Active Living by Design

Twin epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes continue unabated in the US, while we search for causes and solutions. The abundance of low cost, high calorie, low nutrient food has certainly been a contributor. But so too has been our lack of physical activity. Our automobile-centric society has all but done away with an activity that only one century ago we did without a second thought: walking.

Dependence and preference for personal vehicle transportation co-evolved with the way we design our cities and towns. A priority consideration behind most housing and commercial developments is car accessibility. Typically, all other modes of transport and movement are clearly subordinate. Or they are completely ignored. Getting a new street put in for driving convenience is relatively easy. A pedestrian or bicycle path takes years of effort and countless fund raisers on the part of motivated citizens.

Automobile usage also tends to be self reinforcing. Take the relatively recent phenomenon of most children being driven to school by their parents. For a number of arguable reasons, parents perceive an increased safety hazard for their children as they walk to school. School buses, once the preferred conveyance for children, are now considered by many parents to be less than what their child deserves socially and some erroneously think buses are risky transportation. So more kids than ever get a ride to school.

The result is more traffic, more congestion, and increased risk to walking children. In some cities, studies show that 20 percent or more of the morning rush hour traffic is due to parents driving children to school.

It doesn’t need to be this way. What if we considered making community development “health promoting,” instead of “car convenient?” Many U.S cities have demonstrated that active living principals can be easily incorporated in community planning and design. Examples include Portland, Omaha, Buffalo and Orlando, to name just a few. They have implemented programs that provide safe routes for children to walk to school, paths for pedestrians and bicyclists to commute to work, and easily accessible parks. Additionally, they have created comprehensive plans that emphasize the importance of active living design in future development so that physical activity can become a part of our everyday routine, not just an add-on bit of exercise.

In the last 20 years, Pullman has come a long way toward creating a more active living environment. The Pullman trail system, the Chipman Trail, and the continuing work of the Pullman Civic Trust are a testament to that. But much more needs to be done to make Pullman a place where the environment actually encourages human powered transportation and makes physical activity more convenient than car use.

The current development on Bishop Boulevard demonstrates how little we currently plan for pedestrian or bicycle access in Pullman. There is not a single pedestrian crosswalk or stoplight on Bishop between south Grand Avenue and the bridge near the Professional Mall, even though multiple businesses are located on both sides of the street. There are no real bike lanes. And folks in the Bishop Place area need to take a car to reach the Pullman Care Community, which is directly across the street! This situation will only get worse with the arrival of further commercial development along Bishop Blvd.

To be fair, the Pullman’s Comprehensive Plan recognizes the importance of pedestrian and bicycle paths, but only in the context of alternate transportation: not in promoting health or livability. This should change. The livability of our community will only be enhanced by planning for, and designing in, those features that make an active lifestyle possible and even convenient. In fact, Pullman should and can become a model city for these values. Such a choice is marketable to more like-minded citizens settling here and could be a model for small town sustainable planning.