The Human-Scale Design Podcast

Getting (and directing) feet on the street, with Matt Tomasulo

Urbanism Speakeasy podcast
Andy Boenau finds feet on the street in RVA

Sustainable Cities Collective

For everyone listening who enjoys hearing about active lifestyles, walkable communities, and bikeable streets — you’re in for a treat. If you roll your eyes at all that stuff, well, you’re missing out! Matt Tomasulo has some great experience to share. A friend of mine recently described my job like this: Andy gets paid to teach people what he learned in grade school — to walk and bike. Matt sounds like he’s cut from the same cloth.

Matt is an instigator. I could stop right there and he’d be right at home at Urbanism Speakeasy. He’s from Raleigh, NC, but also spent time in Richmond, VA. Between instigating, urbanism, new media, and do-it-yourself activism, we have plenty of overlapping interests. Enjoy the conversation!

 

Walking. It’s not just for hipsters. (Insert senior citizen hip replacement joke here.)

You learn to walk as a young child, you use your legs all your adult life, and then you end up pushing a walker. Matt talks about his own family and how relying on long-distance car trips isn’t as attractive for his parents as it once was.

 

There and back again

What if part of your daily or weekly routine involved a 15-minute car trip that could have been a 15-minute walk? What if people who worked in your building were told that it was only an 8-minute walk down to the riverfront? Matt talks about the genesis of Walk Raleigh, the program that became Walk [Your City].

 

The politics of tactical urbanism

It’s interesting to watch how different places in the U.S. handle tactical urbanism (or guerrilla urbanism – whatever you choose to call it). My head spins when I read about people who paint their own crosswalk on a street, only to be arrested for vandalism or disturbing the peace. Friends and neighbors see the benefits from tactical urbanism projects. It’s the politicians and badge carriers that are the wild cards. A local government basically has 3 response options: stand in opposition, turn a blind eye, or give support to the effort. Matt talks about how city officials in Raleigh reacted to the grassroots wayfinding campaign.

 

DIY urbanism is contagious

Walk [Your City] reminds me in some of ways of the Park(ing) Day movement. Someone starts with a great idea, then other people emulate it with their own unique touch. Judging from blogs and Twittervations I follow, Walk Raleigh has been contagious. Matt talks about some other efforts that are exciting him right now.

 

“Walk this way…”

So what exactly can a person do on the Walk [Your City] website? Make some signs, that’s what. Listen for more details.

 

Connect with our guest

Matt Tomasulo has a few places he’d love for you to visit:

 

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