We all know that access to safe, comfortable, and convenient active transportation options is good for the environment. Every time a driving trip is replaced with a bicycling or walking trip, our air and water get a little cleaner. Alta’s work of creating healthy, active communities has been helping to reduce emissions from the day […]
Landscape Architecture has great breadth as a design profession, with significant impacts on communities and quality of life. Alta’s design group includes a collaborative team of landscape architects and landscape designers who understand that truly successful projects are a reflection of their communities. As landscape architects, we have the instincts to shore up the attributes […]
Time zones and an International Date Line may separate Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) cities with those in North America, but we’re all looking for ways to minimize our impact on the environment, improve public health, and ease traffic congestion. Active mobility is the most efficient way to move people in cities for short […]
About 11 miles east of Atlanta is a small city of about 13,000 people that is becoming known as “the most diverse square mile in America.” In the 1990s, refugee resettlement programs identified Clarkston, GA as a good fit for displaced individuals of many backgrounds. Since then, the city has received over 40,000 refugees. There […]
Central City in Motion is a Go This Thanksgiving, there’s a lot to be grateful for. Here at Alta, we’re celebrating the Portland City Council’s unanimous vote to adopt Central City in Motion, which will make downtown streets safer, more efficient, and equitable for all Portland residents. The November 15 decision pledged to build a series […]
By nature, community planning is forward looking and speculative. In forecasting future investments, we tend to look at factors such as historic trends and growth projections. When designing streets, we turn to industry standards that tend to plan for extreme events. This ranges from multi-lane highways built for rush hour to parking standards requiring a […]
Credit: European Cyclists’ Federation Recently, the ride hailing company Uber gave the bike share world a jolt by acquiring the electric bike (e-bike) share company JUMP. Another shared mobility provider, LimeBike added both e-bike and electric scooter (e-scooter) share options to its dockless bike share service to compete with the growing number of dockless bike […]
Well-crafted wayfinding systems encourage people walking and bicycling to go that extra mile, explore new areas, and foster a sense of place. Wayfinding systems can also encourage increased rates of active transportation by creating a clear and attractive network that is easy to understand and navigate. Places that are arranged intuitively so that we can […]
Rethinking Streets by Lisa Nisenson and Kate Whitfield This post is adapted from our original article for the Ontario Professional Planners Institute’s Ontario Planning Journal — “Integrating Resilience Within Planning”: Technology is already changing mobility in our communities. Emerging technology, especially autonomous vehicles, is expected to radically change systems, vehicles, employment, and investment decisions. Like any change, […]
Separated bike lane. Rendering by Alta Planning + Design. Maybe you’d like to take the bus to work, but the walk to the bus stop is too long. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a way to get to the bus stop faster than walking, but without having to deal with the hassles of park-and-ride? […]
