I’ve been commenting on quite a few Journal Star articles today. I should send them a thank-you note for supplying me so much material. But they did have another interesting piece — this one on elderly residents who stop driving due to safety concerns.

The subhead for the article reads, “the loss of independence can leave them [the elderly] isolated.” One of the elderly non-drivers interviewed for the story said, “I’m having to depend on other people to take me where I want to go.” But the article never addresses the underlying reason for this dependence on others to drive them around.

That reason is our city planning or urban design — specifically, that our city is largely designed for cars rather than for people. Peoria has much of its housing completely segregated from shopping, entertainment, business, etc., because of zoning laws that have not allowed mixed uses of property. This kind of design requires dependence on the automobile to take one from one type of zoning to another (from home to work, from work to the store, from the store to home, etc.). Thus, this kind of city plan is hardest on those who don’t have automobile transportation: children, the poor, and the elderly.

That’s why the Heart of Peoria Plan, which is based on New Urbanism, recommends the reinstitution of mixed use neighborhoods. For example, if there is a market within easy walking distance, and the neighborhood is pedestrian-friendly, non-driving elderly persons don’t feel quite as isolated because they can still walk to the store and pick up some groceries themselves without relying on someone to drive them around. Similarly, if there’s a restaurant or cafe nearby, they can walk to such a gathering place themselves, without having to ask for a lift.

When my grandfather stopped driving, it wasn’t because he was feeble or unable to live on his own. Sure his eyesight and reaction time weren’t as sharp as they used to be, but he could still walk, fix himself meals, and live alone in an apartment. If he had lived in a mixed-use neighborhood, there are a lot more things he could have done himself without relying on others to drive him. The isolation he felt was the result of automobile-dependent urban design.