WALK CRAIGIEBURN
Way-finding stickers: to encourage walking to points of interest
Based on a guerrilla way-finding effort in Raleigh, North Carolina
the w o Foll teps! s foot
INTRODUCTION
Matt Tomasulo attached 27 signs/stickers to direct pedestrians to points of interest at intersections in Raleigh (Figure 1) as he felt that people tend to drive as opposed to walk due to misconception of distance to places (Spontaneousinterventions 2012). This guerrilla way-finding effort became an official project in the city due to the community support it received. ‘Walk Craigieburn’ is based on this project to encourage walking in Craigieburn.
WHY IT SHOULD BE APPLIED •Craigieburn expects an exponential growth in population in the next 25 years (Hume City Council 2014a; Sharp 2015). Way-finding stickers/signs can help introduce new residents to their local area/suburb, and help them discover hidden and interesting parts of Craigieburn to connect with their new neighbourhood (Hester 2014). •Hume City Council plans to make Hume more walkable (Hume City Council 2014a). Way-finding stickers encourage people to walk by interesting them with the promise of specific points of interest within a defined number of minutes (Figure 2; Forsyth & Krizek 2010) Although there were many road signs for cars observed in Craigieburn (Figure 3) very few road signs observed deal with the human dimension (Figure 4; Gehl 2010). •Numerous health and social benefits (Cook 2015; Forsyth & Krizek 2010; Gehl 2010; Speck 2012). •It engages existing residents and makes them feel valued by providing them with the opportunity to provide their input and ideas (Forester 2009), It also encourages them to explore and discover their neighbourhood themselves (Hester 2014) while improving their health (Cook 2015; Forsyth & Krizek 2010).
Time by foot –indicative of distance
attached to a colour light/ pole
Destination/ point of interest
Direction
Figure 2: Key elements of the stickers/ signs (Spontaneousinterventions 2012)
CURRENT SITUATION
Very few people walk –cars were much •Helps find parts of Craigieburn that lack points of interest (e.g. public space and more frequent than pedestrians, and Figure 1: An example of the signs hung up by Tomasulo (Urbanparks) based on community perception. there were more cars than people on the times 2012) road at almost all times, when on site. Interviews conducted too indicated a similar dependence on cars (Nanayakkara 2015a; Nanayakkara 2015b), as does 70% of Australian adults are either sedentary or have low levels of mode of travel to work data (Figure 5). physical activity (Department of Health 2014) amidst walking being the “most popular …recreational activity performed by Australians (20132014)” (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2015 p1).
Figure 3: Most road signs in Craigieburn are for cars (Nanayakkara 2015c)
WHY THIS IDEA IS IMPORTANT
•Walk Craigieburn caters for both the need of physical activity and the opportunity to engage in a physical activity individuals like: walking. • People walk more in areas with “perceived and objectively measured access to destinations” (Forsyth & Krizek 2010 p433). Interviews conducted support this understanding. Additionally, providing “…objectively measured access to destinations” (Forsyth & Krizek 2010 p433) is what is performed by these signs.
Figure 4: A sign directing children to Willmott Park Primary School and a sign indicating a pedestrian crossing ahead
Figure 5: Method of travel to work in Craigieburn (Profile.id 2011)
HOW IT WORKS
1
OPPORTUNITIES/POSITIVES +
Propose Walk Craigieburn
• Can use this intervention to identify areas which need improving (Figure 7)
2
Receive community input
•Can be used to enhance the experience of walking for children: signs can be created to act as clues for a treasure hunt. Example: a trail around the neighbourhood ending at a playground.
3
Find places for signs
•Signs are relatively affordable (Figure 8) •Process is simple and uncomplicated
4 5
Use Walk [Your City] to create + receive signs (https://walkyourcity. org/) Everyone hangs the signs
•Everyone/anyone can get involved (not simply an effort of the council) Figure 6: Excerpt of Craigieburn TravelSmartMap edited to indicate areas which lack attractive points of interest (Hume City Council 2014b).
