Crossing Paths In The Walkable City

[phantom power]

In her ambitious new book, The Walkable City (Véhicule Press, 2008), Mary Soderstrom writes: "The walkable city, the oldest kind of city is going to be the key to whatever success we have in meeting the challenges of the future."

After all, until the early nineteenth-century people moved only as fast and as far as their feet could carry them. Urban centres had to mirror this fact, whether they developed organically, like in Europe, or according to self-conscious plans, like in North America. Residents lived close to their work until the rise of the suburbs, expressways, and shopping malls separated residential from commercial districts. In many cities since that time, there's been a distinct lack of streets that invite walking. Soderstrom sets off to examine the planning policies and circumstances that have made cities the way they are; to find out what makes neighbourhoods walkable; and to assess how cities can achieve a more walkable, more livable, and greener future.

http://torontoist.com/2008/10/crossing_paths_in_the_walkable_city.php

[bhikkhu]

1. Having lived in many cities -

Seattle would rank first, as one where you could walk everywhere with ease, in the company of so many like-minded world-enjoying others. Perhaps it was the latte carts every block or so that made the difference. I always loved that you could walk about the city with people all around in the drizzling rain, and no one complaining or even carrying umbrellas. As in Hawaii, when it rains you get a bit wet, but no big deal.

Portland (OR) would be the next, though it always seemed more dispersed than centralized like Seattle, and I was more apt to use the bus system than to brave the several barriers - rivers and bridges - dividing up the city.

San Francisco, of course, though I can't say I ever lived there.

Outside of Canada, I have no other candidates in the US for good walkable cities. I live in a much smaller town now, and bicycle rather than walk.

[happyslug]

2. Most people seem to agree with you

The top Five seems to be (this is a list walkable cities NOT a list of cities with high number of Pedestrians):
1. Washington DC
2. Minneapolis
3. Boston
4. Portland
5. Seattle
http://www.runtheplanet.com/trainingracing/training/walkers/americancities.asp

Another list, another ten:
1. San Francisco
2. New York City
3. Boston
4. Chicago,
5. Philadelphia,
6. Seattle,
7. Washington D.C.,
8. Long Beach California,
9. Los Angles
10. Portland Oregon
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/walk-score-ranks-top-ten-most-walkable-cities.php

The top five LARGE cities (Population over 200,000) with pedestrians commuters are:

1. Boston
2. Washington DC
3. New York
4. Pittsburgh
5. San Francisco
http://www.bikesatwork.com/carfree/census-lookup.php?state_select=ALL_STATES&lower_pop=250000&upper_pop=999999999&sort_num=2&show_rows=25&first_row=0

Cities with highest Percentage of Commuters by Foot (i.e. Pedestrians):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._cities_with_most_pedestrian_commuters

Pittsburgh also has a unique fact for Pedestrians:
The city has some 712 sets of stairs, comprising 44,645 treads and 24,090 vertical feet (more than San Francisco, Cincinnati, and Portland, Oregon combined) for pedestrians to traverse its many hills
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh,_Pennsylvania
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04076/286278.stm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A387-2004Oct1.html
http://www.southsidepittsburgh.com/about.asp?navid=2
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/search/s_472889.html
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08278/917407-85.stm

A typical Pittsburgh Step, but one that is overgrown, runs where the Knoxville Incline ran before it was closed in 1960:






More typical:


New Bridge over P&LE Railroad Tracks:




Stairs ALONG a Street instead of as a street:


As a Street:



Comparison between walkable and non-walkable cities:
http://www.walkscore.com/rankings/what-makes-a-city-walkable.shtml

List of Cities with most Pedestrian Commuters:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._cities_with_most_pedestrian_commuters

Most walkable neighborhoods (notice NOT cities, Neighborhoods within these cities):
http://www.walkscore.com/rankings/most-walkable-cities.php
http://www.walkscore.com/rankings/walkers-paradises.php

Carfree database:
http://www.bikesatwork.com/carfree/carfree-census-database.html

Least walkable cites:
1. Jacksonville
2. Nashville
3. Charlotte
4. Indianapolis
5. Oklahoma City
6. Memphis
7. Kansas City
8. Fort Worth
9. El Paso
10. Mesa
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/21/least-walkable-cities_n_114163.html

Picture was to tempting NOT to post