Nadia WilliamsJan 17, 2023
Brent Toderian

“Someone with a 1-hr car commute needs to earn 40% more to be as happy as someone with a short walk to work. On the other hand, if someone shifts from a long commute to a walk, their happiness increases as much as if they’d fallen in love.” #CityMakingMath

Just one of 50 reasons why everyone should want more walkable streets. In Fast Company Magazine.

https://www.fastcompany.com/3062989/50-reasons-why-everyone-should-want-more-walkable-streets

#cities #urbanism #walking #streets #cars

50 Reasons Why Everyone Should Want More Walkable Streets

From making you live longer to making cities more resilient: If you want a reason to make your city more walkable, it's in here.

Fast Company
Jan 17, 2023 at 8:06amWeb
Show threadJoão PinheiroJan 17, 2023
@BrentToderian

That's really cool. The problem is that most governments don't really care...
Show threadJoão PinheiroJan 17, 2023
@BrentToderian
@isabel
Show threadElena ``of Valhalla''Jan 17, 2023
@BrentToderian if you (can only afford to) live at one hour by car from where work is, how are the walkable streets near work going to help? ok, it may be nice during lunch hour, but you still have an hour long commute anyway.

(and yes, I would choose an hour long commute by train over one by car, given the chance, but it's still an hour long commute)
Show threadclacke: exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛Jan 17, 2023
@valhalla @BrentToderian Having work over there and residence over here is a problem entangled with the car-centric society. The walkable city has mixed-use neighborhoods.
Show threadElena ``of Valhalla''Jan 17, 2023
@clacke @BrentToderian car centric societies make things worse, but having mixed-use neighborhoods doesn't necessarily solve the problem.

I live in a mixed-use neighborhood, I have easy access by foot to many services, but most people who live here don't work in the neighborhood, they work either in the closest big city or in the nearby rich foreign country.

And many parts of both Milan and Ticino (Switzerland) are still mixed use, and especially in Milan you can live without a car, but you need to be able to afford living in Milan (and be willing accept the much reduced quality of living there even if you're paying more).

I got lucky and found a job whose official location is 400 km from where I live, so I only have to go there sporadically :) , but that's something that only certain jobs are suitable for.

And well, office jobs and shops and other relatively quiet jobs in the middle in residential areas are a very nice thing, but having industrial production a little outside the densely populated areas (ideally with a train or tram service connecting them) doesn't sound that bad.
Show threadclacke: exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛Jan 18, 2023
@valhalla @BrentToderian True, it's part of the solution to some of the jobs, not a silver bullet.
Show threadlike jam or bootlacesJan 18, 2023

@clacke

just for starters, access to walkable services still means fewer car trips, less need for parking

this allows for more density, which in turn feeds a virtuous circle that makes walking, cycling, and public transit more viable

@valhalla @BrentToderian

Show threadMatthieu Weber 🇫🇷/🇫🇮Jan 17, 2023

@BrentToderian This “percentage of happiness” does not sound very scientific.

Also, I tried for a few months in Winter to walk (1h) to work instead of driving for 15 min, and I was not happier, because I had to wake up earlier and was coming back home later.
Is it the time spent in traffic jams that would cause unhappiness?

Now I use my bicycle whenever I need to go somewhere alone, including in Winter on the snow, but I work from home as much as possible, which makes me happy too. </my-life>

Show threadclacke: exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛Jan 17, 2023
@matthieu The comparison was between a short walk and a long drive, not the same distance undertaken by car or foot.
Show threadMatthieu Weber 🇫🇷/🇫🇮Jan 17, 2023
@clacke What does then “someone shifts from a long commute to a walk” mean, if not commuting by walking? I thought I had understood that part of the sentence 😞
Show threadclacke: exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛Jan 17, 2023
@matthieu They stop working somewhere so far they need to drive and start working around the corner.
Show threadMatthieu Weber 🇫🇷/🇫🇮Jan 17, 2023
@clacke Right. But is the walking commute as long (in time) as the driven one, or is it shorter? If it's the latter, are the people happier because of the walking or because of spending less time commuting? Would a shorter, driven commute have the same effect on happiness?
Show threadclacke: exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛Jan 18, 2023
@matthieu You are correct that the comparison changes too many variables at once, but comparing a "1-hour commute" to a "short walk" is unambiguous.
Show threadAntti Peltola ⁂Jan 17, 2023
@BrentToderian What about remote workers with 10 feet commutes? 😁
Show threadAllan ChowJan 18, 2023
@anttipeltola @BrentToderian nope sorry need to be at the office to achieve that falling in love level
https://youtu.be/WlXlDCvCztE
Tiny Toons Adventures on Adult Swim (November 11th, 2001/RARE)

