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It makes all the difference that I live in a beautiful, vibrant historic neighborhood and walking distance to a very nice downtown as it makes for a super enjoyable and interesting walk hour and a half every day. If I just had suburbs, mostly tract housing and maybe a few strip malls to walk through I likely wouldn’t make the time or effort because it wouldn’t be that interesting for me.
That's exactly how I feel about my suburban neighborhood. What might be boring to you is very beautiful to me. I like looking at the tract homes here, to me they're interesting. I like walking to the stores. To each his own.
Conversely, when I lived in the city I didn't enjoy walking as much and I actually drove a fair amount of the time. I didn't enjoy the traffic, the trash, the occasional crowds, or some of the people on the sidewalks or hanging out in doorways. I didn't enjoy having to edge out into traffic whenever construction sites covered up part of a sidewalk.
Yet another reason that I walk a lot more now that I'm out in the lush, green, clean beautiful suburbs. Again, to each his own.
That's exactly how I feel about my suburban neighborhood. What might be boring to you is very beautiful to me. I like looking at the tract homes here, to me they're interesting. I like walking to the stores. To each his own.
Conversely, when I lived in the city I didn't enjoy walking as much and I actually drove a fair amount of the time. I didn't enjoy the traffic, the trash, the occasional crowds, or some of the people on the sidewalks or hanging out in doorways. I didn't enjoy having to edge out into traffic whenever construction sites covered up part of a sidewalk.
Yet another reason that I walk a lot more now that I'm out in the lush, green, clean beautiful suburbs. Again, to each his own.
Especially suburbs in the Southeast. Over here in the suburbs of Sacramento, CA, the weather is too harsh, and the scenery and architecture too hum-ho to warrant a walk.
While I was in the suburbs of New Orleans for two months during the summer I walked every chance I got, around the neighborhood, for an hour each time. No sidewalks, but still very pleasant, green, surroundings to walk around, and beautiful sunny, warm, weather, too.
Conversely, when I lived in the city I didn't enjoy walking as much and I actually drove a fair amount of the time. I didn't enjoy the traffic, the trash, the occasional crowds, or some of the people on the sidewalks or hanging out in doorways. I didn't enjoy having to edge out into traffic whenever construction sites covered up part of a sidewalk.
Not all cities are created equal. Some are more car-centric than others, with little thought on the pedestrian experience. Some are more human-scale where the public realm is given much importance. A lot of factors can determine the pedestrian experience -- the quality of materials used on the pavement (sidewalk), the width of the pavement, the landscaping, the architecture, the weather, etc. When Haussmann rebuilt Paris, there was a standard ratio between the height of the buildings and the width of the street, and even that plays a factor in the enjoyment of urban exploration.
Watch this video in full and pay attention to the materials used on the pavement (not your standard concrete) and the landscaping. It will show you the potential every city can achieve if we start designing our cities for pedestrians.
I'm pretty well equipped to answer this question. I've commuted to NYC from a few different suburb locations, and have also lived the 100% suburban lifestyle.
I walked WAY more when I commuted by mass-transit. And I hated every minute of it. Whether I was tired, sick, recovering from surgery, in my office clothes sweating in the heat, or freezing in the snow. Transferring stations, etc. Also sometimes NOT GETTING A SEAT and standing for 45 minutes....
Now in my car, I pass right bye the "big-box" stores on my highways home, and can quickly get in and out. The reason that the walk through a Walmart or Shoprite doesn't cancel out the mass-transit walking is that the shopping stuff is done once or twice per week in an efficient sweep. Compare that to 10 commute trips per week.
Granted, this is a highly specific comparison. I suppose that lucky or rich city people who live right next to a direct train/bus line to their office could be sedentary.
I could spend an hour per week during the summer doing yard work, but I pay a landscaper. The one place I do more physical work in the suburbs is shoveling snow, which is a real pain but that's only 2 or 3 times per year.
In a nutshell, fitness in the suburbs is much more of a CHOICE you have to make. I much prefer this lifestyle, where I can choose to exercise a few days per week when and how I want. I also choose to walk around my office complex for 15 minutes at lunchtime.
1. Irvine has NO subway. The bus system is crap. Everyone drives everywhere.
2. In Irvine, you're likely living in a 4,000 square foot house (that's a TON more walking than a Hong Konger walking around his 600 square foot studio). Remember, MOST of the daily walking done by your average Joe is simply walking around his house everyday. The bigger Joe's house, the more he has to walk.
3. In Irvine, that 4,000 square foot house comes with a sizeable backyard (one that you actually have to mow and garden regularly).
4. In Irvine, malls and supermarkets are surrounded with ENORMOUS parking lots that are ALWAYS FULL. You're going to have to park in the back of the ENORMOUS parking lot and walk a good 2 or three minutes, at least, to get to Walmart or Costco.
