Since I'm (a) Andy's favorite sister, and (b) enjoy hearing about strategic planning in advertising, I wanted to share some info on what urban planners talk about, think about, and lose sleep over.
I attended the American Planning Association Conference this past week in Philadelphia (here are some pics), 
and I managed to have a great time despite the Nor'Easter on Sun, Mon, and Tues. The pictures below are of a fabulous market near the convention center. The food in Philly was top notch, and now I know why it is often called the "City of Brotherly Love Handles".
About 5,000 planners from across the U.S. attend this annual conference to share ideas on how to make cities, suburbs and rural areas better places to live and work. Here are some of the things that I betcha didn't know:
- 2/3 of the American population will live in urban areas by the year 2030.
- On average, people spend 19% of their income on transportation. People who are auto-dependent spend approximately 25% of their income on it adn those who live in "transit rich" areas (w/ bikeways, more than 1 mode of mass transit available) spend only 9% of their income on transportation. Savings on transportation could free up a lot of money for a mortgage payment.
- Increasing density (which people are usually opposed to) in an area can actually bring prices down (increase supply, decrease demand and lower prices result).
- A planner from a suburb of Sydney, Australia shared some aerial photography and Sydney is actually experiencing sprawl that looks identical to that in the U.S., meaning 2-7 acre lots with large houses on the metro fringe. So we're not alone...
- It costs between $18,000 and $25,000 to construct 1 parking spot in a parking garage.
- The Dutch lead the way in street design. Europeans are decades ahead of the U.S. in their implementation of "Home Zone" street design. Streets in the Netherlands, Germany, England, etc. are designed so that pedestrians and cars share the street and there is no differentiation between sidewalk and street. Just think about walking down streets in Europe –- people ultimately feel their property extends into the street; cars park half on the street, half on the sidewalk area. Pedestrians are the best tool for traffic calming! (The picture below is from a website about this and I highly recommend checking it out.)
Looking forward to guest blogging again. - Erin
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