YouTube
Show threadHarry TurtledoveJan 17, 2023
@BrentToderian I used to commute from the Valley to Downey through downtown L.A. every day. An hour was a good day, an hour and 15 minutes average. When it rained, fuhgeddaboutit. In 1991, I quit to write fulltime, so my journey to work was down the hall. I can testify that this is true.
Show threadLizardJan 17, 2023

@BrentToderian Or, reasons everyone should work from home, if you ask me.

I'm also not sure if "a short walk vs. a long commute" is preferred due to *walking* (exercise, sunlight, meeting people... ech!) or to being *short*. How does a 5 minute drive compare to a 40 minute walk, happiness-wise? (At my prior job, 2014-2019, I could have walked the 1.5 miles in ~40 minutes. I drove, instead. This let me go home and have lunch with my family, ignore prevailing weather, and so on.)

Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKJan 17, 2023

@LizardSF @BrentToderian I agree there should be more walkable streets, but having grown up in and lived in London overall safety of the city is also a big factor.

Not just avoiding being knocked down by cars but not having to run the gauntlet of racists, harrassers, potential robbers and dealing with a generally hostile atmosphere, which is what I also remember from my days in London (as I was younger I put up with it, but its not something I want to deal with in my 50s)

Show threadLizardJan 18, 2023
@vfrmedia @BrentToderian I didn't learn to drive until my mid-30s. Before that, I lived in Manhattan/Bay Area, where you pretty much *can* live without driving. But not every community has the population density to support practical mass transit. There are places where there's a Morning Bus and an Evening Bus, and that's it. You miss it, you're stuck. There's places like where I live now, with no busses, and it's 15+ miles to anything beyond a SMALL supermarket, a pharmacy, and a Subway./1
Show threadLizardJan 18, 2023

@vfrmedia @BrentToderian /2 And you will never get busses running every hour, on the hour, for a town of 900 people (even if you DID, most of those people would still be 1-4 *miles* from the 'main road' that would be the only logical place for a bus stop.)

My Mother in Law drives, but really shouldn't. But unless the bus comes right to our door, she'd have to walk down a steep driveway, then 3/4 mile to the nearest 'main street'. She *can* walk to the garage. She can't walk much further.

Show threadStuJan 17, 2023
@BrentToderian Lots of room for discussion on this point, but one opportunity is to enlist businesses to support it if they truly want people to work together in person at the office (also lots of room for discussion on that POV).
Show threadBen FultonJan 17, 2023
@BrentToderian Wow, almost seven years old now.
Show threadHeather MadroneJan 17, 2023
@BrentToderian Is that Santa Cruz?
Show threadTom MartinekJan 17, 2023

@BrentToderian I went from a 1.5-3 hour commute a day to 0 commute and I can assure you I am a much happier person.

“The more you drive, the less intelligent you are.”
Miller
Repo Man

Show threadJoJan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian Costs less to live that 1-hr commute away - so I’m happier even tho earning 40% less. Does the happiness balance? Yup - I get birds and trees that the city doesn’t have. You can find happiness anywhere if you go looking.
Show threadBlue Cat Defends!Jan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian commuting was the worst part of my last job. I spent almost two hours a day in my car - ten hours a week of driving - for a mom/wife/student that time was precious and cut into so many other priorities in my life. I hope to never have a commute like that again. Not worth it.
Show threadKBrzozowskiJan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian I love this! I know I’m happier in a walkable city .
Show threadTremarctos OrnatusJan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian Depends on the walk. If you have to risk your life to cross the road, or wait 5 minutes in traffic lights, which are behind a slalom instead of the straight path… I doubt it.
Show threadRuth MottramJan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian I've always wondered what the source of this quote is.and how do they measure happiness?
Show threadAndreas KJan 18, 2023

@BrentToderian Hint: What's even better than a short commute? Home Office.

That's literally, in most cases, less than 10 meters commute. No need for walkable streets, I prefer a nice green park, and underground parking for the cars that spits out the cars outside the park perimeter.

