Photo by Audrey Nieh

 

Welcome, Kristin Saunders!

 

The City of Pittsburgh has a new Bicycle and Pedestrian coordinator (or bike/ped coordinator)! Kristin Saunders will be joining the team down at the City Planning Department this month and we’re really excited to work with her to make Pittsburgh’s streets safer for people to bike and walk.

Kristin grew up in St. Louis, MO, studied architecture at the University of Kansas and has lived in San Francisco for the past few years working as an architect with Gehl architects, a Danish urban design group known for its people-first design.

An avid bike rider, Kristin co-founded the Post-Car Travel Agency and has led many door-to-door bicycle adventures in the San Francisco Bay area.

We met up with her at the Pro Walk/Pro Bike/Pro Place conference and were able to score this short interview to ask her a few questions. If her enthusiasm and curiosity about Pittsburgh was and its people, topography, and infrastructure are any sign; we think she’ll be able to hit the ground running.

 

You said you visited Pittsburgh before accepting your position. What did you like about your short stay that made you want to live and work here?

It’s really dense and I love the city. The brick, rowhouses, porches in Pittsburgh are all great; I love the bones of this city. I enjoyed Frick and Point State Park and even got to go mountain biking on my visit. Ray Gastil [Pittsburgh’s Planning Director] took me on a bike tour and showed me some of the South Side. Basically, I met a lot of smart people who wanted to show me the city and talk about transit.

What makes you excited to be Pittsburgh’s bike/ped coordinator?

I’m excited by seeing a lot of bike lanes through the city. There’s lots of potential here: great public spaces that just need a little more connection. And I’m excited to live in this part of America.

What work have you done that has prepared you for this role?

In the past I’ve worked in public space which is more broad than streetscape. I was doing design work and paving and light details. Now I’ll be doing the planning. In the past I’ve always had a client, so the project manager was the planner. Here in Pittsburgh I won’t be doing as much of the 3D design work, more mobility and visioning.

What’s your favorite space in Pittsburgh (that you’ve seen so far)?

Market Square. It’s a shared public way with lots of flexibility — and it’s slightly chaotic. I like that. You see people walking, running, and sitting there. I also like that Pittsburgh has so much accessible water. In other places there’s often a barrier between pedestrians and the water.

Last question, what’s your favorite public space of all time?*

In front of the Pompidou.

 

*Pro Walk/Pro Bike/Pro Place was a public space + placemaking fairy-filled summer camp wonderland, hence all of the questions about public spaces. We were (and still are) drinking the Kool-Aid.

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