To each their own. These points above sound like my own personal version of Hell (especially #4). But to someone else, living carless in NYC or London might be their own personal version of Hell. You seem like you manage to live a fairly active life and manage to get a lot of walking done in your suburb which is great, but I also think you’re in the minority. Especially for the sunbelt.
I'm pretty well equipped to answer this question. I've commuted to NYC from a few different suburb locations, and have also lived the 100% suburban lifestyle.
I walked WAY more when I commuted by mass-transit. And I hated every minute of it. Whether I was tired, sick, recovering from surgery, in my office clothes sweating in the heat, or freezing in the snow. Transferring stations, etc. Also sometimes NOT GETTING A SEAT and standing for 45 minutes....
Now in my car, I pass right bye the "big-box" stores on my highways home, and can quickly get in and out. The reason that the walk through a Walmart or Shoprite doesn't cancel out the mass-transit walking is that the shopping stuff is done once or twice per week in an efficient sweep. Compare that to 10 commute trips per week.
Granted, this is a highly specific comparison. I suppose that lucky or rich city people who live right next to a direct train/bus line to their office could be sedentary.
I could spend an hour per week during the summer doing yard work, but I pay a landscaper. The one place I do more physical work in the suburbs is shoveling snow, which is a real pain but that's only 2 or 3 times per year.
In a nutshell, fitness in the suburbs is much more of a CHOICE you have to make. I much prefer this lifestyle, where I can choose to exercise a few days per week when and how I want. I also choose to walk around my office complex for 15 minutes at lunchtime.
Can you define efficient sweep at Walmart? Every trip to Costco for me would be every week for four hours. That's a ton of walking.
We would walk around to all the sampling stations. Also, Costco actually places its produce and poultry in the very back of each store, so inevitably we'd have to walk through the length of the entire store, while pushing a cart with 50 lbs. worth of groceries for a good couple of hours.
To each their own. These points above sound like my own personal version of Hell (especially #4). But to someone else, living carless in NYC or London might be their own personal version of Hell. You seem like you manage to live a fairly active life and manage to get a lot of walking done in your suburb which is great, but I also think you’re in the minority. Especially for the sunbelt.
Irvine and most of Orange County for that matter is pretty much suburban hell. Five times as dense as San Diego County but there is no city there, just jamb-packed residential developments, office parks and strip malls, albeit fancy and mostly attractive ones. Walking to most of its residents there would seem to be an act that is almost subversive and certainly to be looked at with a great deal of wariness and suspicion.
We make it a point to speed through there as quickly as we can (and typically we are on a train) going to and from walkable LA and our home near dt San Diego where we can stay out of cars and enjoy life!
Can you define efficient sweep at Walmart? Every trip to Costco for me would be every week for four hours. That's a ton of walking.
We would walk around to all the sampling stations. Also, Costco actually places its produce and poultry in the very back of each store, so inevitably we'd have to walk through the length of the entire store, while pushing a cart with 50 lbs. worth of groceries for a good couple of hours.
I think you are delusional about how much walking you actually do and if your heart rate is getting up. Do you actually wear a fitness tracker? That would tell you how many steps you are taking or how few calories you are burning.
Read my past posts. Maybe you are right about NYC. But my experience was in Hong Kong. My apartment was literally right on top of the subway. All the supermarkets and shops I went to were also right on top of the subway station. Taxis are dirt cheap, so people will just take the taxi instead of walk half a mile. And yes, trains in fact come every two minutes on most lines.
Never, ever did any apartment dweller have to walk ten freaking blocks to get to the nearest subway station! Or wait 15 minutes for a train!
I really need to post some pictures of what I'm talking about because you obviously can't envision a city where apartment complexes and malls are literally built right on top of subway stations. Nor can you imagine a subway so reliable that it boasts a 99.5% punctuality rate and only two minutes between trains. Or a subway that has escalators and elevators in every station. Or a subway where you walk a mere fifty feet to transfer between trains.
I've lived in Hong Kong (for 4+ years) and NYC for 2 years, and I generally walk more than I do in both HK and NYC than I do in car-oriented Silicon Valley today. Even with the tropical heat in HK, and the cheap taxis.
Now granted, I didn't live in a residential block connected directly to a MTR station (like Tai Koo Shing or Kornhill) but it wouldn't have changed my transportation habits all that much.
Can you define efficient sweep at Walmart? Every trip to Costco for me would be every week for four hours. That's a ton of walking.
We would walk around to all the sampling stations. Also, Costco actually places its produce and poultry in the very back of each store, so inevitably we'd have to walk through the length of the entire store, while pushing a cart with 50 lbs. worth of groceries for a good couple of hours.
If you think that a trip to Costco is a great amount of walking, you have no concept of what real walking is. On another post you stated that a 2-3 minute walk from your car to the mall was a significant amount of walking. In reality, that is nothing.
You seem to live a very sedentary lifestyle, and it seems that you view everything through that lens. Most urban dwellers walk far more than 3 minutes a couple of times a day.
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