Suggested Citation:
Handy, Susan L. (2020)

Making US Cities Pedestrian- and Bicycle-Friendly

Walking and bicycling are health promoting, environmentally benign, and financially beneficial modes of travel. Many cities in the United States have embraced these modes, but creating pedestrian-and-bike-friendly (PBF) cities in the US context is a tall order. The challenge for planners is to create a city where walking and bicycling live safely and comfortably with faster, longer-distance modes. This chapter presents three key principles that are essential to turning car-friendly cities into pedestrian-and-bicycle-friendly cities: distances, protection, and integration. Two other important challenges are also discussed: unleashing the potential of bicycling, and elevating walking and bicycling in regional planning. These are not the only challenges US cities and others like them face, and success in overcoming them does not guarantee success in increasing walking and bicycling. But cities must confront these challenges on their way toward becoming pedestrian-and-bicycle-friendly cities.

Keywords: pedestrian, walking, bicycle, bicycling, active travel, regional planning, urban planning