Show threadJarvis SlacksJan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian I'm curious if this applies only to driving or non-driving commutes too.
Show threadsxpertJan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian assuming the individual is able to walk the distance...
Show threadAgaposteMom (She/Her)Jan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian we just had an election in #Ottawa that shattered our dreams of a more walkable, alternative transit, green city. We had a candidate with vision and a fiscal plan to execute. They were rejected because of fear of change, and anti-lgbtq2s hate. It was heartbreaking.
Show threadSugar Grits UndergroundJan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian This speaks as much to affordable housing as it does to walkable streets.
Show threadSikntyrd54Jan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian
Interesting. My late dad walked to & from work for 43 years, including coming home for lunch. He was happy & lived an active, meaningful & fulfilling 88 years.
Show threadMx. Amadi LovelaceJan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian not only does it feel very scientifically iffy to measure happiness in this way, this isn’t an argument for more “walkable streets” per se, it’s an argument for people being able to live nearer to their job, and that’s a function of a million variables that can’t be controlled for with public policy.
Show threadDeb RobisonJan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian @BrentToderian I never knew the science behind it, but my parents both had 20 minute commutes and so when I started working, if a job wasn't within a 20-25 min commute via bus, car or walk, I didn't take it. I could never understand spending hours in a car. I realize I am unconventional in this regard, but I have my parents' example to thank. (which was unintentional, I am sure)
Show threadVeronicaJan 18, 2023

@BrentToderian
It is the work that brings the most satisfaction. I have 2 homes, one is 30 miles from my job which I am fixing up to sell.
My new home is 80 miles one way from work, that is the home that I am moving TO.
The 30 mile commute is 30 to 120 minutes averaging 90 minutes each way. Train 2.5 hours each way.

The 80 miles commute each way is 90 to 120 minutes.
Train 3 hours each way.
But the home is a beautiful ranch vs a city home in a congested neighborhood.

Show threadDiana Staresinic-DeaneJan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian I suspect one of the reasons so many people enjoy WFH is because they realized they could have several (unpaid) hours of their lives back each week by not commuting. Walking a couple of blocks or just to the next room is better than a long train, bus, or car ride each day.
Show threadjohn.beimlerJan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian this is why as our kids move out on their own, we are considering leaving the suburb/big city spoke system we have here in RTP, NC to live close to work and all of our other third places.
Show threadLeon CowleJan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian @anildash I'm sure I'm the weirdo outlier here, but that is COMPLETELY the opposite for me. I would HATE to live close to work. I love my ~1hr commute. I listen to podcasts. I unwind (evening commute). I relax (between working at work, and 'working' at home with the kiddos/dinner/etc . And most importantly, I have this psychological 'thing' that I want a decent, physical distance between work and home -- to mentally separate the two.
Show thread📄 Mehdi.docJan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian what about if I just walk from my bed to my desk ? 😅
Show threadcxj ✅Jan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian Wow, that's even more dramatic than I would have imagine. I've long dreamed of being able to walk to work.
Show threadfen Jan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian @mekkaokereke that’s a good metric to have, if you want me to come into the office again it will cost you an additional 40% of my salary
Show threadLocksmithJan 18, 2023
@crayzeigh @BrentToderian @mekkaokereke I have a 30-min commute to the office and it already disrupts my patience for a lasting 1 to 2 hours after arriving.
Show threadLonewolfJan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian for a second I thought it was #citymakingmeth
I was reading about the library in Colorado contaminated with meth so makes sense
Show threadCaffe NekoJan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian I can't get over the photo with only white 24-year-old looking ppl.
Show threadLabrador GirlJan 18, 2023
@BrentToderian How does this work with manufacturing facilities, many of which cover an entire city block, or more, and which no one wants next door?
Show threadRebastionJan 19, 2023
@BrentToderian but how to afford living within walking distance
Show threadDeep Breath; Start AgainJan 19, 2023
@BrentToderian I just found a job within walking distance from home. Can’t wait to start! I made walking a prerequisite when I started searching. Happy to have incorporated that into the search. I’ll have a job that aligns with my values, improves my health, and gives me thinking time on the way to and from work.
Show threadUpstart CrowJan 19, 2023
@BrentToderian I will have to start walking more as spring comes on
Show threadBrian HawthorneJan 19, 2023
@BrentToderian @davidtoddmccarty I can’t even imagine commuting to work again.
Show threadAngharadHafodJan 21, 2023

@BrentToderian if the 1 hour commute means you live in the countryside instead of the town, then I'd disagree.

But each to their own I guess.