Planning. People. Places.: 2016

Happy New Year! Many of you may be on your way to meeting your New Year’s resolutions. If you haven’t already, one resolution you should commit to is increasing and improving your friendships such as communicating with that friend or family member you haven’t heard from in a long time or meeting new people. Why? A recent study by Harvard University demonstrates that having good social relations is good for your health and happiness. These findings are also supported by Dr. Andrew Weil. So what does this have to do with community design standards? In short, a lot.

Social media such as Facebook aside, the type of community we live in plays a major role in determining the activity level of our social life. Studies have shown that people who live in compact, walkable places are more likely to see their friends or family than someone who lives in a community where the only way to get around is by car. The main reason is that compact, walkable places have more people and more places to gather such as coffee bars, delis or parks within a short distance of their house. These places make it easier to make plans to meet with friends or family as well as increase the likelihood of a chance encounter with them. The farther people are away from each other, the less likely or frequently they are to meet. Plus, compact, walkable places should increase one’s ability to meet new people. Books such as Charles Montgomery’s “Happy City”, Julie Campoli’s “Made for Walking”, Jeff Speck’s “Walkable City”and Ray Oldenburg’s “The Great Good Place” do a wonderful job of explaining how the built environment affects our social life including our driving and walking habits.

Creating design regulations that pay attention to the details of what makes great places for people and promoting more interaction is a primary consideration of good design standards. Examples of good design standards include having buildings close to the sidewalk along a market street to provide an enclosed feeling; outdoor dining; street trees for shade; parks with lots of activities; benches for people to sit; having the core of a residential neighborhood about a 5 minute easy and safe walk from a neighborhood center or market street that forms the edge of the neighborhood; having a mixture of residential buildings to promote diversity in the look of a neighborhood but also designed in a way that supports the context of the adjacent neighborhood. There’s a lot more to designing communities for people.