Everyone is a pedestrian. Communities need safe and accessible places for people to walk. Communities that are more physically active will be healthier. If walking reduces vehicle trips, air quality will improve, traffic congestion and associated costs will diminish, streets will be safer, and local economies will benefit from local foot and bike traffic. If we can begin to sew together the fabric of our built environment by designing our neighborhoods for people, as well as for cars, we should be able to improve the quality of life for everyone in Lancaster County.

Mark Fenton, host of the former PBS television series “America’s Walking” and five-time member of the U.S. National Race Walking team, will be the featured speaker at all Summit events. Called “America’s reigning guru of walking” by the Washington Post, Mark Fenton is an MIT-trained engineer, author and nationally recognized authority on exercise science, community design and the need for community, environmental, and public-policy initiatives to encourage physical activity and walking. He was a charter member of the Partnership for a Walkable America, an informal coalition of health, safety and transportation organizations that launched Walk to School Day in 1998 and serves as a national Safe Routes to School training course consultant.