If you've ever enjoyed a carefree stroll or bike ride past shops or restaurants, comfortably walked or bicycled to work or taken paved trails from home to city, you have someone like Brian Pawlik to thank.
If you've had the opposite experience - dodging traffic, facing daunting intersections, threading your way through endless parking lots or being forced into a car to get from city center to neighborhood, Pawlik sends his apologies. It's not his fault, but as an urban planner and traffic safety expert whose forte is bicycle and pedestrian planning it's his job to show communities how to be more walkable.
As a planner for
SEMCOG - Southeast Michigan Council of Governments - Pawlik has visited dozens of cities in metro Detroit. Since 2009, he's sized up towns in five counties, trying to experience them as a walker or a cyclist, figuring out what's wrong and what's right.
He's seen the good, bad and the ugly of urban design. He's not willing to throw the bad examples of walkable - or unwalkable - towns under the bus by naming them. He doesn't want to judge. Pawlik is, instead, preaching the gospel of walkability.
The term may sound as if it's only about casual strolls and leisurely bike rides. In fact, says Dan Burden of the
Walkable and Livable Communities Institute, walkability directly affects the economy by creating jobs and by enhancing a sense of place.
Corporate America follows cities' walk scores to determine where to open offices to prevent the loss of investment in employees who may opt for a more walkable city to work. He says walkability can improve public health through physical activity and increase workplace productivity by decreasing sick days, and workplace attitudes can improve when a stressful commute is eliminated. In addition, Burden says, traffic counts for America are dropping, a sign that people want alternative ways to get around.
Burden, who has visited many Michigan cities to conduct walkability audits, calls Pawlik, a "bike, pedestrian, Complete Streets guru." Burden says he believes there are six or seven dedicated walkability experts in Michigan and there should be more. He sees Brighton, Howell and Birmingham as outstanding examples of walkability and says Michigan is a land of plenty when it comes to walkability possibilities.
"Michigan, especially the southeastern portion, is so chock full of fabulous towns that just need some elbow grease," he says.
With the M1 rail line on the way to Woodward Avenue in Detroit and talk of a supporting system to run through the suburbs - possibly Bus Rapid Transit - walkable towns are crucial, Pawlik says.
He talked to
Metromode about the job that takes him on walking - and bus - tours of metro Detroit and revealed just how hard it can be to take off his walkability hat whether on the job or not - a point of contention at times with the wife.
QUESTION: Is it an oxymoron: walkability and the Motor City?
ANSWER: Not at all. It's definitely not an oxymoron. The city of Detroit built a city long before cars. It is actually one of the most progressive when it comes to walkability. Detroit has been adding bike lanes each and every year for the last several years… Every time they redo a road they ask is there something we need to do to consider pedestrians and cyclists, and it makes sense. If the road is already being ripped up and needs to be put back together, that's the time to ask that question and make the changes. Detroit has 146 miles of completed bicycle projects…They have about 28 miles planned this year…They're realizing like many communities it's not an extra, it's a necessity.
Q: Why should we care about walkability?
A: There's major benefit to creating better walking and biking environments. There are benefits for drivers too. A median, for example, creates a two-stage crossing for large intersections, and it also can prevent drivers from turning in front of oncoming traffic or veering across lanes into oncoming traffic…And economic development. There's a lot of literature out there essentially showing that businesses have higher sales when there's more foot traffic. Also there are higher land values for walkable communities. And finally there is a better quality of life for communities that are inclusive of multiple forms of transportation. When where there are people walking and riding bikes there's a cohesiveness, a sense of place. You're getting to enjoy your community from a different point of view. There's more human interaction.
Q: Will we be hearing a lot more about walkability as the culture shifts to wanting to live work and play in the same place?
A: I think we're there now. It's one of the top things on people's agendas. It's all about transportation choices. …It’s all about connections, a system of connections. Now that we have M1 and a regional transportation authority we're going to be hearing a lot more about transit oriented development, which is actually pedestrian oriented development. People need the connections that get them, whether walking or riding or carpooling, to these stations.
Q: Where did you grow up and where do you live? Was walkability a factor in your decision of where to live?
A: …I lived in Lincoln Park, where there were sidewalks on every street. It wasn't until I went away to school and I heard from other people that they lived where there were no sidewalks. And that just floored me. I was so used to being able to get from one place to another safely on a sidewalk…I now live in Grosse Ile. One of the things my wife and I were looking for when we had outgrown our old home was a place with a sense of community and historic housing. One of the requirements was there had to be sidewalks so we could walk to school, walk to church, walk to neighbors' houses…What drew me to Grosse Ile were the sidewalks and the shared use paths and the emphasis on being a walkable, bike-able island.
Q: Do you ever conduct your walkability assessments by bike?
A: I'd love to ride more, but it's not so easy to take pictures and notes on a bike.
Q: What part of you job to you like the most. The outdoor office, getting out in the fresh air sounds like a nice perk?
A: …You hit the nail on the head. I love getting out there, seeing different parts of the region. You get to meet new people, see how different people live and are tackling different problems…One year quite a few years back we were in Washington Township looking for ways to connect a great trail system to the town center. We actually had to take a private bus with a larger group to get these locations.
Q: So, is it hard to take off the walkability assessment hat whether you're at work or out on the weekend?
A: For sure. And my wife is a traffic engineer. She's a consultant and she does see a lot of the same things. She asks me sometimes about my opinion and I ask hers. But even when we're out my wife will point out this sign that doesn't work or I'll talk about how a road could be improved. One of us might have to say to the other, 'No work right now." And it's probably rubbing off on our kids too. They're in assessment mode just like we are.
Kim North Shine is Metromode's over-achieving Development News editor and a Grosse Pointe-based freelance writer.
All Photos by David Lewinski Photography