TOP 10 Walkable Cities (Chicago: neighborhoods, buy, live)

[Ron.]

[noid_1985]

I've seen this before- I think the far southside messes up for the rest of the city- there aren't many stores so you need a car to get the necessities

[Lookout Kid]

I agree that San Francisco, New York, and Boston are the most walkable cities in the country. All three are more consistently walkabe than Chicago. The city of Chicago has some VERY walkable neighborhoods mixed with others that aren't walkable at all. Many Chicago neighborhoods were walkable in the past, but have declined due to demolitions, lack of businesses, dismantling of "L" and streetcar lines, and poor post-war planning decisions.

[Matthew C. Sheffer]

Philadelphia, except for a very small part of the downtown, is NOT walkable at all. Where do these people get these numbers?

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Matthew C. Sheffer

Philadelphia, except for a very small part of the downtown, is NOT walkable at all. Where do these people get these numbers?

That's interesting. Why do you say that? In my limited Philadelphia experience I've found most of Philadelphia proper to be compact and walkable in that east coast city kind of way. But I'm not that familiar with the outlying neighborhoods. I assume the suburbs are largely post-war sprawl like everywhere else, but perhaps you can shed some light on this.

When you look at the majority of U.S. cities, most are so automobile-oriented and un-walkable that the bar is pretty low for this list! I'd say D.C. should be a little higher, though.

[Attrill]

An important thing to remember about Walk Score is that they don't take public transit into account at all, which to me is essential for any city to be truly walkable. Also - "We are currently using "as the crow flies" distances rather than walking directions. This means if you live across the lake from a destination, we are assuming you will swim."

It's a really interesting site, but everyone should take these scores with a huge grain of salt.

[CarolinaBredChicagoan]

I think Walkscore is much more effective for specific addresses and neighborhoods than for whole cities.

My neighborhood has a walkscore of 95 and I can still find parking on the street with relative ease for the car I don't need, but appreciate having whenever I need to leave town or buy kitty litter and laundry detergent... from Costco

[b0nb0n]

Long Beach and LA? walkable? Even thought they're at the bottom of the list I wouldn't even put those cities on that list at all..

[mattywo85]

For the most part Chicago is pretty walkable.

[mensogi]

It's a good idea in concept, but as others have hinted at, being close to "ammenities" is hardly the only factor for most people. I would think it'd be just as effective to rank population density. Come to think of it, I think that's all they are really approximating with the rankings.

It'll get really interesting when they take into account all the stuff they don't do today.

Boston is walkable because it's so, so small. Chicago downtown area say South Wacker to Michigan and Lake is a much longer haul than say Chinatown to Faneuil Hall in Boston.