Three years ago at the Savannah Book Festival, author Daniel Pink started his talk by saying, “I love coming to Savannah. If you were tied up in a trunk and released in Savannah, it’s one of the few places in America where you would know where you are.”
For any of us who have had the opportunity to spend significant amounts of time outside of Savannah, we easily recognize the truth in Pink’s statement. We live in a place with not only unique characters, but also a unique physical character. It’s not just the beautiful live oak trees and the 19th century architecture; it’s something much more – something that makes this city and its downtown stand out among cities all over America.
What makes Savannah so special is that it is best experienced on foot.
In a world dominated by increasing speed and same-ness, Savannah is a stunning oasis of people moving slowly. It is our distinguishing trait, making us different than other cities up and down the coast, in Georgia or the vast majority of cities and suburbs in the United States.
Walking is not a fringe benefit of being in Savannah. It is essential. In this city, you can experience other human beings by greeting them in reality, not just through a car window. Anyone can be here and enjoy a slower pace of life that includes sitting on picturesque streets and shaded public spaces. This place speaks to some very human desires that are timeless, and consistent across every culture.
The fact that Savannah was built around walking for 200 years is also why it is so attractive. When you experience a place by walking, the little details and the appearance of every building matters more. When you speed through a town at 60 miles per hour, you rarely notice much beyond the signs.
I write this because it seems that sometimes we forget just how important walking is to the current and future health of our city. Now, it’s true that walking is not critical to every corner of Savannah, Chatham County and the Lowcountry. If you live in a suburban or rural area, walking is not a primary consideration. The kinds of places we have built since the end of World War II were designed around the automobile, and don’t always lend themselves to walking or riding a bicycle. We still can and should try to create safe options for people, but it simply isn’t the primary method of getting around everywhere.
But in all of our neighborhoods built before World War II, walking was central to their existence and future success. It’s these neighborhoods where we at Savannah Development and Renewal Authority focus our effort. Every action must enhance the walking experience. In a walkable context, any decision made that doesn’t take into account pedestrians first and foremost will lead to two very predictable outcomes: safety problems and economic decline.
You might say to me, “But Kevin, I drive downtown for work or for fun, and I need to be able to get in and want to get out quickly.” But here’s the thing: even if you drive downtown, chances are that you complete your trip by walking somewhere along a city street. Everyone is a walker.
There’s also the issue of safety. Safety for pedestrians equals safety for all of us. Safety for pedestrians also means safety for those who don’t drive: children; those who aren’t physically able to walk quickly; for mothers pushing strollers; and yes, for those riding bicycles. Tragedy happens when we tolerate or encourage fast-moving vehicles into an environment where people are moving slowly. From a pure safety standpoint, the safest places are those where all vehicles are moving at about the same speed. As an example, that’s why, interstates are generally very safe – almost everyone is moving at the same speed, and there is limited access to the roadway. In walkable places, it’s critical to slow all vehicles down so that they move at a speed that feels safe to people walking, bicylcling, riding scooters, hoverboarding or playing Pokèmon Go.
When it comes to the economic health of Savannah, we should strive to enhance what makes us unique and not to associate us with what people can find anywhere. Our city’s characteristic as a beautiful, walking place to live and to visit is our competitive advantage. If we are to have economic success now and In the future, we must do everything to not just maintain, but improve that walking environment. It is our bread and butter. It separates us from cities of similar size, and also much larger cities.
It’s important to note, that other, larger cities are catching up quickly. Cities as car-oriented as Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando and Miami are aggressively funding boundless public spaces, protected bike lanes, trails and public transit. All are dramatically remaking their downtowns and surrounding neighborhoods in order to serve the market demand for walkability. We live in an era with more and more people specifically choosing to live in walkable neighborhoods on purpose. Technology is helping more people live car-free. We in Savannah have the advantage over those cities today, as well as numerous struggling mid-size cities. Will we act on that advantage and realize our potential, or look back in twenty years wishing we had done more?
Of course there is a tradeoff to prioritizing walking, and it’s important that we are clear and honest about it. In this case, it’s simple: each of us driving a car is going to have to slow down and pay closer attention. It means driving will always take longer than in our suburban or rural areas, and that parking might be challenging at times. We can and should do more to make it easier for people driving in from outside of downtown to park on the edges and take a convenient, high-quality shuttle in to our beautiful downtown.
A successful, walkable neighborhood will always force those of us driving to give up the notion that we have a right to drive through quickly. Some residents won’t like that tradeoff, and may choose to avoid these areas entirely. And the truth is – that’s ok. Savannah and Chatham County covers a big region, and there’s plenty of room for every lifestyle choice from urban to suburban to rural. But each choice carries its own expectations, and we need to release ourselves from the expectation that it’s normal to drive quickly through places where people primarily walk.
Savannah is at a crossroads. We’ve been discovered again, and all economic signs are pointing upwards. We have social challenges, like many cities, but we are putting renewed attention and energy toward healing those.
We must not forget the critical importance of walking at the center of everything we undertake in our greater downtown. This is not a frill or fringe benefit of a historic city. It is essential to our distinctiveness, our economy, and the safety of our neighbors, friends and families.