"Walkable" doesn't mean you can't walk (although it sometimes means that, too, of course). By most measurements, walkability refers to a pedestrian's ability t

"Walkable" doesn't mean you can't walk (although it sometimes means that, too, of course). By most measurements, walkability refers to a pedestrian's ability to reach amenities such as grocery stores within a short time (e.g. 5 minutes). By that metric, almost all of Manhattan is extremely walkable. Manhattan does have many isolated "deserts" where you can find yourself surrounded by just residential buildings (parts of UWS and UES, for example), or a heavy concentration of businesses, parking, industry (e.g. 11th-12th Ave around Hudson Yards, for example). Until a decade ago or so, the Finance District used to be pretty dead at night. And so on. There's fairly low "pain threshold" in the US before people discard walking as an alternative and just go in their car. We all know the satiric image of the American who jumps in their car to go one block; in my experience (as a European living in the US), there's a certain amount of cultural indoctrination that has persuaded Americans that transportation by car is absolutely necessary.