By: Jason Hardin
How walkable is your neighborhood?
That’s
a pretty important question, but not always one we think to ask
ourselves when we’re looking for an apartment to rent or a house to buy.
We
tend to think about what the place looks like, how much it costs, what
the schools are like or how long it would take to drive to work.
But sometimes we don’t think much about whether we’d be able to walk anywhere.
Maybe
we don’t walk many places now. But is that because we don’t want to or
because there’s nothing close enough to walk to comfortably?
We’ve
become such a car-centric society that we often assume that driving is
the only way to get anywhere we’d want to go and that walking is just
for exercise.
In many
neighborhoods, that’s true. They’re either too far away from anything
or they’re surrounded by wide, high-speed roads without sidewalks.
But
the fact is, some places in Greensboro and High Point are within easy
walking distance of places we do like to go, such as restaurants,
parks, bars, churches, schools — and even jobs.
And,
of course, as you’re walking for a utilitarian purpose such as shopping
or worshipping on Sundays, you’re still getting the health benefits of
walking. The idea is, if you’re looking to walk, it’s easier when it’s
a natural part of the day.
Of course, if the goal is to live in the country, there probably aren’t many options for walking.
But if you’re going to live in the city, it might be worth some thought about living where you’d be likely to walk frequently.
If
you’re interested in doing a quick, if imperfect, comparison of the
walkability of different places, here’s a Web site you might try: www.walkscore.com .
Fast Forward came across it on UNCG professor David Wharton’s blog, A Little Urbanity (http://littleurbanity.
blogspot.com), which often deals with issues of urban design.
Simply
enter your address, and the site calculates the walkability of the area
on a scale of 1 to 100. It works by finding how close you are to shops,
restaurants and other walking destinations.
Try
an address in the College Hill neighborhood near UNCG, and you’ll get a
score in the 70s, reflecting plenty of places within half a mile or
so. One in the Lindley Park neighborhood might generate a score in the
50s or 60s.
Conversely, pick an
address in northwest Greensboro in a neighborhood near Bryan Boulevard,
and you’ll come up with a score in the 20s or below, with relatively
little within a mile.
There are many reasons you might prefer one or the other areas, but it’s worth at least considering walkability.
Although the site analyzes only distance, it does point out other qualities that make for a walkable neighborhood.
For
example: streets that have sidewalks and trees for shade; buildings
that are close to the street instead of fronted by huge parking lots;
and parks and public spaces, as well as workplaces and schools, that
are close enough for walking.
For decades, walkability hasn’t been a priority for planners, developers or residents.
Often,
we look for places to live that aren’t too close to businesses or
shopping centers. Of course, in recent decades, many of those places
were built with the highest priority being accessibility for cars, not
being walkable or blending in with surrounding neighborhoods.
That might be slowly changing.
The
trend in development in recent years is moving toward creating shopping
centers that include places to live and creating neighborhoods that
include places to shop.
Add in
that type of new development to older neighborhoods that were built in
a more walkable form, and there’s a range of options.
So,
the next time you’re moving or buying, looking at how walkable an area
is — and how walkable you want your neighborhood to be — might be worth
a thought.
