Generations before us fought for walkable streets. They set for us the example we need today.

East Brunswick, New Jersey, 1959: “Children are forced to walk on the shoulder of the heavily traveled road.” Organizer Eileen Welsby said the protesters want bus transportation until a sidewalk is constructed. Her sign: “Will Our Children Ride in Buses or in Ambulances?”

Jane Martoncik grew up to become a champion bowler.

Generations before us fought for walkable streets. They set for us the example we need today.

Cleveland 1961: Within seven weeks, Max James, 6, and Belinda Drummond, 11, were both killed walking home from school along South Miles Road. They had no sidewalk to use. Demanding sidewalks, mothers formed a human wall to protect children. Jane Martoncik was there to lend her support to the cause.

“These women formed a line and kept passing traffic away from their children.” Over the previous seven weeks, Belinda Drummond, 11, and Max James, 6, were both killed here walking home from school. Vernice Johnson’s sign (lower photo) reads “Slow Down. Let Our Children Live.”

“Slow Down. Let Our Children Live.” Generations before us fought for walkable streets. They set for us the example we need today. Cleveland 1961: Along a road with no sidewalk, a human wall of volunteers protected children walking to and from school.

This is where children walked every day. (See yesterday’s post.) There were no sidewalks where Belinda Drummond, 11, was killed. She was walking home from school. Seven weeks earlier Max James, 6, was killed on the same street. He was walking home from the same school.

Generations before us fought for walkable streets. They set for us the example we need today. Cleveland 1961: “WALL OF MOTHERS: … Approximately 200 mothers stood along the edge of the road, giving their schoolchildren protection from the traffic.”

“At noon over 100 mothers of Beehive school marched to the South Miles and Lee Road intersection to protect their children at the ‘hazardous crossing of death.’” “Mrs. Washington said, ‘The entire neighborhood regardless of color or creed is working together.’”

Generations before us fought for walkable streets. There were no sidewalks where Belinda Drummond, 11, was killed. She was walking home from school. Seven weeks earlier Max James, 6, was killed on the same street. He was walking home from the same school.

Taking the lane.

Sign: “Sidewalks are for everyone.” Meet the Mother’s Safety Group, led by Annie Berman. Generations before us fought for our right to walk in L.A.

In a Good Place is at once scientific and personal, both rational and heartfelt. It draws its wisdom equally from published research, observed experience and a child’s perspective. It is a meditative manifesto for the good places we need to thrive – in ourselves and with each other.

In The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces (1980), W.H. Whyte showed us how people make spaces social, and how some places welcome sociability. Klotz begins with the whys behind these hows, guiding readers through the psychology that explains the places that promote or deter wellbeing and sociability.

“Real social connection happens between real people in real places. The catch? It’s not enough to simply combine people and places and hope for the best. True connection can occur only in spaces that foster it.” — Leidy Klotz