What's the single most important factor in a livable city? Pedestrians. After all, even if we commute to work in a BMW, we start and finish our journey as pedestrians. "Every single trip begins with walking," says Gil Penalosa, founder of the livable cities advocacy group 8 80 Cities. That's why any plan to make cities better start with the single step we all take when we leave home.
To improve our cities, Penalosa says, we need to pay attention to four "pillars"— walkability, bikeability, public spaces, and public transportation. Get the right balance, and you end up with somewhere like Copenhagen, where commuter parking lots have become public squares, ringed with businesses and cafes, and cyclists feel so safe that it's common to see "a woman biking to a business meeting dressed exactly as if she were driving," says Penalosa in an article published by the Knight Foundation.
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