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Are there any rankings of US cities (not just the major ones) based on some quantitative analysis of these kinds of design principles?
by throwaway894345 5y ago
Are there any rankings of US cities (not just the major ones) based on some quantitative analysis of these kinds of design principles?
- crispyambulance 5y agoYes! The "walkability index/score" summarizes a bunch of criteria like density of groceries, retail, public transit, schools and entertainment. It's easily accessible on real estate websites (like Redfin, https://www.redfin.com/how-walk-score-works https://www.redfin.com/how-walk-score-works), and now I see there's a publicly available dataset as well: https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/walkability-index https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/walkability-index. Walkability that is commonplace in many towns in Europe, roughly match up with very high 90's (98+) walkability scores in the US. IMHO, anything below mid-90's is somewhere I would never live. The score is necessarily skewed towards US style living where walkability is relatively rare. So the difference between, say 70 and 40 is almost meaningless from the point of view of a walker. As far as street design and urban planning goes, the key word is "complete streets" which is an umbrella term that covers rationale, design principles and practical guidance for how to implement a street layout (https://www.transportation.gov/mission/health/complete-streets https://www.transportation.gov/mission/health/complete-stree...). This work is based on studies and data, but I've not looked into it.