From Chris Bruntlett – in Spacing:
We at Modacity recently spent five days in the beautiful city of Auckland, New Zealand, having been invited by Auckland Council to share some lessons from Vancouver.
While Auckland has much work to do in order to become a cycling city, we left thoroughly impressed at how pleasant, comfortable, and even delightful they had made the act of moving by foot. … Auckland is truly practicing the transport hierarchy they preach: 12 simple ways Auckland gets walking right.
Here’s No. 1:
.
1. WIDE SIDEWALK SPACES – The very first thing we noticed when stepping out of our Airbnb apartment and onto Auckland’s major thoroughfare – Queen Street – was the incredibly generous width of the walking space provided.
But it wasn’t just Queen Street. Every single shopping district we visited, including Karangahape and Ponsonby Roads, featured ample room for walking two, three, or even four abreast in both directions, with space left over for a small sidewalk patio. It was for good reason, we later learned that Queen Street moves upwards of 60,000 people on foot per day (versus 20,000 cars) – demonstrating walking is clearly the most prevalent transport mode in the city centre.
(And isn’t that man-about-Auckland and transport planner Darren Davis at one of the tables? No doubt making notes.)
All 12 ways Auckland gets walking right here.
