Friday, March 5, 2010

TRANSPORT - Design for walkability - ROBYN DAVIES

Robyn Davies is a transport planner. For the last ten years, she has specialised in sustainable transport policy and planning. She is currently the President of PedBikeTrans, a professional development and networking association for people who work on walking and cycling.

In her day job, Robyn currently works at the Transport and Main Roads department, but her comments at the AIA Dialogue should in no way be interpreted as those of the department.

Robyn recently returned from London after working for 8 months on sustainable transport projects. She came home via a 4 month international study tour including Paris, Amsterdam Berlin and New York.

TRANSPORT
Robyn will talk about the value of walkability and public space to real estate value using some recent international research and photos. She'll also talk briefly about new developments in sustainable transport for longer trips. 

4 comments:

  1. Testing. A great talk Robyn. I hope we can get you back for a workshop on urban design or smaller scale planning. Thank you

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  2. A site that relates to and expands on the walkability index mentioned in Robyn's talk is the HOUSING + TRANSPORTATION INDEX. The mapping is confined to mainland USA at this stage
    http://htaindex.cnt.org/
    Apparently some 48,000 American communities that are currently considered affordable to those making the median family income may actually not be affordable when you factor in the transportation costs necessary for homeowners to get to work, school and the other locations that shape their daily lives. The study "Pennywise and Pound fuelish" examined housing costs in 337 metropolitan areas nationwide which collectively are home to 80% of the US population. Historically housing has been considered affordable when it accounts for no more than 30% of the median household income. According to that formula approximately 69% of American communities are considered affordable. However, factor in transportation costs involved in living in these neighbourhoods with lower home prices, and the share of communities qualifying as affordable drops by a third.
    In other words the current definition of "affordability" does not take into account the (almost equal)cost of transportation.

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  3. Yes that's why location efficient mortgages would be good - apparently if you live in a walkable place and don't need a car (or 2nd car), you can afford $150,000 more on your mortgage.
    The VAMPIRE index produced by Jago Dodson and Neil Sipe is another interesting angle on the same issue. It looks at vulnerability to peak oil (and rising fuel prices) based on housing location and vehicle ownership. I think most Australian cities are covered now, and not surprisingly, the households that are most vulnerable are in the outer parts of cities where people own 3 cars out of necessity.

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