The most walkable place I’ve lived in had pretty sparse greenery (to be fair, it was quite north). Shade from the sun comes from the residential and commercial buildings stacked high, with relatively narrow streets and alleyways.
I agree trees are great. Just not obvious to me that more walkable designs necessarily include them.
I’m along the south shore of Lake Erie, so trees are a godsend in my town in the summer. I live a block away from the main downtown in a west facing apartment. My apartment would absolutely fry in the summer if it wasn’t for the massive maple tree outside my apartment shading the place. The trees downtown aren’t very large, but if the city were to get rid of the on street parking downtown and focus on pedestrianizing the area, they could absolutely grow some beautiful oaks to offer shade at noon in the summer. They make being outside more pleasant, and if being outside is pleasant, people are going to walk more. My parents live in a 10 year old suburb in Houston with non-existent tree cover and it makes day time walks a
Also, just because i want to keep talking about how much i love my little walkable city, the city government recently started a program where if you have a patch of dead grass/gravel on the roadside next to your home, they will come out and plant a tree there. Residents are also able to take yard trimmings to the waste treatment plant in town and receive free mulch on a first come/first served basis.
That’s wonderful! I was amazed at how green and alive everything was when I went through Michigan, despite getting so dark in the winter.
I agree towns could put in more park space, but they could also put in more seating for restaurants, shops or water features, public service expansions, warehouses, housing, and so on. A good city will split between them, and common green spaces will show up. I’m curious what the range of ratios look like (especially over time).
And my city has a bunch of parking lots scattered aroun town, so it’s not like they need the street parking, PLUS, this is MAGA country so everyone is driving massive trucks that can’t parallel park anyway. But if you threaten to take away a parking space, people freak out. But people freak out whenever you propptany change, so might as well do something that has been shown to improve everyone’s quality of life.
The most walkable place I’ve lived in had pretty sparse greenery (to be fair, it was quite north). Shade from the sun comes from the residential and commercial buildings stacked high, with relatively narrow streets and alleyways.
I agree trees are great. Just not obvious to me that more walkable designs necessarily include them.
I’m along the south shore of Lake Erie, so trees are a godsend in my town in the summer. I live a block away from the main downtown in a west facing apartment. My apartment would absolutely fry in the summer if it wasn’t for the massive maple tree outside my apartment shading the place. The trees downtown aren’t very large, but if the city were to get rid of the on street parking downtown and focus on pedestrianizing the area, they could absolutely grow some beautiful oaks to offer shade at noon in the summer. They make being outside more pleasant, and if being outside is pleasant, people are going to walk more. My parents live in a 10 year old suburb in Houston with non-existent tree cover and it makes day time walks a
Also, just because i want to keep talking about how much i love my little walkable city, the city government recently started a program where if you have a patch of dead grass/gravel on the roadside next to your home, they will come out and plant a tree there. Residents are also able to take yard trimmings to the waste treatment plant in town and receive free mulch on a first come/first served basis.
That’s wonderful! I was amazed at how green and alive everything was when I went through Michigan, despite getting so dark in the winter.
I agree towns could put in more park space, but they could also put in more seating for restaurants, shops or water features, public service expansions, warehouses, housing, and so on. A good city will split between them, and common green spaces will show up. I’m curious what the range of ratios look like (especially over time).
And my city has a bunch of parking lots scattered aroun town, so it’s not like they need the street parking, PLUS, this is MAGA country so everyone is driving massive trucks that can’t parallel park anyway. But if you threaten to take away a parking space, people freak out. But people freak out whenever you propptany change, so might as well do something that has been shown to improve everyone’s quality of life.