KEY INFORMATION: WALK RALEIGH 275 (USD)
FEASIBILITY
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+ BARRIERS
1 week - planning & production + 1 hour installation Figure 7: Observed areas along Dorchester Street (Nanayakkara 2015c)
3 Figure 8: Key information regarding Walk Raleigh (Spontaneousinterventions 2012)
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EXAMPLE OF AN APPROPRIATE LOCATION:
•Not many attractive points of interest in Craigieburn ( Figures 6 & 7) •May not be attractive to some elderly and individuals with disabilities •Each sign incurs a cost
Outside Willmott Park Primary School (Figure 9 & 10) •Other signs at the location - (Figure 3). Very few signs there were directing people (See Figure 4). •Walking to Craigieburn Central from there is shorter than driving (Figure 9) but most people drive as was observed.
CONCLUSION
References
Walk Craigieburn is a simple intervention with much potential. Its ability to create a more walkable Craigieburn is one of the many positives of adopting this intervention.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015, ‘Participation in Sport and Physical Recreation, Australia, 2013-14’, accessed June 5, 2015, from <http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/latestProducts/4177.0Media%20Release12013-14>. Cook, A 2015, Week 3: Getting Around, Cities: From Local to Global, University of Melbourne, Melbourne. Department of Health, 2014, ‘Research and Statistics’, accessed June 5, 2015, from <http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-strateg-active-evidence.htm>. Forsyth, A & Krizek, K 2010, ‘Promoting Walking and Bicycling: Assessing the Evidence to Assist Planners’, Built Environment, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 429-446. Forester, J. (2009). Dealing with differences. New York: Oxford University Press. Gehl, J. (2010). Cities for people. Washington, DC: Island Press. Hester, R 2014, ‘Do not detach! Instructions from and for community design’, in L Manzo & P Devine-Wright (ed), Place Attachment: Advances in Theory, Methods and Applications, Routledge, Oxon, pp. 191-206 Hume City Council, 2014a, ‘Hume Horizons 2040’, accessed May 30, 2015, from <http://humecitycouncil.uberflip.com/i/333008-community-plan/9>. Hume City Council, 2014b, TravelSmartMap Craigieburn, Hume City Council, accessed May 30, 2015, from <http://www.hume.vic.gov.au/Leisure_Tourism/Sport_Recreation/Walking_Cycling>. Nanayakkara, A 2015a, Automobile dependent Hume City: Its costs exposed, Melbourne, Cities from Local to Global, University of Melbourne, Melbourne. Nanayakkara, A 2015b, Compilation of Craigieburn Railway Station Street Surveys, Cities: from Local to Global, University of Melbourne, Melbourne. Nanayakkara, A 2015c, Craigieburn Site Visit 1 Image Collection, Craigieburn, Cities from Local to Global, University of Melbourne, Melbourne. Profile.id, 2011, ‘Method of travel to work | Craigieburn’, accessed May 30, 2015, from <http://profile.id.com.au/hume/travel-to-work?WebID=150>. Sharp, M 2015, Hume City Council Broadmeadows and Craigieburn, Cities: From Local to Global, University of Melbourne, Melbourne. Speck, J. (2012). Walkable city. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Spontaneousinterventions, 2012, ‘Walk Raleigh: Guerrilla Wayfinding’, accessed June 3, 2015, from <http://www.spontaneousinterventions.org/project/walk-raleigh-guerrilla-wayfinding>. Urbantimes, 2012, Walk Raleigh a Venture in Tactical Urbanism, accessed June 3, 2015, from <https://urbantimes.co/2012/03/walk-raleigh-a-venture-in-tactical-urbanism/>. Walkyourcity, 2015, ‘Build a sign’, accessed June 6, 2015, from <https://walkyourcity.org/signbuilder#step=1&location=40.346544,-98.261719&zoom=4&mode=walking&language=en&custom_color=%23eeeeee&template=original>.
Figure 10: One possible sign for the location (Walkyourcity 2015)
Figure 9: A location for a wayfinding sign (Hume City Council 2014b)
Akla Nanayakkara 633943 CLG 2015