Comments on: Cost/Benefit Analysis of Walking?

By: brooke

brooke — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:31:17 +0000

As a planner, this is the argument everyone — EVERYONE — gives. It’s too hot for walkability, it’s too cold for walkability, it’s too windy for walkability, it’s too rainy for walkability, it’s too dry for walkability. Guess what? In good urban places, people WALK because they WANT TO WALK.

I grew up in Chicago. People walk, in the good urban locations (and even beyond), regardless of time of year. Take a gander up Michigan Avenue on any given day in December. There may be snow on the ground, there may be a wind chill, but people are walking to get from point A to point B. People actually travel in from the (unwalkable) suburbs to shop up and down the avenue. This notion that people will not walk if the ambient climate isn’t perfect is categorically false.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:51:22 +0000

US cities were actually quite normal and walkable up until the car explosion of the 50s and dismantling of trolly and train lines. Some areas are still “time capsules” of the old walkability — such as NYC and much of urban Chicago. Really it has little to do with the size of the country — it has much more to do with subsidizing sprawl through giveaways to homeowners, and a protected and coddled auto industry and gas prices capped with military imperialism.

By: Lawson

Lawson — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:55:17 +0000

We are going inside the bubble to find out what really happened…This home was bought with this money…was the realtor stupid?…no she got a commission…was the mortgage broker stupid?…no…he made a commission…was the bank stupid?…no because Wall Street investors bought the loans…Were the investors stupid?…No…because the Government bailed them out with the tax payer’s money…Was the government stupid?…no because the Feds are buying up the toxic assets to save the banks by having the Treasury print more money…Hey look here comes a customer to deposit his paycheck at our bank…You must be stupid to continue doing business with us…Why do I have a French accent…because you are stupid!!!

By: Cory Vanderpool

Cory Vanderpool — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:27:48 +0000

Thanks for reading and commenting! I guess if you see a polar bear walking around Chicago this winter you will know that the ice is disappearing!!

By: Cory Vanderpool

Cory Vanderpool — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:24:04 +0000

Luca- I totally agree with you that there are many lessons to be learned from Europe as they are much farther ahead than the United States with respect to things like transportation, walkable cities and embracing nuclear. The difference is that the cities in Italy were established centuries ago when town centers had to rely on walking as there were relatively limited options for transportation. The United States is much younger, larger and geographically spread out…connecting cities and suburbs together is a challenge.

By: Billy Sims

Billy Sims — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:00:56 +0000

This makes sense, most “new urbanism” hoods are mostly for rich elistist “progressives” now.

These neighborhoods aren’t targeted for middle class families with kids.

Usually once outside the nice “walkable” neighborhoods in our nations largest cities we find the public schools are horrible & dangerous, the crime is bad, the infrastrucure is crumbling, and all the good white and blue collar jobs have been driven away by heavy handed anti-growth anti-free market “progressive” policies that drove the middle class to the burbs in the first place.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:59:39 +0000

Even if you could theoretically “walk” from one place to another, in most of the Midwest the climate makes anything more than a 2-3 block walk unbearable from Nov-Feb and during July and August.

How walkable is Chicago in January, unless you’re a polar bear…

By: Luca Candela

Luca Candela — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:42:00 +0000

Good job America! Now you realized what in Italy we have known for centuries!

Jokes apart, since I moved to this country my biggest gripe is not being able to walk anywhere (I live in SoCal).