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This has not been my experience. I'm lucky to live in a very walkable part of a very walkable city, and almost every time someone comes to visit I find they've

This has not been my experience. I'm lucky to live in a very walkable part of a very walkable city, and almost every time someone comes to visit I find they've disappeared within 24 hours to "explore the area". These are people who virtually never walk anywhere unless they have to, but you put them in the right environment and they almost can't help it.

arrowsmith 3y ago
When I'm in a new city I love to go for an aimless walk with no destination in mind just to get lost, get a feel for the place and see what I discover. Then I visited the US and quickly realised that this is a terrible idea in pretty much any American city.
- mikenew 3y ago
  There are a few exceptions but yeah, it's bad. I remember visiting Houston and asking the hotel receptionist which way to walk to get to some restaurants a half mile away, and it was clear that no one had ever asked that before. And sure enough it was a terrible experience.
  - bryanlarsen 3y ago
    I don't think it's possible to make Houston pleasant for walking outside, it's too hot and humid. Houston uses the same solution to avoid the weather that Toronto does -- tunnels connecting buildings. You can walk for 6 miles underground in Houston.
  - dalke 3y ago
    We had rented a car from San Francisco to San Diego. My wife was going to drop off the car at the airport. We asked at the hotel (by the harbor near Little Italy) how to get back. 'Uber'. We then looked at the map and realized it was about 0.5 miles away, with sidewalks the whole way. She walked. My Houston experience was when I wanted to go to a nearby salsa place. It was about 3 blocks away from the motel, as the crow flies, but the other side of the interstate. It required a car to get there.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- dghlsakjg 3y ago
  Some American cities? Yes. Any American city? no. Leaving out the obvious cities (NY, Boston, DC Mall), I can think of half a dozen cities off the top of my head that have great walkability: Denver, Boulder, Portland, OR, Seattle, Chicago, Portland, ME, etc. I have wandered for hours in all those cities. American cities have a higher proportion of unwalkable areas, but unwalkable areas exist in every city. I suspect that what is happening is that you are staying in areas of the city that aren't very walkable.
  - TulliusCicero 3y ago
    > Leaving out the obvious cities (NY, Boston, DC Mall), I can think of half a dozen cities off the top of my head that have great walkability: Denver, Boulder, Portland, OR, Seattle, Chicago, Portland, ME, etc. I have wandered for hours in all those cities. I don't think any of these cities have great walkability. They have acceptable walkability in certain areas, but great? Not even close. A lot of Americans just have really low standards for what they consider walkable. Even in the core of larger US cities, walkability is often worse in practice than random little villages in, say, Germany. Like, I live in the Seattle area now, and when I head to the denser areas, walking is okay, sure, but it's not especially pleasant the way it is in Munich. Walking in Munich was just nice, compared to a city like Seattle there's just typically wider sidewalks, more 'pedestrian plaza' type areas, more buffer between walking areas and cars, fewer cars, slower moving cars, roads are narrower and easier to cross, more pedestrian islands, more walk/bike cut throughs, fewer pedestrian 'beg buttons', the list goes on and on.
    - dghlsakjg 3y ago
      I lived in Capitol Hill in Seattle and found it to be a very walkable lifestyle. So much so that I never used my car except to leave the city. I was walking distance to four major grocery stores, dozens of restaurants, buses, trains, etc. I would ride my bike 10ish minutes to SLU to go sailing. It’s also worth noting that Boulder’s main downtown area is dominated by Pearl Street, on which cars are not allowed ever. Denver has 16th street running from one end of downtown to the other, the only vehicles allowed there are free shuttles. My point isn’t that American cities are more walkable, it is that it is silly to say that they all aren’t walkable as a rule as the GP said. Is Barcelona a more walkable city than most American ones? Yes. Are there areas in Barcelona that you would be a fool to try and walk in? Also yes.

arrowsmith 3y ago

When I'm in a new city I love to go for an aimless walk with no destination in mind just to get lost, get a feel for the place and see what I discover. Then I visited the US and quickly realised that this is a terrible idea in pretty much any American city.

mikenew 3y ago
There are a few exceptions but yeah, it's bad. I remember visiting Houston and asking the hotel receptionist which way to walk to get to some restaurants a half mile away, and it was clear that no one had ever asked that before. And sure enough it was a terrible experience.
- bryanlarsen 3y ago
  I don't think it's possible to make Houston pleasant for walking outside, it's too hot and humid. Houston uses the same solution to avoid the weather that Toronto does -- tunnels connecting buildings. You can walk for 6 miles underground in Houston.
- dalke 3y ago
  We had rented a car from San Francisco to San Diego. My wife was going to drop off the car at the airport. We asked at the hotel (by the harbor near Little Italy) how to get back. 'Uber'. We then looked at the map and realized it was about 0.5 miles away, with sidewalks the whole way. She walked. My Houston experience was when I wanted to go to a nearby salsa place. It was about 3 blocks away from the motel, as the crow flies, but the other side of the interstate. It required a car to get there.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
dghlsakjg 3y ago
Some American cities? Yes. Any American city? no. Leaving out the obvious cities (NY, Boston, DC Mall), I can think of half a dozen cities off the top of my head that have great walkability: Denver, Boulder, Portland, OR, Seattle, Chicago, Portland, ME, etc. I have wandered for hours in all those cities. American cities have a higher proportion of unwalkable areas, but unwalkable areas exist in every city. I suspect that what is happening is that you are staying in areas of the city that aren't very walkable.
- TulliusCicero 3y ago
  > Leaving out the obvious cities (NY, Boston, DC Mall), I can think of half a dozen cities off the top of my head that have great walkability: Denver, Boulder, Portland, OR, Seattle, Chicago, Portland, ME, etc. I have wandered for hours in all those cities. I don't think any of these cities have great walkability. They have acceptable walkability in certain areas, but great? Not even close. A lot of Americans just have really low standards for what they consider walkable. Even in the core of larger US cities, walkability is often worse in practice than random little villages in, say, Germany. Like, I live in the Seattle area now, and when I head to the denser areas, walking is okay, sure, but it's not especially pleasant the way it is in Munich. Walking in Munich was just nice, compared to a city like Seattle there's just typically wider sidewalks, more 'pedestrian plaza' type areas, more buffer between walking areas and cars, fewer cars, slower moving cars, roads are narrower and easier to cross, more pedestrian islands, more walk/bike cut throughs, fewer pedestrian 'beg buttons', the list goes on and on.
  - dghlsakjg 3y ago
    I lived in Capitol Hill in Seattle and found it to be a very walkable lifestyle. So much so that I never used my car except to leave the city. I was walking distance to four major grocery stores, dozens of restaurants, buses, trains, etc. I would ride my bike 10ish minutes to SLU to go sailing. It’s also worth noting that Boulder’s main downtown area is dominated by Pearl Street, on which cars are not allowed ever. Denver has 16th street running from one end of downtown to the other, the only vehicles allowed there are free shuttles. My point isn’t that American cities are more walkable, it is that it is silly to say that they all aren’t walkable as a rule as the GP said. Is Barcelona a more walkable city than most American ones? Yes. Are there areas in Barcelona that you would be a fool to try and walk in? Also yes.