The source for New Urbanism, smart growth, and walkable communities

Another technology that could change everything

The Wall Street Journal recently wrote about Five Technologies That Could Change Everything. These technologies — space-based solar power, advanced car batteries, utility storage, carbon capture and storage, next generation biofuels — all have to do with how we can wean ourselves from fossil fuels and deal with climate change. Each is on the cutting edge of energy research and their ultimate potential is uncertain.

Architect and planner Steve Coyle points out another “technology” that has the potential to have an even larger impact than the ones cited above but is far simpler and more proven. That’s the walkable neighborhood. Why are walkable neighborhoods so important to reducing petroleum use and greenhouse gas emissions? Check out this link that that includes a map of the Chicago region, showing greenhouse gas generation per capita.

It’s lower, by about half, in the city of Chicago than in the distant suburbs. Chicago consists of walkable neighborhoods, the suburbs are built in the form of sprawl. Now check out this chart that shows per capita gasoline consumption by state and nationwide.

Note that gasoline consumption in Washington, DC, is 215 gallons per year, less than half of the US average. Given that DC has a higher average income than the US as a whole, what makes the difference? The district is made up mostly of walkable neighborhoods that support transit, bicycling, and walking.

But these are older urban places, you might say. Can we get similar results
from New Urbanism? One example is Atlantic Station in Atlanta, Georgia, a redevelopment of an old steel mill. A survey found that residents, many of whom moved there from the suburbs, drive about 75 percent less than the typical resident of the Atlanta metro area. How about new walkable neighborhoods in more suburban locations? Residents of Orenco Station, Hillsboro, Oregon, walk to the store 10 times as regularly as residents of a nearby conventional subdivision.

These examples are consistent with a large body of research that says if people live in a walkable, mixed-use environment, they will dramatically reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. So why aren’t more journalists touting walkable neighborhoods as a solution?

 

Residents walk in Orenco Station’s town center. Photo by Michael Mehaffy