We enjoyed reading Happy City by Charles Montgomery for Book Club this month! For those who didn’t get a chance to read along with us, here are a few standout quotes to give some food for thought:
“By spending resources and designing cities in a way that values everyone’s experience, life can get easier and more pleasant for everyone. We can make cities that are more generous and less cruel. We can make cities that help us all get stronger, more resilient, more connected, more active and more free. We just have to decide who our cities are for. And we have to believe that they can change.”
“We were born to move—not merely to be transported,”
“People who live in monofunctional, car-dependent neighborhoods outside of urban centers are much less trusting of other people than people who live in walkable neighborhoods where housing is mixed with shops, services, and places to work.”
“Despite all we have invested in this dispersed city, it has failed to maximize health and happiness. It is inherently dangerous. It makes us fatter, sicker, and more likely to die young. It makes life more expensive than it has to be. It steals our time. It makes it harder to connect with family, friends, and neighbors.”
Shoot us a note and let us know what you think of the above. Does it resonate for you? Or do you have a different perspective? Did another quote from the book stick with you? Let’s keep the conversation going!
Our next Urbanist Book Club meeting will be on Thursday, May 9 at 6pm at Tea Capital. We will be finding inspiration from NYC, a city that has transformed from being car-congested to a walkers paradise, in the book: Street Fight by Janette Sadik-Khan and Seth Solomonow.
And is Little Rock on its way to being a more walkable city? There are definitely some positive signs. Keep an eye on:
Pop-Up in the Rock (give their page a follow — announcements will be made within the next couple of weeks),
The Markham Street Road Diet (latest update was partial funding approved, construction pending)
The recent Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant request in this week’s City Board meeting to further walkability along Markham from Woodrow to South Park Street.
The Downtown Little Rock Master Plan. Save the date for May 8th from 6-7:30pm at the Ron Robinson Theater (100 River Market Ave) for the big reveal of the draft plan.
Check out the most recent BikePed Research Project with Clinton School Student, Solomon Quarms: Walkability Through an Equity Lens. (Link to be added shortly.)
