Sustainable communities are feet-friendly
Chris Persons, executive director of Capitol Hill Housing, has some interesting things to say about what makes communities nice, in part based on a vacation his family took touring some of Washington’s cool places. Here is what he had to say in the Capitol Hill Housing newsletter:
We are late getting out the CHH monthly newsletter because I just got back from vacation. My family travelled for the first time to the North Cascades and Eastern Washington and we took our friend Marcia along for the adventure. The boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we all soaked up plenty of sunshine. We toured Diablo lake by boat, explored Dry Falls, dug for fossils in Republic, crossed the Columbia River on Washington’s only free ferry, ate a Billie Burger in Wilbur, drove through the Palouse and drank a responsible amount of red wine in Walla Walla. (The boys stuck with juice.) I didn’t think about work at all. I did think
As I have mentioned previously, the Community Development Collaborative has adopted Five Principles of Sustainable Communities:
• Equitable growth without displacement
• Affordable housing for all
• Transportation equity
• Economic opportunity and viable business districts
• Supportive and diverse environments.
A viable business district is an important element of most sustainable communities. I tend to think of business districts in the urban village context because that is where I live and work. Columbia City and Broadway in Seattle, and Andersonville in Chicago, are all great examples of vibrant business districts. But so is downtown Walla Walla. There are other urban Seattle commercial districts that are not so successful. How do these urban districts compare with Republic, Winthrop and Wilbur? What lessons can we learn not just from thriving urban districts but from thriving (and not so thriving) rural ones?
Here are three lessons I came up with. I would be interested in hearing your ideas, too.
1) There has to be a reason for people to come. Whether it’s Old West charm, fossils, crop circles or wine, you’ve gotta get people there.
2) There has to be a reason for the people who live there to come. Main Street, U.S.A. attracts many tourists to Disneyland, but it doesn’t build community. Amenities and services that support day-to-day living are important to sustainability. If they are provided by locally-owned businesses even better. I stood in a long line with locals and tourists at the Wilbur Billie Burger.
3) Feet-friendly streets create a comfortable scale for people. Trees. Wide sidewalks. Narrow streets. Unobstructed windows. Benches for people to sit on. Friendly merchants. This works as well on South Rainier as it does in Walla Walla.
Of course a glass of Washington State merlot doesn’t hurt. Cheers!
