WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Why Are Suburbs So Unwalkable?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>laurenvogelbaumb here with another classic from the podcast's archives. This

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<v Speaker 1>one goes into the history of suburbs in the United States,

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<v Speaker 1>specifically why they were all built seemingly to discourage anyone

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<v Speaker 1>from walking anywhere. Hey brain Stuff, I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. And

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<v Speaker 1>if you've ever driven through the sprawl of an American suburb,

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<v Speaker 1>you know that the streets twist and turn, even in

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<v Speaker 1>the absence of hills. Rarely are they set up like

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<v Speaker 1>a grid. Take one wrong turn and you could end

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<v Speaker 1>up looping around a cul de sac forever. It can

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<v Speaker 1>feel like. But how did these winding streets become so

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<v Speaker 1>ubiquitous with the suburbs. The answer lies in the days

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<v Speaker 1>following the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

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<v Speaker 1>Though the period led to all of the modern technologies

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<v Speaker 1>and food ways we currently enjoy at the time, it

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<v Speaker 1>seriously worsened living conditions for many city dwellers. We spoke

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<v Speaker 1>with Paul Knight, an architectural and urban designer here in

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<v Speaker 1>Atlanta and the executive director of the Douglas C. Allen

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<v Speaker 1>Institute for the Study of cities. He said, at any

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<v Speaker 1>time before the early twentieth century, you really did not

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<v Speaker 1>want to live in the cities, especially after the Industrial

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<v Speaker 1>Revolution in places like London and New York. They were filthy,

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<v Speaker 1>they were truly dangerous. Along came British urban planner Ebenezer Howard.

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<v Speaker 1>In eighteen ninety eight, he published the book Tomorrow, A

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<v Speaker 1>Peaceful Path to Social Reform, which was reissued in nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>oh two as Garden Cities of Tomorrow. Knight said of

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<v Speaker 1>the book, one of the ideas that came out of

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<v Speaker 1>Ebenezer's work was this idea of living in the country

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<v Speaker 1>and then working in the city, so that you could

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<v Speaker 1>get the best of both worlds. Sound familiar. Thus what

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<v Speaker 1>we know today as these suburbs were born around the

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<v Speaker 1>turn of the twentieth century, but their early success depended

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<v Speaker 1>on street cars, which allowed many people to travel to

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<v Speaker 1>their jobs in the cities, and Henry foully Ward automating

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<v Speaker 1>the assembly line and introducing the Model T car really

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<v Speaker 1>helped the suburbs boom. But the biggest move to suburbia

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<v Speaker 1>came after World War Two ended in nineteen forty five,

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<v Speaker 1>millions of American gis returned for war with housing benefits,

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<v Speaker 1>and the suburbs became the place to be for us families.

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<v Speaker 1>So what does all this have to do with the

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<v Speaker 1>curving streets we know today? While many big cities during

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<v Speaker 1>the Industrial Revolution had terrible living conditions for the working class,

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<v Speaker 1>they did have something desirable, the grid network. A look

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<v Speaker 1>at New York City planners laid out the streets in

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<v Speaker 1>a right angle rectangular formation, as opposed to the spoken

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<v Speaker 1>wheel layouts of cities like Paris, and that's no accident.

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<v Speaker 1>A grid network is efficient and it promotes walkability. The

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<v Speaker 1>typical suburban street network spurned this layout in favor of

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<v Speaker 1>wide roads with sweeping curves. One reason why was to

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<v Speaker 1>make the suburbs appear closer to nature and to Ebenezer

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<v Speaker 1>Howard's idea of living in the country. Knight said, the

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<v Speaker 1>reason that people wanting to leave the city is that

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<v Speaker 1>idea of a return to nature and to provide a

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<v Speaker 1>yard for their children, and to get out of the

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<v Speaker 1>unsafe environment of the city. It's just this bucolic idea.

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<v Speaker 1>If you want to promote this idea of nature and

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<v Speaker 1>natural topography, then you can't have this rigid grid iron

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<v Speaker 1>on your landscape. You've got to curve the streets in

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<v Speaker 1>order to allow people to experience the curvilinear nature of nature.

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<v Speaker 1>Another reason for winding streets stems from that giver of

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<v Speaker 1>suburban life, the car. The grid network is built around

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<v Speaker 1>the idea of people walking from place to place, but

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<v Speaker 1>the suburbs rely on cars, and curved streets allow cars

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<v Speaker 1>to travel faster than the grid network, which has constant

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<v Speaker 1>stops at intersections. But curving streets have a cost. They

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<v Speaker 1>are less walkable, precisely because they make four longer roads

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<v Speaker 1>with fewer intersections. The road network also has fewer streets

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<v Speaker 1>than a grid pattern, which means less street frontage and

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<v Speaker 1>therefore less space for retail offices and other mixed use developments.

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<v Speaker 1>Having less walkable streets with less development forces people to

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<v Speaker 1>drive more often. That leads to another cost of curved streets,

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<v Speaker 1>more car accidents. Urban driving can feel chaotic because of

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<v Speaker 1>the increase in walkers and bikers, but it also creates

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<v Speaker 1>slower speeds and therefore fewer fatal accidents. Data from the

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<v Speaker 1>US Census Bureau backs this up. In twenty fifteen, about

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen percent of the US population lived in rural areas,

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<v Speaker 1>but rural fatalities accounted for forty nine percent of all

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<v Speaker 1>traffic fatalities. The US continues to become more suburbanized, so

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<v Speaker 1>it's unlikely that these winding streets will go away anytime soon.

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<v Speaker 1>Knight says infill building, the development of spare land and

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<v Speaker 1>otherwise largely settled areas, provides opportunities to change the face

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<v Speaker 1>of these neighborhoods. The challenge to achieving the grid network

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<v Speaker 1>in the suburbs is both political and legal. Though right

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<v Speaker 1>now most suburbs require developers to clear hurdles in order

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<v Speaker 1>to make a pedestrian friendly grid pattern, while those who

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<v Speaker 1>create car centric called sac subdivisions are on easy street,

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<v Speaker 1>Knight said the law is not in walk of favorite.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article why aren't modern

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<v Speaker 1>suburbs built on a walkable grid? On HowStuffWorks dot Com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by Adina Solomon. Brain Stuff is production of I

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<v Speaker 1>Heart Radio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com, and is

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<v Speaker 1>produced by Tyler Plang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio,

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<v Speaker 1>visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

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