Walk This Way: Strategy for City Streets

Designers from all walks of life gathered for a forum last week to discuss the City of Toronto's walking strategy. The strategy was approved by council last May with more than 50 recommendations on how to improve the city's walking culture.

More than 100 people gathered for a panel discussion at the Arts & Letters Club that was moderated by Arlene Gould, strategic director of the design industry advisory committee and York University professor.

The panel offered perspectives by architect and Office for Urbanism partner Antonio Gomez-Palacio and landscape architect Scott Torrance. Bringing a new focus to the discussion they were joined by industrial designer Tim Poupore, who looked at the
strategy from a structural and lighting perspective, graphic designer Wayne
McCutcheon who commented on the orienteering and signage needed by pedestrians and interior designer Susan Mole who expressed the need for better transitions between inside and outside spaces.

"Holding these annual forums was one of the suggestions that arose in the walking strategy and I found it quite interesting," said public realm pedestrian projects manager Fiona Chapman.

"Did I get a sense of marching orders? No. But for the first time, around walking, we had the chance to hear from different disciplines and they had the chance to listen to each others' perspectives on the public realm."

In 2007, a walking survey was conducted with 1,000 residents and it showed that walking is a part of daily travel patterns for most people with 25 per cent walking to school, 18 per cent walking and shopping, 12 per cent walking for leisure and 9 per cent walking to work.

While the city has a number of existing guidelines and programs geared at improving the pedestrian environment, the walking strategy sets out the keys to implementation. The
three keys comprise capital budget allocations specifically geared to the public realm, secondary plans that include key pedestrian routes and addressing pedestrian needs during the development review process.

The strategy also outlines six specific actions, one of which was to hold the forum. The others are a communications campaign, developing walking maps with featured routes, evaluating intersections for bicycle parking and noturning on red lights, improving the public realm at Tower Renewal sites and in priority neighbourhoods, and working
with Ryerson University and the University of Toronto pedestrian-only street projects.

Council has approved closing down a section of streets on both university campuses as pilot projects. Part of Gould Street is expected to be pedestrian-only in the fall, said Chapman, adding that the details are being worked out. As well, portions of Wilcocks Street and Devonshire Place are slated to turn pedestrian-only next spring.

To see the walking strategy, visit http://www.toronto.ca/transportation/walking/pdf/walking-strategy.pdf.

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