Retrofitting the Suburbs to Increase Walking

Retrofitting the Suburbs to Increase Walking M A R L O N G . B O A R N E T , K E N N E T H J O H , WA L T E R S I E M B A B , W I L L I A M F U LT O N , A N D M A I T H I N G U Y E N D URING THE LAST HALF OF THE 20 TH CENTUR Y , cities and towns across America were built primarily for one transportation mode: the automobile. Much of this development occurred on the urban periphery, creating the suburbs that are now home to more Americans than either traditional central cities or small towns. Today, while federal transportation policies and urban planners have shifted toward promoting a more multimodal form of development, the legacy of the postwar era remains: thousands of suburban neighborhoods poorly served by any mode of transportation other than the automobile. Marlon G. Boarnet is Professor in the Department of Planning, Policy, and Design at the University of California, Irvine, and is Co-Editor of the Journal of Regional Science (mgboarne@uci.edu). Kenneth Joh is Program Coordinator for the Graduate Certificate in Transportation Planning, Assistant Professor in the Department of L andscape Architecture & Urban Planning, and Assistant Research Scientist at the Texas Transportation Institute, Texas A&M University (kjoh@tamu.edu). Walter Siembab is Research Director of the South Bay Cities Council of Governments and Principal of Siembab Planning Associates (ws@siembab.com). William Fulton is Principal at The Planning Center | DC&E and Senior Fellow at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California (bfulton@cp-dr.com). Mai Thi Nguyen is Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (mai@unc.edu). A C C E S S