The Walkable Communities Program

New Publication from MVRPC!

The Book on Walkability and Walkable Communities

Every trip we take includes at least some walking. Shouldn’t it be a joy? If your community is looking to get more people walking in neighborhoods, business districts or around the schools, this resource is for you. MVRPC, in collaboration with Dan Burden, Director of Walkable Communities, Inc., has produced a complete one-stop guide for assessment, evaluation, planning and design of walkable neighborhoods and cities. This 91 page handbook will guide planning and engineering staff (as well as citizens) though all the steps of a walkable communities project, including:

  • Walkability assessments
  • Holding a Walkable Community Workshop
  • A comprehensive Toolbox of design elements that enhance walkability
  • Tips for including walkability objectives in all levels of planning – from comprehensive plans and site design codes to Transportation and Neighborhood master plans and Street Design guidelines.

Full of examples, assessment tools and photos of working examples of walkable designs, The Book on Walkability will prove both inspirational and useful to your community’s walkable development vision.

Download the book in chapters here:

Part 1, Section 1 – Overview, 12 Principles of Walkable Communities (Adobe Acrobat Reader:2.8 MB)

Part 1, Section 2 – 5 Keys to the Success of Place (Adobe Acrobat Reader:12.5 MB)

Part 2 – Planning and Prioritization, Assessments and Workshops (Adobe Acrobat Reader:8.2 MB)

Part 3 – The Toolbox, Pedestrian design elements, Building and site design, traffic calming (Adobe Acrobat Reader:8.4 MB)

Part 4 – Implementation – integrating walkability into all levels of planning (Adobe Acrobat Reader:10 MB)

Part 5 – Resources, assessment forms, checklists (Adobe Acrobat Reader:2.8 MB)

Or contact Matt Lindsay or Kjirsten Frank for information on hard copy or CD-ROM availability.

News

Miami Valley Regional Bikeways Plan Click HerePlease see the calendar for important meeting announcements.

Walkable Communities Resources

Post-2004 Workshop Efforts by Local Communities

Press Release for 2nd Round of Walkable Communities Workshops

The final report on the 2004 Miami Valley Walkable Community Workshops, One Step at a Time, is now available online.

Dayton Workshop Video

Watch an informational video on the Walkable Communities Workshop held in Dayton in June 2004. Quicktime movies published and made available by City of Dayton Television Network, Copyright 2004.

The 2004 Walkable Communities Workshops

Charlie, Ken, Kristin, and Eric at the Brookville workshopMVRPC was selected as one of 12 Metropolitan Planning Organizations across the country to host a week-long series of eight half-day Walkable Communities Workshops during the week of June 14-18, 2004. The workshops are the centerpiece of the National Center for Bicycling and Walking's (NCBW) community outreach and assistance efforts. The series of eight, half-day workshops bring together planners, engineers, elected officials, advocates, public health practitioners, public agency staff, and local residents to help enlighten and present them ideas on how to make their community more walkable and bikeable. The workshops encourage active living by combining presentations on the latest thinking in traffic operations and community design with a walking audit where participants apply what they are learning.

A team of two NCBW facilitators was assigned to each region for five days to present the eight workshops. The two NCBW facilitators assigned to the Miami Valley Region were Charlie Gandy and Kristin Bennett. Ken LeBlanc, along with Eric Fredericks, were MVRPC's coordinators of the Walkable Community Workshops. The eight local communities volunteered to host the workshops were Brookville, Centerville/Washington Township, Dayton, Kettering, Piqua, Troy, West Carrollton, and Xenia. Funding assistance for the NCBW portion of the costs was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a national philanthropy that focuses on improving health and health care of all Americans.

Following the success of the workshops, MVRPC published One Step at a Time, a follow-up report to the workshops. MVRPC plans to continue and expand upon its Walkable Communities program. Several additional member jurisdictions have requested such workshops in their communities. MVRPC also plans to add more material to the Walkable Communities web pages on this website, including program updates and best practices, both in our region and around the country. MVRPC will continue to coordinate with local jurisdictions on this effort and assist in any way possible.

For more project information, call 937-223-6323.