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Just a thought. People keep saying that in a transit-oriented big city, you have no car, so you take the subway everywhere, and you have to walk from the station to your destination, so you end up walking alot more than you would in a sprawling suburb.
BUT, if you were to live in Paris or Tokyo (Paris, to give you an idea, has 300 subway stations in an area the size of San Francisco proper, around 45 square miles), where the density of subway stations is so high that you are never more than a 1-2 minutes' walk from a subway station, how much would you really have to walk?
On the other hand, if you're in your typical masterplanned sunbelt suburb, yes, you're driving everywhere, BUT by gosh, you're going to these big box stores with ginormous Texas-sized parking lots all the time. You park your car way out in the back (because it's either packed with shoppers, or you just don't want your car hit by the busy traffic in the front), and you're walking, easily, for a couple minutes through the parking lot before you reach Best Buy, Costco, or what have you.
Oh, and did I just say Costco? Because good grief, if you're at Costco, you're going to have to do a TON of walking. I mean, the average Costco is 120,000 square feet. Let's not forget you're loading your shopping cart with a TON of BULK items, and that'll definitely be some heavy pushing you're going to have to do as you walk!
Face it, all the stores Americans frequent: Walmart, Costco, Home Depot, etc. are FAR larger than the stores a typical resident of Paris or Tokyo goes to (OK, fine, I know there's Costco in the suburbs of Paris and Tokyo, but you get the point). Plus, shopping carts in America are a LOT larger than shopping carts in Europe or Asia, because Americans are going to have to load up those carts with a LOT more BULK items.
Yeah, let's not even mention that Joe Schmoe from your Sunbelt suburb has a huge house on a huge yard, is going to have to run up and down the stairs and through a long long hall in is huge house everyday, and has to MOW THE HUGE FREAKING LAWN (assume he doesn't have a John Deere and actually has to walk).
On the other hand, the average Parisian or Tokyo resident lives in a compact apartment. Minimal walking involved while inside his apartment. Apartments don't come with yards; these city dwellers have never mowed a lawn in their lives.
I could go on and on. Bottom line is, with the American suburban penchant for huge parking lots--from strip malls to schools to hospitals to stadiums--you're going to have to walk across these huge parking lots before you get to your destination, unlike the average European or Asian, who takes the subway, rides the escalator/elevator, and plops right into his destination with minimal walking, because everything's just so close to a subway stop over in his city.
There have been many studies of how many steps an average person takes (easier to do now, albeit with a self-selected sample, via fitbit). Americans in general walk far less than in other developed countries - about 2.5 miles per day, while other developed countries have nearly twice that amount. Globally, people from Hong Kong seem to walk the most. Within the U.S. New York in particular often comes out near the top in fitbit usage, although more recently some "crunchy" style cities, like Madison, Portland ME, and Denver have been exceeding it, given the high proportion of "recreational" walkers (the average New Yorker even gets in 7,700+ steps in winter, showing that even when recreational walking is cut out, they're getting about 50% more walking in than the average American.
I walked way more when I lived and worked in NYC vs the suburbs. In NYC I would walk everywhere, for errands, to/from my job, taking my kid to/from school, going to the gym. In the suburbs I have to make time to take a walk. Walking to run errands in most suburbs is very difficult. Cutting the lawn or food shopping once a week is not a lot of walking.
In a lot of places in Europe such as in Paris, it is still common for locals to shop at specialist stores for their groceries, such as the fromagerie, boulangerie, boucherie, patisserie, poissonnerie, etc. Unlike Costco or Walmart having everything under one roof, most locals in Europe still walk along their local high streets in these specialist shops for their daily needs. And also the frequency -- Americans who shop in Costco buy in bulk, which they do maybe once every two weeks (or a month). Europeans generally do their groceries more frequently with some old-fashioned, older generation Europeans (particularly in Italy) still doing their groceries daily in the morning getting their fresh produce and fresh fish/meat rather than at a supermarket.
As for transport, there are times were I would deliberately NOT go to the nearest station despite being the most convenient, but would walk to the next station (or the next) even if it takes me about 15-30 minutes. I do it simply because the walk is gorgeous. For example, if I'm in Soho and the nearest station is Piccadilly Circus, I would deliberately walk to Green Park because the walk along Piccadilly is great. Sometimes, even if I'm drunk and tipsy, I'll walk to Baker Street station (bypassing two other stations) even if it takes me at least half an hour because I get to pass along beautiful streets at night, such as Marylebone High Street. It's even better late at night when there are barely any cars and a few people walking, with lights accentuating the historic buildings.
This might be such a difficult concept for some Americans to understand, but if you live in a very beautiful city with gorgeous architecture that is walkable with streets designed for people, and of course being very safe with strict gun laws that people feel comfortable walking alone late at night, then you'd feel compelled to walk and discover your city more. Which of these would you feel more compelled to walk day or night -- a street like this, or something like this?
The video below just shows you the joy walking can bring if a city is designed for people rather than cars.
You walk more in urban areas and it's not even close. You don't just walk to take public transportation, you walk everywhere. I bet the average Paris resident, that's not retired, walks 8-12,000 steps per day and the average sunbelt resident less than 4,000. Just based on my experiences living both lifestyles and tracking steps.
I'm guessing the OP hasn't been to Tokyo yet. I highly underestimated how long it would take me to get to a train once I walked to the entrance of the station itself. I use the iPhone's health app to determine my steps. I was walking 13+ miles every day in Tokyo.
The great part about living in a city is that you tend to walk everywhere. I'm certainly not starting my car so that I can sit in traffic for a mile to go to Safeway. So, I walk to Safeway and back. Sure, I take the train to work most days, but it's still nearly a mile walk each way to get to my stop.
I also think the other flaw in the logic is that city dwellers tend to be city dwellers because they're usually adventurous and want to get out of the house and see unique things. So, maybe it's not so much the set-up of the city but the personality of its tenant that dictates the amount of steps they're taking.
On the other hand, if you're in your typical masterplanned sunbelt suburb, yes, you're driving everywhere, BUT by gosh, you're going to these big box stores with ginormous Texas-sized parking lots all the time. You park your car way out in the back (because it's either packed with shoppers, or you just don't want your car hit by the busy traffic in the front), and you're walking, easily, for a couple minutes through the parking lot before you reach Best Buy, Costco, or what have you.
Oh, and did I just say Costco? Because good grief, if you're at Costco, you're going to have to do a TON of walking. I mean, the average Costco is 120,000 square feet. Let's not forget you're loading your shopping cart with a TON of BULK items, and that'll definitely be some heavy pushing you're going to have to do as you walk!
I think the big difference with walking in a large parking lot is that it's not particularly pleasant so people go out of their way and often wait to get a parking spot close to the door to avoid having to traipse through a boring and dangerous parking lot.
What will you do when you become a geezer and walking is a hardship?
What will you do when you become a geezer and driving is a hardship?
Father Time is undefeated and no matter what you're doing when you're young, you'll have to make adjustments when you're old but I don't think that means I'm going to stop living now just because I'll have to slow down later.
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