Colin Mattiace and his wife Vicki Tysseling-Mattiace say their Printers Row neighborhood is great for walking with their daughter Julia.What with the price of gas, our embarrassing carbon footprint and the economic slowdown, it might just be time for us to take a hike.
Al Podgorski / Sun-Times
Environmentalists have been suggesting that very thing for years, and now, more than ever, housing industry observers suggest that the walkable neighborhood concept might soon have its day in the sun.
A walkable neighborhood is not just a residential area with sidewalks, but it has numerous real destinations within walking distance. And while "walking distance" is not an exact measurement, most experts figure that three-quarters to 1 mile is a good rule of thumb.
Residents of some Chicago neighborhoods may be wondering what all the fuss is about -- they already live in some of the most walkable neighborhoods in the nation, according to walkscore.com. According to the Web site, the top five walkable neighborhoods in Chicago are the Loop, the Near North Side, Lincoln Park, Lake View and Uptown. (You can see all the top neighborhoods at Walkscore.com).
Colin Mattiace and his wife, Vicki Tysseling-Mattiace, bought their condo in Printers Row six years ago primarily because it was so close to walkable destinations and public transportation.
"That was the big thing for us," Mattiace says. "My wife was working on her Ph.D. in Evanston and the amount of transportation in the South Loop is great. We live right next to the Red Line, but at the [nearby] LaSalle Street Station you can get all the lines."
Many days Vicki walks home from work at the Northwestern medical campus, a good 40-minute walk, while pushing the stroller of their 15-month-old daughter, Julia.
Also within walking distance of their condo are two grocery stores, a Target store, all the restaurants of the Printers Row area, Grant and Millennium parks and the theater district.
"We have come to love the city lifestyle," Mattiace says.
A walkable neighborhood has to have more than just destinations close by, however. It has to be pedestrian friendly as well.
A concept nicknamed "complete streets" suggests that the best streets are those that are designed not just for cars, but for all kinds of traffic, including bicyclists and walkers.
Still, the best walkable neighborhoods have something more. It's almost undefinable, but you will know it when you see it because walking on those streets is interesting. Those places have multiple destinations: not just the train station and a restaurant, but outdoor cafes and errand destinations, such as barber shops, hardware stores and clothing stores.
In the most walkable commercial areas, shops may give walkers the sensation of being in an outdoor room; buildings are close to the sidewalk and cars don't invade the pedestrian space. The sidewalks tend to be wide and in good repair. In residential areas, the streets are well lit and may have homes with porches wide enough to sit on, which lends not only an air of neighborliness, but "eyes on the street" for public safety.
The best walkable neighborhoods have a community gathering place, a coffee shop or a post office, for example, where neighbors run into one another on a regular basis. And they have a sense of place and ownership. Neighbors are likely to be able to point to the center of their community.
When it comes to walkability, city neighborhoods have an advantage, due to high population density, but many suburban areas have a long way to go before residents will be able to walk anywhere other than around their own cul de sacs a few times. After World War II, new developments increasingly became car-oriented, as new subdivisions sprang up far from central business districts and newly affluent homeowners bought a second car. More recently "pop up" subdivisions, surrounded by farm fields on all sides, have offered large lots but leave the new owners no choice but to spend a lot of time in the car.
John O. Norquist, president of the Chicago-based Congress for the New Urbanism, believes that in spite of the current economic downturn, in the longer term, walkable, traditional neighborhoods are likely to see a comeback.
"The peak of appreciation for sprawl-type living was among the World War II generation and they are basically out of the housing market now," he said. "Every succeeding generation is more interested in urban living and traditional design. Household sizes are getting smaller, and people want to be in a community atmosphere with more complex, interesting environment."
In fact, longtime Chicago area planner Greg Longhini goes so far as to suggest that the huge McMansions in exurban areas may simply die. They will be so expensive to maintain and to drive from that buyers will begin to shun that lifestyle, he predicts.
Norquist thinks that is at least possible.
"Those half-acre lots where there is no ability to walk to the corner store -- that is all going to get punished and is getting punished right now," he said." It is a really bad time to own something that remote. Gas prices are down a little but I doubt if they are going to stay there. It could get to the point that [those] houses are abandoned and all you can do is strip them."
In contrast, communities like Lake Forest, he said, have a long life span ahead of them.
"That is a secure market, it has a train line and a beautiful shopping district that is diversified," Norquist said. "If you just have a train station, and some big box stores somewhere else, and houses somewhere else, that reduces the real estate value."
Norquist thinks that real estate developers and builders are slowly coming around to the "old is new" philosophy.
"They are all learning these things, they just need to get to the point where they can do it. In the 1920s, people automatically built things like Oak Park, which is diverse and well laid out. For thousands of years we built communities this way, but for the last 50 years, we have had separated zoning, giant roads everywhere and dumbed down retail in ugly boxes. In a way we are the 'Congress for Old Urbanism,' teaching things people have forgotten."
