May 2019 Newsletter
Designing Healthy Places for Walking and Biking
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Here's an article related to this month's theme on Active Transportation
Give it a peek! Then scroll down for Local stories and Opportunities.
Four principles for the future of city streets
Cities can leverage design and technology to re-think our streets for pedestrians, bikes and transit
Last month, Sidewalk Labs released a timely set of Street Design Principles presented in an interactive, living document, that address the fact that we are on a cusp of a new era of mobility technology where connected and autonomous vehicles will eventually converge with pedestrians, bicycles, transit and other motor vehicles. From Sidewalk Labs' perspective, this convergence presents an opportunity to "fundamentally redesign our street system with narrower, safer streets that still get people where they need to go."
This new era presents a chance to learn from our history. When the automobile came onto the scene in the 1920's, streets rapidly shifted from vibrant hubs of commercial and social activity to acres of ever-expanding pavement and other infrastructure that were designed to prioritize the motor vehicle and to push pedestrians to the side...
Despite this shift, streets are neither efficient nor safe. Congestion is an ubiquitous issue and in 2017, more than 6,700 pedestrians & cyclists died on U.S. streets due to automobile crashes. In that same year, Arizona saw 229 pedestrian deaths.
An example from the principles of a "Boulevard", which can accommodate all modes
The design principles centered on four ways to improve the safety and vibrancy of the public realm while striking the right balance of separation & integration of many modes. A short read in Medium about the principles can be found here.
What's being done (or not done) in Arizona?
In Spring 2018, Tempe became the the first city in Arizona to adopt a Vision Zero Framework Resolution. The resolution was unanimously approved by City Council and since then, the City has worked to host a workshop and ongoing planning meetings; launch a data dashboard; develop a draft Action Plan; and even pass their own distracted driving ordinance.
"Vision Zero is a traffic safety policy that takes an ethical approach towards achieving safety for all road users. The goal is to achieve a reduction in the number of fatal and serious injury crashes to zero, because no loss of life is acceptable."
AALC has been a proud partner of the City as it takes on this bold effort. Meanwhile, last month in Phoenix, 4 of 8 council members voted in opposition on an effort for Staff to assemble a plan to research how to move toward with implementing Vision Zero in their own city, failing to move forward the motion that could work toward eliminating roadway deaths.
To dive deeper into healthy places for walking and biking, check out this webinar we loved from earlier in May.
Creating Active Routes to Everyday Destinations.
Watch until the end to hear about fantastic work happening in Raleigh, NC to connect people to parks.
Opportunities to Engage
How can Maricopa County be a better place to live, learn, work and play?
MCDPH needs your help by June 30th to get a broad perspective on health of the community.
What are the big issues? What’s going well?
Take the Maricopa County Community Health Survey.
Click here to take the survey
Sharing the survey. Please share the survey with anyone age 14 and up in Maricopa County—staff, friends, family, community members, professional networks. The broader the survey is spread, the more representative the data will be. MCDPH has made it easy: click here for a digital toolkit that makes it easy for you to share.
If you have any questions, please go to MaricopaHealthMatters.org.
Applications now open for the
Live Well Arizona Incubator
The Arizona Partnership for Healthy Communities and Vitalyst Health Foundation are pleased to announce that applications for the 2019-2020 Live Well Arizona Incubator are open.
The Live Well Arizona Incubator is looking for motivated teams that have identified a place-based health issue that lends itself to a multi-sector solution. The Live Well Arizona Incubator will provide a coach who will guide the team through a ten-month process that will: expand and strengthen the team, cultivate community engagement, establish shared goals and objectives, and develop an action plan. There is no charge to the teams selected for the Incubator and each team will be given a small stipend to support their participation.
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