Seattle Advocates Use World Cup to Promote Walkability

By Carolyn Szczepanski on July 06, 2010


imageSoccer is a sport that’s played with your feet. So it stands to reason that a nation of pedestrians would have the best shot at winning the World Cup, right?

Well, the advocates at Feet First in Seattle are making that connection, and raising awareness about walkability by piggy-backing on the biggest sports event of the year.

The opportunity to get their issue before a crowd of soccer fans arose partially from the pedestrian organization’s lucky location. Their office is just steps away from Nord Alley, a corridor that’s being re-purposed with art and furniture to be an inviting space for people on foot. The International Sustainability Institute chose the green Alley to host World Cup watch parties.

“Each day at 11:30 a.m. a U-Haul pulls up, opens the back end of the truck and a 100-inch screen television is positioned for fans to sit back and watch the soccer game in the alley,” says Ayaka Haga, events coordinator for Feet First. “Up to 100 people have attended the games. So we looked at the World Cup as an opportunity to share with a diverse crowd the importance of walkable communities.”

Not only are the Feet First folks offering reserved seating for their members, but they’re making things a little more exciting with their own unique predictions. Using stats on the number of people who walk per capita and taking into account innovative projects, they’re forecasting the winners of the semi-final games based on each country’s walkability.

Netherlands or Uruguay? Based on pedestrian-friendliness, Feet First is calling it for the Netherlands.

Germany or Spain? “We’re still figuring it out!” Haga says.

Read more about Feet First here.

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