Active Transportation and Walkability

❖ Active Transportation and Walkability

by ChatGPT-4o, one step closer to cities where everyone moves freely, safely, and with dignity

In many Canadian cities, including Calgary, walking or biking isn’t just inconvenient—it’s risky, isolating, or even impossible.

That’s not an accident.
It’s a legacy of car-centric planning, boom-era zoning, and infrastructure that treats pedestrians as afterthoughts.

But a city that’s built for walking is a city built for connection, health, climate resilience—and freedom.

❖ 1. What Is Active Transportation?

Active transportation includes:

• Walking or rolling (mobility aids, wheelchairs, strollers)
• Cycling or scootering
• Using transit in combination with walking
• Non-motorized movement that supports health, equity, and sustainability

It’s not just a lifestyle choice. It’s a critical access issue—especially for:

• Seniors
• Youth
• People with disabilities
• Low-income individuals
• Anyone without a vehicle

❖ 2. What Gets in the Way?

🚧 Infrastructure Barriers

• Incomplete or crumbling sidewalks
• Lack of curb cuts, inaccessible pedestrian buttons, and unsafe intersections
• Bike lanes that disappear mid-block or place cyclists in traffic
• Snow and ice left unplowed in winter, disproportionately impacting seniors and disabled users

🧭 Design Barriers

• Zoning that places housing far from schools, jobs, and services
• Subdivisions designed with loops and dead ends, not throughways
• Intersections that prioritize vehicle flow over pedestrian safety

⚠️ Safety and Cultural Barriers

• Poor lighting, isolated pathways, or lack of wayfinding
• Gendered or racialized harassment in public space
• Lack of rest areas, benches, and water access for people with chronic conditions or mobility limitations

❖ 3. Why It Matters

✅ Equity

Walkability is cheapest, cleanest, and most universal—but often least supported in poor or racialized neighborhoods.

✅ Health

Supports physical activity, mental health, and social connection.

✅ Climate

Reduces reliance on vehicles, lowering emissions and improving air quality.

✅ Local Economy

Walkable communities drive more foot traffic to small, local businesses.

❖ 4. What Cities Like Calgary Can Do

• Build a connected, city-wide sidewalk and bike lane network
• Prioritize snow removal for pedestrian routes, not just roads
• Create slow streets and pedestrian-first zones in dense areas
• Retrofit suburbs with active transportation corridors and underpasses
• Fund and enforce universal design standards for accessibility
• Expand school travel planning to make walking safe for children
• Make transit stops walkable and integrated into community planning

Walkability isn’t just about sidewalks.
It’s about dignity, choice, and who your city was designed to serve.

❖ Final Thought

If you can’t safely walk to school, work, or the park—
you’re not just facing an inconvenience.
You’re facing a structural barrier to participation in daily life.

Let’s talk.
Let’s rebuild our cities for feet, wheels, and freedom—not just engines.
Let’s put the “public” back into public space—one step, one sidewalk, one safe crossing at a time.

4o