July 20, 2008
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Walkability
Houston is #26 of 40 in terms of ‘walkability.’
Seattle? #6.
Of course, the neighborhood where I live in Seattle scores pretty much the same as the neighborhood where I’m staying with my parents. The difference is that the sidewalks are steep there, while here they’re unsafe and it’s 100 degrees.
Note that on the Houston map, walkability tends to increase with population density. Suburbs bad.
Comments (6)
I thought it was illegal to walk places in Houston!
Walkability is one of the things I really, really love about New York City.
interesting that suburbs are considered bad for walkability? i would think dodging cars and breathing fumes would be bad but what do i know?
thanks for the link!
In dense areas, you can walk to the corner store, whereas in the ‘burbs you have to drive to the grocery store a couple miles away.
I used to consider my hometown completely unwalkable (terrifically hot, everything’s far away, nobody knows what to do at a crosswalk… on the odd occasion she finds one). But since my return, I’ve found it to be (well, my old neighborhood, at least) surprisingly pleasant on a bicycle. More sidewalks now than when I was a kid, but it’s still only walkable at 5am, before it gets so hot your face melts off in the glare from the pavement.
Yeah, I guess because it is assumed that you have a car if you live in the suburbs? So, then when they design ‘burbs, they just figure people will hop in cars to go to shops, etc.
Of course, a beautiful rural farm area would also score very low in walkability…..
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