Runnability
I’ve read about walkability. And I’ve read about bikeability. But I’ve never read about runnability – so I wanted to write about it. If walkability is a measure of how friendly an area is to walking, and bikeability is a measure of how friendly an area is to biking, then runnability is a measure of how friendly an area is to running.
So I made this artwork of me running
As a runner and a trainer, I understand how important this aerobic endurance activity is to our overall health and wellness. And I know firsthand how challenging it can be to find a safe and accessible place to get a run in. As an environmental designer, I know that the purpose of urban planning is for human health and that placemaking for running can be on anybody’s drawing board – if it is part of the conversation.
Exercise, generally, and running, specifically, plays an important role in chronic disease prevention and management. Because placemaking along pathways and greenways greatly influences physical activity, when we talk about hiking and biking, let’s talk about running too. Getting your heart rate up is a key component of physical fitness and running is the most straightforward way to do this for most people. Aerobic exercise is a vital part of a balanced active lifestyle and when this important physical activity is left out of the conversation we fail to make a place for it. Design is problem solving for people and physical activity is part of everyday life. So when we plan for walkable and bikeable, let's plan for runnable too.
Runnability is a measure of how friendly an area is to running
PARK PERIMETER DESIGN WITH A RUNNING LANE
Why I think we should have a separate lane for runners
Placemaking for running in the pedestrian experience serves as an activity invitation, protected from the swift speeds of bikes and slow speeds of walkers, and is part of pedestrian shed planning for meeting daily physical activity needs. Acknowledging the different speeds with which walkers, runners and cyclists travel is a fundamental reason to give each their own lane in order to create a safer and more inclusive exercise experience. For example: walkers typically travel 3 mph, runners at 6 mph and cyclists at 12 mph. Shared paths are like a street without lane lines allowing vehicles traveling 30 mph, 60 mph and 120 mph to occupy the same road at the same time. Access to a safe place to run is a planning strategy missing within complete streets and park design.
“When we talk about land use it’s easy to discuss how we move people, or how people move, in terms of transportation and recreation. But we talk about them separately, and that is a missed opportunity.”
COMPLETE STREETS DESIGN WITH A RUNNING LANE
Complete Streets is an approach to planning, designing, building, operating, and maintaining streets that enables safe access for all people who need to use them, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities. These streets, bike lanes, and sidewalks are large, linear transportation corridors for connecting people and places. From block to block and building to building, these spaces are the in-between. They are how we move and meet. They are the hallways and living rooms of urban society. They can be our gym too.
Parks and trail systems are often similarly long, linear recreation corridors for connecting people and places. Encouraging physical and social fitness, they support human health by providing access to nature, exercise and community. Adding to the time and logistics of trying to get a run in, these park systems (even if designed for runnability) are often located where driving a personal vehicle is their primary means of access. What if they weren’t? When we talk about land use it's easy to discuss how we move people, or how people move, in terms of transportation and recreation. But we talk about them separately, and that is a missed opportunity. What if we embraced their shared linear nature and combined their potential? What if there were running lanes right our your front door and lining streets of the urban core? What if, while planning road diets and boulevards, we included public health as a lens through which we made decisions? What if we made it easier for people to take care of themselves and took care of them by providing running lanes as healthcare infrastructure?
What if we brought the parks to the streets
Increasing aerobic fitness at the population level could have a huge impact on public healthcare costs
Parks are placemaking for physical activity – for people of all ages and abilities. While many designs include opportunities for kid friendly fitness, there is a shortage of inclusion for grown up fitness too. Designing streets, parks and trail systems with designated running lanes improves the runnability of a city and can profoundly influence health probability as well. Designated lanes for runners influence the likelihood someone would go for a run by providing access to a safe space to exercise, promoting life saving physical activity while reducing the potential conflict of shared paths. Making the city your gym is easier to do when the planning department includes placemaking for running in the pedestrian experience. Running lanes are healthcare infrastructure and providing them, where width allows, is a way to use urban planning to support healthy habits. Initiatives that succeed in increasing aerobic fitness at the population level could have a huge impact on public healthcare costs.
Reimagining the public realm to shape healthy living patterns by using runnability as a design approach can be a starting place for small scale interventions in public health that have the capacity to make a large impact. Design is problem solving for people and physical activity is part of everyday life. So when we plan for walkable and bikeable, let's plan for runnable too.
Support runnability in your community
#Runnability
Physical fitness is an essential aspect of common humanity. Everybody has a body and running is a way to check in with it. It’s a support habit we can practice for listening to our hearts, finding our stride and discovering our strength. Whether your fitness moments are meet-ups or me time, checking in is always in style. Support runnability in your community and show me the running lanes!
