![[discussion] This is what walkability means for me](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/16951e3f-e3ab-4b79-b2b9-9c2710bdf45d.jpeg){kind=link}
Living in a walkable city means my weekly shop is a few hours of walking or biking instead of being stuck in traffic, and I’m only mildly tired afterwards since I use a bike with pretty large pannier bags. Since I have no car related costs I can afford more fresh food, a healthier diet, and I can afford to be more choosy about the ethics of what I buy. There’s a twice weekly farmers market about a ten minute walk away, and quiet walks through parks to get to the shops. Living somewhere with car centric infrastructure, as I used to, this lifestyle was far less feasible.
Have your experiences been different with moving to walkable/bikeable cities? Any questions or points to be made? I’m not very up on the theory side of city planning, but my experiences line up with the whole “fuck cars” thing.
Are there cities that aren’t walkable? I assume that you can do this in any city because there’s shops everywhere.
Walkable as is in “enjoyably” walkable. Walking across a Walmart parking lot across a 6 lane road, and then to across another large carpark of nothingness to maybe a bus stop, all the while trying to not get hit by a car is not a classification of a walkable city.
Worth a watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REni8Oi1QJQ
Loads of American cities are designed around car dependency. I’ve been lucky enough to have dual citizenship in the UK, and even a commuter town here has incredibly higher walkability standards.
I’d argue very few cities in the US are really walkable. Maybe there’s a small area that can be walked but doesn’t provide all your needs. Most cities in the US lack the mix use urban areas that allow for comfortable high density urban living found in other countries.
The quickie answer is most cities developed under increasingly strict zoning regulation that boils down to “housing goes over HERE, business goes over THERE, and don’t you DARE let them touch!”
EDIT: Also “don’t you even think about putting a bus stop near my new homes that’s for poor people!”