Who Walks?

By: Paul Lim
College Press Staff Writer

American media is always focused on the ever fluctuating price of gas.  Why is that?  Besides our dependence on petroleum products heating our homes and all, the United States is so dependent on automobiles.  Public transportation is not as a prominent fixture as it is in other countries, but for those who choose other means of travel besides cars,  the Brookings Institute has come out with a survey showing the “Most Walkable Cities”.

Washington D.C. came out on top of the list for “walkability”.

Christopher B. Leinberger, a visiting fellow at Brookings, directed the project.  The AP writes, “Walkable cities have been around for centuries, but Leinberger argues that after the rise of the automobile, planners and real estate developers hit on the lucrative suburban strip-mall formula and stuck to it.”

The survey involved Leinberger counting “walkable places” within each urban area.  Such “walkable places” include Boston's Beacon Hill, Miami's Coconut Grove and the Houston area's Sugar Land Town Square.  All of New York City’s “walkable places” were in Manhattan.  Tampa, which ranked last, had none.

The trend of “Walking Communities” has been highly popularized by today’s young professionals.

The survey concluded this as the Top 10 Walkable Cities:

1.    Washington, D.C.
2.    Boston
3.    San Francisco
4.    Denver
5.    Portland, Oregon
6.    Seattle
7.    Chicago
8.    Miami
9.    Pittsburgh
10.  New York