Cities need to be built for people, a transportation expert said Thursday morning to a crowd overlooking downtown Phoenix.
Transportation expert Dan Burden addressed ways to make Phoenix a more sustainable, pedestrian-friendly city at the “Talk the Talk, Walk the Walk” event hosted by the Phoenix Urban Research Lab (PURL) on Thursday.
Starting with a discussion on implementing a transit-oriented community, the event included a light-rail audit and ended with a collaborative activity where participants redesigned streets in downtown.
“It’s not about getting rid of cars,” Burden said, “but we need to shift attitudes.”
Burden is an authority on bicycle and pedestrian facilities and programs, street and intersection design, and traffic. As such, he showed numerous examples of communities he has worked on, as well as cities Phoenix could emulate.
“We’ve squandered our land,” he said. “We’ve created heat sinks and places no one wants to walk.”
The event, in conjunction with PURL’s Transit Town Initiative, focused on creating more transportation options in Phoenix and increasing development around the light rail.
Walkability is a new concept for Phoenix, said Amanda Straight, an ASU graduate student in urban and environmental planning.
“People need to feel comfortable walking in an area,” she said. “More importantly, you have to make sure areas are safe, well-lit. Those are underestimated factors.”
Following the discussion, Burden led a light-rail and walking audit, where he and participants rode the light rail from the Van Buren station to the Roosevelt station and then walked back to PURL.
Burden examined how the streets could be improved and even created a human roundabout on First Street. Roundabouts are a type of circular intersection where traffic flows in and out around a central island. Burden said roundabouts reduce time spent in traffic and fuel costs.
Attendees also partook in a collaborative activity where people reconceived downtown streets with pedestrians’ needs in mind. People focused on Central Avenue and Camelback Road, First and Portland streets and Grand Avenue, among others. The groups mainly suggested additional roundabouts to slow traffic, more restaurants and markets and narrowed streets.
Burden said there is space to improve and that Phoenix is still developing for a suburban landscape. He noted the wide bus lanes at the Van Buren light-rail station as an example.
“For a city of its size, Phoenix is still making mistakes,” Burden said. “There’s still too much speed downtown. There shouldn’t be any speed downtown.”
Yet Burden said the community has great ideas and that the light rail has been a positive change for downtown.
Burden said that he has done more than 4,000 walking audits for various cities, but the Phoenix audit has been the best one yet.
“The overall dynamics of the city are coming alive,” he said.
PURL Associate Director Aaron Kimberlin hoped to get a conversation started and get Burden’s professional opinion.
“We wanted to get a speaker that pairs with what we’re doing and what the future of the city is going to be,” he said.
Kimberlin hoped that the event would elicit some projects. He specified Second Street, which he says needs more than just Filmbar facing it.
“(Walkability) is getting from point A to point B in a fashion that brings in the sense of place, sense of culture, sense of belonging,” Kimberlin said. “You can get from point A to point B, but if you don’t enjoy it … then what’s the point?”
Contact the reporter at Josselyn.Berry@asu.edu.
