by John W. Olson | May 20, 2012 | Comprehensive Planning and Codes, Town Planning, Urbanism
A topic very close to my personal and professional interests is the idea of walkability. This phrase is used often, perhaps too often? But what does walkability really mean? Is it something that we can really define? Probably not. Present party included, geographers,...
by John W. Olson | Nov 2, 2010 | Comprehensive Planning and Codes, Sustainability, Town Planning, Urban Planning and Design, Urban Renewal, Urbanism
In the 1920’s, Clarence Perry introduced a concept that he referred to as “The Neighborhood Unit”. The image below is a sketch published by Perry in 1929 illustrating the relationships between the residential components of a neighborhood and the...
by John W. Olson | Aug 23, 2010 | Comprehensive Planning and Codes, Town Planning, Urban Planning and Design, Urbanism
The Five-Minute Walk is a standard that is best described as the average distance that a pedestrian is willing to walk before opting to drive. The unit of measurement is commonplace in the planning profession and is often represented by a radius measuring ¼ of a...
by John W. Olson | May 24, 2010 | Comprehensive Planning and Codes, Town Planning, Urban Planning and Design, Urbanism
Safe Routes To School is a government initiative created in 2006 that “assists communities in enabling and encouraging children to safely walk and bike to school.” There are very good reasons for this initiative because for most schools, children walking...
