One blessing in disguise with the fuel price crisis is that it’s spurring more people to actually consider, for once in their lives, the quainter modes of travel: public transport, biking and last but not least, walking. In New Zealand there’s a Walking Conference on today that aims to bring the kind of change in attitudes, policy, funding, design and infrastructure that will facilitate walking (and biking). Yes, even a small country like NZ has become too reliant on the car. Though sheep outnumber people 20 to 1 (most don't drive however), the urban sprawl of Auckland, NZ's largest city for example, rivals that of Los Angeles – making it nigh on impossible to navigate without a car. Run by Living Streets Aoteoroa, the theme of this year’s conference is Double the Feet on the Street and by bringing together delegates from around the country, it hopes to help create walking-friendly communities. Leaders and advocates from local and central government, academia, engineering, planning, community groups and more will be in attendance. Guest speaker is American Dan Burden who founded the organization Walkable Communities. Walking advocates tout advantages beyond immediate gas crisis consumer savings, citing benefits for economic and community development and of course health perks for kids and grown-ups alike. Naturally, the conference website's How to Get There section includes such options as the Short Walk, the Scenic Walk, the Challenging Walk (the challenge being to navigate around one of the biggest roundabouts in the country - yikes!), the Retail Walk and last – and yes least – the If You Must Come By Car.
