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Two important thing to keep in mind for this list:
1.) It ranks the top 30 metropolitan areas -- so there are cities that have to be on that list by default (i.e., Phoenix, Atlanta, or Houston). That obviously would not be the case if the ranking was based on "Top 30 Walkable Cities with Populations of 50,000 or More," or something of the like.
2.) It's ranking metropolitan areas overall, not just their core cities. It comes as a surprise to me, too, but older and more dense cities like Philly, Cleveland, and Baltimore apparently don't have as many walkable areas in their entire metropolitan area (per capita) as does Los Angeles, San Diego, or Miami (Although, looking at the Brookings Institution website, the organization that conducted the study, they do not seem to account for some important areas -- at least that's what I noticed when they elaborated on Philly, as they didn't mention any of the older suburban Main Line towns with plenty of walkability. That may likely be the case for other metropolitan areas). Here is the study:
Also, the Brookings Institution is based in Washington -- and while I will certainly attest to the fact that DC is a pretty walkable city-- it makes you wonder if that had anything to do with their first place ranking.
Your instincts are right. Making the list does NOT mean a thing for Tampa. It ranked No. 30 (dead last) out of the 30 largest U.S. cities in the survey, meaning it is the LEAST walkable big city in the United States. According to the folks who did the ranking, Tampa had ZERO walkable areas.
The underlaying problem in this study is that it does not weigh the size of the individual walkable districts. It instead wantonly tallies them as if Midtown Manhattan was as important as the Clarendon Town Center.
In my opinion, that's such an incorrect way to measure an area's walkability that it renders this list pretty much meaningless.
I'm from the DC area and for it to place above someplace like New York is absolutely insane. There's been lots of little town centers cropping up over the past 10 years or so, basically very artificial outdoor malls built from scratch to create this sense of faux-urbanity and walkability (of course, people must drive TO these town centers and they usually have mammoth-sized parking lots), but really, once you get 10 miles outside of DC itself, it is pretty much sprawl as far as the eye can see. Compare that with a place like New York or Boston where many of the suburbs themselves are older, high-density, have their own downtown sections, and just in general are very pedestrian-friendly.
In my opinion, that's such an incorrect way to measure an area's walkability that it renders this list pretty much meaningless.
I'm from the DC area and for it to place above someplace like New York is absolutely insane. There's been lots of little town centers cropping up over the past 10 years or so, basically very artificial outdoor malls built from scratch to create this sense of faux-urbanity and walkability (of course, people must drive TO these town centers and they usually have mammoth-sized parking lots), but really, once you get 10 miles outside of DC itself, it is pretty much sprawl as far as the eye can see. Compare that with a place like New York or Boston where many of the suburbs themselves are older, high-density, have their own downtown sections, and just in general are very pedestrian-friendly.
Couldn't agree more. Especially about the faux-urbanity (nice term, btw.)
Mpls. is similar. Most urban and inner-suburban areas are pretty walkable. There are even some old satellite towns that got asorbed into the metropolitan area that are not dissimilar from a city neighborhood. Once you leave the beltway area, though, most places are only walkable in the way that someone explained Tampa to be; walkable for enjoyment (and not convenience). Being walkable for enjoyment, though, is not making a place walkable. If that was the definition; North Dakota would be Manhattan. You can have a nice time by walking anywhere. Urban walking paths are disneyified versions of nature. Nature does not have traffic signals.
I completely agree about the faux-urbanity. That is my complaint with the BelMar area of Denver being included as an example of walkability. Go two blocks away and it looks like the old suburb it is.
However, I disagree with this sentence: Urban walking paths are disneyified versions of nature.
We have walking paths in our town; in fact I just came back from a walk on one. People in our community use them for everything: transportation walking, e.g. going to school, church, etc; dog walking; recreational walking; biking to school, wherever; taking the baby out for a stoller ride; you name it. The whole city of Louisville, CO is connected by these paths and it is possible to ride/walk all over town w/o interfacing with too many busy streets (of which there are a lot). Sometimes the deer and foxes use them, too, and a mountain lion used the tunnel under a very busy road to roam from park to park.
1. Washington
2. Boston, Massachusetts
3. San Francisco, California
4. Denver, Colorado
5. Portland, Oregon
6. Seattle, Washington
7. Chicago, Illinois
8. Miami, Florida
9. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
10. New York
11. San Diego, California
12. Los Angeles, California
13. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
14. Atlanta, Georgia
15. Baltimore, Maryland
16. St. Louis, Missouri
17. Minneapolis, Minnesota
18. Detroit, Michigan
19. Columbus, Ohio
20. Las Vegas, Nevada
21. Houston, Texas
22. San Antonio, Texas
23. Kansas City, Missouri
24. Orlando, Florida
25. Dallas, Texas
26. Phoenix, Arizona
27. Sacramento, California
28. Cincinnati, Ohio
29. Cleveland, Ohio
30. Tampa, Florida
Was that list published on April 1 or something...?! Of course, many others are hardly walkable, but the claim for the ones in red is outrageous! Heck, let's add Tucson, too! We have a few walkable streets as well.
You know, I don't understand why people think L.A. isn't walkable. I lived there for almost 20 years and walked all the time. All the streets have sidewalks. There are plenty of pedestrian bridges and even a few tunnels to help people cross major roads. There are no problems with icy or snow covered sidewalks, so people feel comfortable walking 365 days of the year. Stores and office buildings are spread out... and one thing that means is that no matter where you live there are bound to be stores within walking distance.
The bus system is ok, too. When I first moved there I didn't have a car and I got along just fine for more than a year. I had an apartment in West Hollywood and took the bus to UCLA, as well as to an office in Marina del Rey and another office near the intersection of Wilshire and Harvard (near downtown). I thought it was very convenient--and the only hard thing about running to catch the bus in the morning was that I had to run up a steep hill to Sunset Blvd.
Oh, and I almost forgot about the Blue Line!!! When I lived in Redondo Beach I took the Blue Line to my job in Long Beach. Two cool things about the Blue Line:
1. They have interesting art at all the stops. My stop had a pedestrian bridge over Rosecranz Blvd. and there were kaleidoscope-type windows so you could watch the traffic poass underneath forming kaleidoscope images. Also, I loved having a Costco right at my stop.
Yeah, like Duderino stated earlier, it ranks the 30 largest metro areas. So some of these cities making the list isn't a surprise. The rankings themselves are a surprise, though.
They said that they've counted the amount of walkable areas per capita in the metro region as a whole. The study does not differentiate the sizes of each individual walkable area.
A metro might have many walkable areas, but it might have just as many non-walkable areas which won't affect this particular study.
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Of course, many others are hardly walkable, but the claim for the ones in red is outrageous! Heck, let's add Tucson, too!
