Since 2005, we have been a one car family. And, given that Katie uses our car the majority of the time, the walkability of the neighborhood we live in is pretty important to me. Actually, walkability is important to me for social and theological reasons-- so my concern would be the same whether we had four cars or none (why walking matters).
Walkscore.com has ranked the walkability of 2500+ US neighborhoods. View the top 10 here. The site also lists 138 Walkers' Paradises, of which our neighborhood comes in just below the 100 mark-- here.
Though over 60% of Kansas Citians live in car-dependent neighborhoods, we are fortunate to live on the dividing lines of the five most walkable neighborhoods in the city!
The moral of the story? Move to Midtown. Walk to Church
hmm... my neighborhood ranks 49 out of 100. which, doesn't seem possible because nothing is withing walking distance here...
i guess to me "walkability" implies being able to get to most things within a mile or well-planned public transportation that can get you to places that are more than a mile away. then again, maybe i'm just lazy and spoiled by my car...
Posted by: adam | July 19, 2008 at 09:39 AM
I'm not exactly sure what a 49 is like. But I know that in our 99 neighborhood, nothing I can think of that I need is more than six blocks away. Grocery. Cleaners. Retail. Phenomenal restaurants. etc.
Our church building is a bit less than a mile away from our house, and all our pastors live within 3 blocks of each other.
Posted by: Kevin Cawley | July 19, 2008 at 10:31 AM
How does the walkability calculator factor in a person living in a highly walkable neighborhood who owns a bike with no pedals?
That's kind of a grey area, exhibit B. Dallman.
I love walkability, but prefer longboardability.
If all goes according to plan, we are positioning ourselves for a 1 1/2 min. walking commute. 30 secs. by board.
Posted by: Pit Boss | July 19, 2008 at 11:14 AM
Our STATE isn't even listed, however, our church received a 95% walkability rating! :o) Our house - well, you've been here ... would you want us to move into town? We're only a ten minute drive and then we can park and walk everywhere else!
Posted by: Deeapaulitan | July 19, 2008 at 09:13 PM
Well, I think it just has to do with certain areas. I live in metro Atlanta and this city was not designed for easy commute.
But walkscore.com also listed LA as one of the top walkable cities. I also lived in LA and it didn't seem walkable.
However, there are parts of LA and parts of Atlanta that are definitely walkable.
To me, the ultimate walkable city is New York. You can get anywhere by foot or subway and most cities just aren't designed that way. Most suburbs anyway... And I definitely live in the heart of suburbia.
It's interesting to me, though, that even out here in suburbia, all the new developments are built around the "live/work/play" concept. It's like they're trying to create mini urban centers. I think it just shows that people long for connectedness. Even if it's fake connectedness, we want to FEEL like we are connected.
Out of curiosity, what are your theological reasons for walkability? The social aspect seems obvious and therefore, I guess, the theological aspect may be obvious too...
Posted by: adam | July 19, 2008 at 09:17 PM
Walkability? It was never really something that I thought much about until recently. So this blog is timely. My walk score for our neighborhood is 25 out of 100...well that is typical since i live in surburbia. But as I have recently been taking our new puppy out for walks and working on the weight loss, i quite enjoy it. :-) WOOT! LOVE Walking! I will definately keep that in mind for any future moves.
Posted by: Jalene | July 31, 2008 at 12:15 PM