A Step in the Right Direction
One thing that makes change difficult is the challenge of thinking about something new. It is much easier to imagine things we’ve seen before. This is where new visualization tools like Walk Score come in.
They allow us to see things in a different way.
The graphic above highlights streets in blue that are 1 mile from a home in Bellevue, WA when walking on foot. The neighborhood is filled with cul-de-sacs and winding streets. It looks quite different from the one below, a snapshot of a neighborhood in Seattle, that shows how much more ground can be covered in densely structured cityscapes.
Placing these graphics side by side allows for easy comparison of two very different ways to relate to one’s community layout. Walk Score goes one step further. Simply type in your address and you’ll get a ranking from 0 to 100 that tells you how walkable your neighborhood is. Higher scores mean less dependence on cars and more access to local stores, restaurants, public transportation, parks, and more. Try it out for a few places you know. One that made me chuckle was the Bush ranch in Crawford, TX. He got a “0″ score!
Seriously though, this is a valuable tool for real estate companies who can insert the Walk Score on their website to allow comparisons of different areas. It also makes for a cool way to find the nearest coffee shop or grocery store - a feature enabled by plugging into Google maps and indexing businesses in the area. Simply click on the image and you’ll get business info.
We need to rethink what it means to be a community in this ecological age. Visualization tools like Walk Score - combined with informative databases of useful information - can help us think outside the box.
