provide healthy communities and quality of life for the urban poor in Uganda.
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Pedestrian Superhero Peatónito signs the International Charter for Walking. Peatonito has set a new fire under the Latin American pedestrian revolution and is taking it to the world! It was great to be in Quito, to celebrate the home of the first revolutionary - Capitán Zapata.
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Walkability Advocacy at Habitat III
It wasn't all serious talk and presentations, the Habitat III conference also provided opportunities to rouse a revolution and celebrate our passion for walking!!
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Here we are with walkability activists in Quito - Liga Peatonal and Peruanos de a Pie. We also met SuperUrbana - raising her voice for pedestrians in Sao Paulo!
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Become a Market Follower within the FLOW Project
The EU funded project FLOW is looking for 20-30 companies that offer innovative walking and cycling-related products and services targeted at cities that could play a role in congestion reduction(e.g. apps developers, consultants, bike share operators, cycle logistics companies). These FLOW Market Followers will be selected to take part in a series of online learning, exchange and networking opportunities.
FLOW offers Market Followers:
- Free interactive e-learning and webinars from PTV tailored to transport consultancies on new features of PTV Vissim and PTV Visum
- Your company will be featured in the online FLOW Marketplace catalogue that will be presented to cities, thereby helping you gain exposure across Europe
- Networking opportunities with other innovative consultancies that will put participants on the forefront of traffic modelling
- Awards ceremony for the most innovative, active Market Follower companies at the FLOW final conference in Brussels (Spring 2018).
The deadline to apply is 31 October 2016!
For more information, you can contact Walk21 or visit the project website here.
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Participate in the Creative Place Pace Survey
How is our creative capacity enhanced by choosing to walk in the landscape for contemplative purposes? Are there commonalities between the place you choose and the place I choose, when we walk to think things through or to refresh, reflect and renew? Where and when do you go for a contemplative walk? How fast or slow do you walk on this path?
What is a contemplative walk? A Contemplative Walk : a place where you walk to transform, problem-solve, clarify your thinking process or meditate in a restorative way that affects your creative potential.
We invite you to participate in a survey about the places you choose to walk for contemplative purpose.
The work is being undertaken by Professor Jody Rosenblatt-Naderi, a long time collaborator with Walk21, from Ball State University, Indiana, USA. Her work has resulted in award winning streets and gardens all with a focus on increasing holistic health for communities and providing for those who walk.
The results will inform an understanding of the role of walking places and pulse.
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