The Charter’s genesis was a presentation
by Daniel Sauter at the 2003 Walk21 conference in Portland with the aim of
creating a common point of reference, and a policy platform that cities,
organisations, neighbourhood groups and individuals could sign up to.
The Charter was discussed again at the
2004 Walk21 Conference in Copenhagen and the 2005 Walk21 Conference in Zurich,
as well as a wider worldwide discussion process. We looked at existing charters
and manifestos for pedestrian rights and drew a lot of good ideas from them. We
decided that it was important that the Charter should be more than a
declaration of the needs and rights of pedestrians, but should also include a
series of actions. Each of the eight principles in the charter has a number of
actions attached to it. Although emphatically pro-walking the Charter is not
anti-car.
The
Charter was finalized by Jim Walker, Bronwen Thornton and Rodney Tolley of
Walk21 in collaboration with Daniel Sauter, and was launched at the 2006 Walk21
Conference in Melbourne. To find out more about the process of creating the
Charter for Walking, click
on the button below
