Can Tulsa be as 'livable'? (30min video)

[OurTulsa]

http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/portland-celebrating-americas-most-livable-city/?autostart=true

A lot of good ideas in this video that could be applied in Tulsa.  Enjoy.

[PonderInc]

While we're on the topic of livable communities... Here are the AIA's 10 Principles of Livable Communities

1. Design on a Human Scale
Compact, pedestrian-friendly communities allow residents to walk to shops, services, cultural resources, and jobs and can reduce traffic congestion and benefit people's health.

2. Provide Choices
People want variety in housing, shopping, recreation, transportation, and employment. Variety creates lively neighborhoods and accommodates residents in different stages of their lives.

3. Encourage Mixed-Use Development
Integrating different land uses and varied building types creates vibrant, pedestrian-friendly and diverse communities.

4. Preserve Urban Centers
Restoring, revitalizing, and infilling urban centers takes advantage of existing streets, services and buildings and avoids the need for new infrastructure. This helps to curb sprawl and promote stability for city neighborhoods.

5. Vary Transportation Options
Giving people the option of walking, biking and using public transit, in addition to driving, reduces traffic congestion, protects the environment and encourages physical activity.

6. Build Vibrant Public Spaces
Citizens need welcoming, well-defined public places to stimulate face-to-face interaction, collectively celebrate and mourn, encourage civic participation, admire public art, and gather for public events.

7. Create a Neighborhood Identity
A "sense of place" gives neighborhoods a unique character, enhances the walking environment, and creates pride in the community.

8. Protect Environmental Resources
A well-designed balance of nature and development preserves natural systems, protects waterways from pollution, reduces air pollution, and protects property values.

9. Conserve Landscapes
Open space, farms, and wildlife habitat are essential for environmental, recreational, and cultural reasons.

10. Design Matters
Design excellence is the foundation of successful and healthy communities.

[YoungTulsan]

I find Tulsa quite livable.  I haven't died yet!

[PonderInc]

Ha!  Not to get off topic, but I always laugh when people talk about the mortality rates of certain diseases.  I always thought that life itself has a 100% mortality rate...

Back on topic, I think that parts of Tulsa have terrific "livability."  We have many beautiful neighborhoods, and little traffic to fight.  We have some fun and funky entertainment districts, and, if you know where to go, great local offerings.  Tulsans are charmingly unassuming, generally kind, and often incredibly generous. (Except with their tax dollars.)

I used to live near 21st and Cincinnati.  I could walk/bike to work, walk/bike to the gym, walk/bike to the river, walk/bike to dinner...and enjoy beautiful surroundings (both natural and architectural) in every trip.

Now I live close to 41st and Harvard.  I have to drive to most of my destinations.  Some I COULD walk to, but they don't invite it.  Often, there are no sidewalks, and there aren't as many "thru streets" (ie: walkable grid) to allow you to cut efficiently through neighborhoods.  Recent commercial development is not human-scaled or pedestrian friendly.  Older development has shallow setbacks, but has been blighted by pole signs and an unwelcoming streetscape.

It only gets worse as you move towards newer parts of town...where the scale is enormous, asphalt is everywhere, and neighborhoods become even more maze-like.

PLANiTULSA is a chance to make some important changes.  Which way do we want to go?  Back to the future (more livable, more human-scaled, more diverse choices, more sustainable, more healthy), or we can continue on our current path.  Watching jobs and people drive off into the sunset...