Urban Forward aims to be a forum for engaging with a wide range of issues that affect our communities. As the world grows and urbanizes we face a variety of challenges, from increasing obesity and chronic disease to issues of access and affordability to climate change, sustainability, and much more. Our cities, both large and small, play an increasingly vital role in improving quality of life, and with good design and governance, they can be great sources of opportunity, health, and happiness. Urban Forward will work to highlight good work being done, draw lessons from both practice and research, and provide  commentary on the challenges for our communities.
Who’s behind this website?
Check out the Urban Forward Collaborators.
What does urban mean to us?
Here at Urban Forward we think of urban not just as large cities or downtowns, but any place where we have, or can envision, walkability, mixed use, access to jobs and services, and an overall vitality. It is hard to have a simple, all-encompassing definition, but the idea of a 20-minute neighborhood is a great start. From Gerding Edlen, who first developed the idea:
Imagine being able to do all of the necessary and enjoyable things that make life great within 20 minutes of your home. The magic of cities is that they have the potential to provide most things people need for inspired living—open spaces (planned and natural), grocery stores, workplaces, libraries, events, public and private schools—within a concentrated area. Less time spent in transit means more time for family and friends, leisure activities and other meaningful experiences. Twenty-minute living improves well-being and increases opportunities for unexpected, enriching social interaction and encounters with our surroundings.
20 minutes can be on foot or bike, and transit can expand it even further, connecting us to other 20 minute neighborhoods. Such neighborhoods can exist anywhere from rural communities to mid-size towns to large cities and their suburbs. Of course urban can mean much more than this, which we’ll  explore more here on the site.
