The physical environment has a massive impact on how active people are. While some people may try to be active no matter what, most people will not choose to be active unless they are provided with and encouraged to use active infrastructure. This means as designers we have an obligation to design with this in mind and include elements that give people the opportunity to be active. There are many, many ways to do this, but a few examples include making stairs a fun experience with color, seating, and/or other unique qualities, creating bike/walk lanes more widely available, including more green spaces in projects that encourage some movement, and providing clear and motivational signage to promote people to pick the active route. By creating this active infrastructure in and out of buildings, designers can help create a more active and healthy community. The city of Fayetteville has several initiatives to do this. The main initiative is the active transportation plan.
Active Transportation Plan
This is a plan to create an “interconnected and universally accessible network of sidewalks, trails, and on-street bicycle facilities that encourage citizens to use active/non-motorized modes of transportation to safely and efficiently reach any destination.” It was adopted in 2015 building on the previous development done by several other initiatives. The main goal of this initiative is to make 97% of Fayetteville Residents live within half a mile of a trail by 2040.
Sidewalks
In addition to expanding these trails, the city is dedicated to improving and creating sidewalks. Between 2003 and 2013, 127 miles of sidewalks were built in Fayetteville by private developers. These sidewalks bridge the gaps between trails and help make the city more walkable throughout. In some places, they are taking a tactical urbanism approach to get a better understanding of what might be successful and seeing how they could go beyond just being successful. The maps below outline the current state of the sidewalks along with the trails so that they can be understood as a whole, interconnected network.
Below you can see both the trails and sidewalks to get a better understanding of how much they are starting to cover Fayetteville.
Other Initiatives
There are many other initiatives being done in Fayetteville, including improved public transportation, bike and scooter sharing, and the city art walk. There are already several bike, e-bike, and e-scooter programs in Fayetteville, but the goal is to push this even further. Another example is the City Art Walk. This initiative is a wide range of public art pieces that are on display throughout the city. It stimulates creativity and active transport at the same time. There are nearly 150 pieces already on display. The location of these pieces can be found on the Public Art Map. Many other initiatives can be found on Fayetteville’s website as well as their Parks and Recreation page. The map below high lights several of these and other initiatives being done to make Fayetteville more walkable and encourage a more active lifestyle.
Resources:
Comments