Walkable Us Cities

[musicman]

Christopher B. Leinberger, a real estate developer and visiting fellow at Brookings, set out to quantify the walkability trend by counting the number of "regional-serving walkable urban places" in each of the 30 biggest metropolitan areas in the country. "Regional-serving" means the place is not just a bedroom community, but has jobs, retail or cultural institutions that bring in people who don't live there.

Leinberger counted only places where significant subsidies are no longer required to spur development. He predicted that many more

[Guest danax]

Speaking about walkable areas in DC;

"Today there are 20 that are at or near critical mass, downtown just being one of them," Leinberger said. "Twenty years ago there were two."

I think we'll be at that level in 20 years too, and it will be a hybrid that will allow both car and walking options, which to me is hugely better than a place like NY where driving can be as difficult as walking here. I can't see running to Lowes 3 times a day on weekends like I do using Metro.

[lockmat]

"Houston has some character, and it's only going to get better with time," Leinberger said. "Rome wasn't built in a day, and it certainly didn't get the patina of Rome in much less than a couple of centuries."

----

Okay, so maybe the article didn't really say Houston. I just want to dream.

[KimberlySayWhat]

A city the size of Houston should be higher.

[H-Town Man]

Boise should be on this. Much more walkable than Houston.

Size has nothing to do with it.

[musicman]

But the Washington region, with 20 walkable places, outranked New York on a per-capita basis, and Leinberger says it could serve as a national model. It has one walkable place for every 264,000 people.

if the national model is one walkable place for every 264k people, it would appear that most places aren't walkable.

[RedScare]

It would be interesting to see exactly what the criteria were...as opposed to the generic qualification in the article...as well as how many Houston had in their study. Saying Town Center qualified suggests to me that several other areas either already qualify, or may get there, including Market Street, Memorial City, DT, TMC, Galleria, Rice Village, Midtown and Greenaway.

I appreciate the attempt to quantify it, at least. The study points out that "walkable cities" consist more of nodes of walkability, rather than some citywide concept. New York is often called a massive collection of little villages, yet those that do not live there seldom recognize that. Houston can become the same thing...just with the villages spread out a bit. If there is transit between the villages, the effect is the same.

[Jax]

Most likely the reason Houston ranked so low is because the walkable areas (mostly inner loop) are dwarfed by the sprawling outer loop. In most other cities, many of those outer loop areas would be considered separate municipalities and therefore ranked separately (although Houston has this interesting way of being fairly continuous outside the loop which is part of the reason it is all considered Houston I guess).

If they were comparing Houston with other metro areas, I think that would be more fair.

I am always surprised how small the population of the city of Atlanta proper is. I think it's because the municipal boundaries are smaller and the outlying areas are considered separately. That is possibly why Atlanta ranked higher than Houston.

[stjnky]

Most likely the reason Houston ranked so low is because the walkable areas (mostly inner loop) are dwarfed by the sprawling outer loop. In most other cities, many of those outer loop areas would be considered separate municipalities and therefore ranked separately (although Houston has this interesting way of being fairly continuous outside the loop which is part of the reason it is all considered Houston I guess).

If they were comparing Houston with other metro areas, I think that would be more fair.

I am always surprised how small the population of the city of Atlanta proper is. I think it's because the municipal boundaries are smaller and the outlying areas are considered separately. That is possibly why Atlanta ranked higher than Houston.

The full article mentions the Sugar Land Town Square specifically. Chop that area off, and I doubt Houston would even be on the list.

[lockmat]

The full article mentions the Sugar Land Town Square specifically. Chop that area off, and I doubt Houston would even be on the list.

Is it a pretty big area?

[musicman]

The full article mentions the Sugar Land Town Square specifically. Chop that area off, and I doubt Houston would even be on the list.

looks like they counted the "regional-serving walkable urban places" which would indicate there is more than one if we're on the list OR the US doesn't have walkable cities if having one puts us at 21.

[RedScare]

Clearly, they DID compare metro areas, since they said DC had 20 walkable areas, or 1 per 264,000 people. That equates to 5,280,000 people, roughly the population of the DC metro. And, apparently one criteria is that the "walkable area" must not only serve the immediate residents, but also draw the driving public in. Hence, Town Center's inclusion. Downtown would obviously be another. After that, I do not know.

Oh, and Tampa pulled up the rear at 0. So, clearly Houston is between 0 and 21.

[TheNiche]

It would be interesting to see exactly what the criteria were...as opposed to the generic qualification in the article...as well as how many Houston had in their study.

I agree with you on this; I'd like to see their measuring stick.

[C2H]

I'm really surprised Houston outranked Dallas. I thought Dallas would be higher than Houston since they have more rail and more urban villages.

[houstonmacbro]

But c'mon ... do any of us really walk very many places here in Houston? And by 'walk' I do not mean inside The Galleria or inside Hermann Park, or around Rice University on Sunday morning.

... I mean, really ... walk to/from our destinations.

[RedScare]

I'm really surprised Houston outranked Dallas. I thought Dallas would be higher than Houston since they have more rail and more urban villages.

No, what they have is more people bragging about them. Houston has several villages that get no respect...even from Houstonians. If it isn't brand new and "cutting edge", it is denigrated. That is the source of most of the arguments on this forum.

[MidtownCoog]

Houston had "urban villages" before some marketing genius coined the term. It's that simple.

[KatieDidIt]

But c'mon ... do any of us really walk very many places here in Houston? And by 'walk' I do not mean inside The Galleria or inside Hermann Park, or around Rice University on Sunday morning.

