Jeff Speck works in city planning and is a big advocate of walkability in cities. Speck gives a fascinating TED talk describing several proposals for making cities more walkable. This topic is obviously of great interest to a peripatetic guy like me.
The video is very educational in connecting architecture with human psychology. I'd like to see someone advocate for making the paths between cities more walkable. During my 2008 walk, I often found myself walking along highways and freeways with dangerously narrow shoulders, or with no shoulders at all. South Korea, by contrast, is much more walker-friendly, as I discovered last year. There were a few small bridges with no pedestrian paths across them, but these were largely the exception, not the rule. There's no reason that the US couldn't follow Korea's example and make the entire country completely walkable (and cyclable), from whatever starting point to whatever end point. Korea's not alone in this regard: Switzerland, with its Wanderwege veined throughout the country, is also eminently walkable.
Enjoy the talk.
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