How walkable cities can help us combat climate change?
While we often hear about green technologies and reducing greenhouse gases, we almost never hear about how walkable cities could help us with climate change.
Every ten years the department of The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) calculate the climate based on the last 30 years. The climate normal tracks key information like temperatures, precipitations, and snowfalls throughout the United States (US). The latest climate normal is based on the 1991 to 2020 data.
When looking at the latest 30 year annual temperature changes we can see that the US is generally getting warmer. However, not all regions of the US are warming up at the same rate or experiencing climate change in the same manner.
Another interesting map series features the precipitation changes. The last 30 year average for the US shows the South West getting dryer while the Central and North Eastern portion of the US is getting more rainfall. The maps also show us why climate change is more appropriate to describe changes in weather pattern than global warming.
In short, climate change is more than just temperature and precipitation. The consequences of climate change can impact, drought, wild fire, flooding, rising sea levels and more.
Now let us examine how something as simple as a walkable neighborhoods, towns, and cities can help us reduce the consequences of climate change.
While many people will say that electric vehicle (EV) is one of the solutions to climate change, I would argue that building walkable cities would be far more effective. There is no questions that EV are better than internal combustion engine (ICE) for our planet. Even if the source that powered or recharged the EV batteries is not 100% green, EV still uses less energy overall than ICE. However, the issue with EV is that the environmental cost to maintain all those roads, highways, and parking spots will continue as business as usual. In addition, EV cars batteries requires the mining of key materials which cost energy to mine and pollute the planet.
As long as we continue to embrace and prioritize the development of our cities around cars, we will continue to squander energy. One concept that is essential to grasp is the Energy Return on Investment (EROI). Essentially, we can measure and track how much energy is needed to create new energy. For instance, we can track how much energy is used to locate, extract, and deliver oil, gas, coal, replaceable energy, and renewable energy. It should be pretty obvious that if we quantify how much energy it takes to power EV or ICE that walking is the most energy and environmental friendly means of transportation. Also the more roads we have, the more energy we have to utilize to sustain that system. In summary, walkable cities have the best EROI and are best for the environment.
In order to make more neighborhoods, towns, and cities walkable, we need to change the regulations and mandate walkability as a priority over cars. For instance, Cities should avoid single-use zoning and instead emphasize mixed-use zoning. Ideally, walkable cities should not be as dense as Manhattan but rather a combination of mixed use of medium and low density. We need to invest on building and fixing our railroad system to make public transportation to work efficiently. By living closer to work, we can also conserve energy and save time. In short, this is not about banning cars from cities, but rather to make cities walkable so that cars become optional or complemental rather than the main mode of transportation.
New York City is an example of an extremely dense and walkable city with great public transportation. However, if we are serious about climate change, New York City is not the model because the buildings are simply too tall which requires too much energy to build and maintain in the long-term.
Another aspect of skyscrapers and high density is that they can create heat islands which can create higher temperatures compare to outlying areas. The EPA has some great information about Heat Islands.
The central part of Washington DC is walkable and the buildings are of reasonable height. For a good urban density, we need to strive between not too low or too high.
Washington DC also has some nice neighborhoods such as the Georgetown area which are pretty and inspires you to go on a walk.
San Francisco is another large city with wonderful and scenic urban landscape.
Human being have a natural desire for walkable neighborhoods. The cost of real estate alone in San Francisco indicates that people are willing to pay exorbitant prices in order to live in a pedestrian friendly city. Unfortunately, we have a scarcity of well-designed Cities in America and the select few who enjoy this lifestyle are mostly the wealthier Americans. Everyone in America regardless of their socioeconomics or the color of their skin deserve well-designed cities.
The historic part of the City of Savannah is of much lower density than Washington D,C but it is still very enjoyable to walk on. The historical neighborhood next to the commercial downtown features a great mixtures of shade trees in the streets and public squares which provide some much needed relief from the summer heat.
A residential neighborhood in Savannah.
Of course not everyone needs to live in Cities. Even small towns like Telluride in Colorado can be walkable. Telluride has a great main street as well as side streets that are walkable.
While the amount of work to retrofit cities, towns, and suburbs to be more pedestrian friendly will take some time, it is possible as the saying goes “Rome was not built in day”.
Whether we want it or not climate change has been happening, and it is our responsibility to protect our planet for ourselves and future generations. Climate change does not care for your political affiliation. We can build back better and make America great again.