... I mean, really ... walk to/from our destinations.

We walk to a few resturants from our house.......Between November and March, when its not raining or below 50 degrees.

Actually I am surprised about Miami being that high. Other than South Beach, its pretty spread out like Houston. I grew up my high school years there and it was a drive to everywhere. Not to mention the 4pm daily thunderstorm made you keep a vehicle close by.

[memebag]

But c'mon ... do any of us really walk very many places here in Houston? And by 'walk' I do not mean inside The Galleria or inside Hermann Park, or around Rice University on Sunday morning.

... I mean, really ... walk to/from our destinations.

When I lived in Montrose and the Heights, I walked a lot of the time. I even spent a couple of years without a car in Montrose. I could walk to a grocery store, restaurants, record stores, parks, museums, etc. I took the bus to work until a bus driver fired a pistol at a couple of kids who teased him about his weight.

[Jax]

But c'mon ... do any of us really walk very many places here in Houston? And by 'walk' I do not mean inside The Galleria or inside Hermann Park, or around Rice University on Sunday morning.

... I mean, really ... walk to/from our destinations.

I walk to Rice / the Medical Center daily (sometimes I ride my bike, sometimes I take the metro rail).

I walk downtown for dinner and a movie or if I feel like going to a bar (via metro rail). I also walk to the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Miller Outdoor Theater. The only restaurant I ever walk to is Cafe Express at MFAH but there are a few on Almedia that I haven't tried yet. But yeah, I walk to destinations.

Check out this website. It attempts to calculate the "walkability" of your neighborhood using google maps data. Unfortunately it doesn't take things like public transit into account (so it doesn't realize that I have easy access to downtown restaurants for example), but it's interesting anyways.

My 'hood gets a score of 69. Anybody else want to post their score?

[DJ V Lawrence]

My favorite was #26: Phoenix. If walking through Phoenix feels anything like walking through hell, I'm going to change my ways...

[RedScare]

I'm a 62, but not everything is listed. I can get to 90% of where I need to go, including Kroger and Target, in 1.5 miles or less. If I include the bus stop, 1 block away, which goes directly in front of both stores, everything I need is less than half a mile, including work. With a bicycle or moped, I could ditch the car.

[Jax]

Yeah, it's not perfect, but it's still kind of interesting.

Downtown Houston (Preston at Main scores 94/100 which isn't far off from my sister's apartment in Manhattan which gets 97/100. I guess they don't take into account the fact that a lot of the places in downtown Houston close early though.

[OkieEric]

But c'mon ... do any of us really walk very many places here in Houston? And by 'walk' I do not mean inside The Galleria or inside Hermann Park, or around Rice University on Sunday morning.

... I mean, really ... walk to/from our destinations.

I live in Montrose and walk to some bars and the "walkable" stretch of Westheimer (~Dunlavy) quite a bit - but that's about it. Work? Forget about it... Honestly, I'll still probably drive in to downtown once the rail on Richmond is complete in half a decade or so, LOL

I used to live in Midtown and walked to bars all of the time...but that was about it as well. Is there a pattern here?

[KatieDidIt]

Current address gets a 48, probably because we are tucked back in here. If we were closer to Memorial Drive it would be higher, most of the basics are within .5 miles.

[OkieEric]

Yeah, it's not perfect, but it's still kind of interesting.

Downtown Houston (Preston at Main scores 94/100 which isn't far off from my sister's apartment in Manhattan which gets 97/100. I guess they don't take into account the fact that a lot of the places in downtown Houston close early though.

I got a 91 and live just east of Shepherd...though I wouldn't consider walking to some of the places that popped up on the map. I feel my neighborhood is pretty walkable, so at least the site seems directionally accurate...

[sevfiv]

I currently live in a 51 (Braeswood area), which is the second worst of all the places I have lived in Houston for the past ten years -

The best were an 88 and a 78 in Montrose, and a 75 in the Museum district

The worst by far was a 25 when I thought it would be a fun experiment to live off of 290 near Hollister...oops, I was wrong!

As far as real life goes, the scores pretty much reflect how I feel/felt living in those places.

[crunchtastic]

I used to walk a lot in one of the the least pedestrian-friendly parts of town, just west of the Galleria. I had an apt. on Winrock, then later on Fountainview (that big old complex that runs all the way to San Felipe). I walked all over: the grocery store, dry cleaners, a jillion restaurants, Ron's pub, breakfast cafes, Dolce Freddo, all that 'urban' stuff. My car didn't have ac so on the weekends, it was actually more pleasant, and simpler, to walk than schlep from one steaming parking lot to the next. During the holiday season I'd take the Westheimer bus to the Galleria for shopping; it was far more convenient than trying to find parking.

[TheNiche]

My favorite was #26: Phoenix. If walking through Phoenix feels anything like walking through hell, I'm going to change my ways...

I was once stuck in Mesa, AZ (an inner suburb of Phoenix) in late summer without a car and decided on a whim to walk a mile from the hotel to the nearest park and back. Sidewalks were continuous, pedestrian crosswalks ubiquitous. It had the infrastructure.

Nevertheless, I don't recommend it.

[RedScare]

Amazingly, my old apartment on Budde Rd. in the Woodlands is higher than my Heights house, at 68. There are several shopping centers on Sawdust, a couple of blocks south. However, there are no sidewalks, and Budde has ditches, so it does show a flaw in the website...OR an opportunity for Montgomery County to improve walkability.

Note: So as to not offend any Woodlanders, I must point out that these apartments are not actually IN the Woodlands...merely next to it.