Even Sprawling Cities Could Soon Become Walkable Regions, Report Finds b4in.org/i4uF Cities — even those that have been traditionally known for their sprawl — are valuing walkability more and more. A new report, published by Smart Growth America and George Washington University’s Center for Real Estate & Urban Analysis, ranks the 30 largest metropolitan regions in order of their walkability, placing them into “high,” “moderate,” “tentative,” and “low” walkability groupings. Highly walkable urban cities have a high level of office and retail space that’s accessible by walking, and often have walkable areas that are located in both the suburbs and the urban core. The report ranked Washington, D.C. as the top city for walkable urbanism in the country — it’s the only city, according to the report, with half of its walkable urban places in the suburbs. “In general, metro Washington, DC, developers have mastered developing walkable urban real estate,” the report reads. “This method is much more complex and risky than the simple, well-known drivable sub-urban formulas that many real estate developers use to zone, plan, build, construct, finance, and market their projects.” The report also singled out cities that haven’t historically been known for their walkability but which are making strides to improve. Atlanta, which Smart Growth America ranked as the top city for sprawl in the U.S. earlier this year, was ranked eighth in the country for walkable urbanism. Much of this growth in the city’s walkability — at least in the city’s core, rather than its surrounding suburbs — can be attributed to Atlanta’s BeltLine, an ongoing endeavor to transform 22 miles of old railroad into paved pathways connecting the city’s neighborhoods. More b4in.org/i4uF
Posted on: Sun, 22 Jun 2014 00:49:25 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015