Why America Can't Build Walkable Cities

In most of the world, people walk to do their daily business all the time. But in most of the US and Canada, almost nobody walks anywhere aside from a few exceptions. Cars are a necessity and without one, you basically can’t live your life. Land use is the fundamental factor that determines how walkable your city is.

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➜ References:
Bertaud, Alain. “Clearing the air in Atlanta: Transit and smart growth or conventional economics?” Journal of Urban Economics, vol. 54, no. 3, Nov. 2003, pp. 379–400. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0094-1190(03....

Crowley, David F., Amer S. Shalaby, and Hossein Zarei. "Access walking distance, transit use, and transit-oriented development in North York City Center, Toronto, Canada." Transportation Research Record 2110.1 (2009): 96-105.

Grabar, Henry. Paved paradise: How parking explains the world. Penguin, 2024.

Hurley, Joseph. “Atlanta’s War on Density.” Atlanta Studies. January 11, 2016. https://doi.org/10.18737/atls20160111

Shoup, Donald C. The High Cost of Free Parking. 2005, escholarship.org/content/qt4vz087cc/qt4vz087cc.pdf?t=lpmcp0.

Speck, Jeff. Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, one step at a time. 2012, trid.trb.org/view/1264810.

Marchetti's Constant
https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/mar...

Why Is It So Difficult To Build Walkable Places?
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...

NotJustBikes - The Houses that Can't be Built in America - The Missing Middle
   • The Houses that Can't be Built in Ame...  

These houses share a backyard, but it would take two hours to walk from one to the other
https://grist.org/cities/these-houses...

Why parking rules threaten one of KC area’s few Black coffee shops
https://www.yahoo.com/news/heartbreak...

Driver arrested for DUI in fatal Glendale crash
   • Driver arrested for DUI in fatal Glen...  

Atlanta’s population density: are 'we full'?
https://www.threadatl.org/blog/2018/0...

WE FULL: Enjoy Atlanta, then beat it, says creator of catchy T-shirts
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atla...

Atlanta modal split (2016)
https://web.archive.org/web/201804160...

Barcelona modal split (2018)
https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/prem...

NotJustBikes - America Always Gets This Wrong (when building transit)
   • America Always Gets This Wrong (when ...  

For Toronto's Portlands, Look to Amsterdam
https://www.nicholasphilipson.com/blo...

Nic Laporte - I Visited a 15 Minute City | Netherlands by Bike, Day 4
   • I Visited a 15 Minute City | Netherla...  

Americans Want Walkable Neighborhoods
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2...

Do Americans really want urban sprawl?
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/20...

Thumbnail image
Image by Flickr user La Citta Vita via Creative Commons https://flic.kr/p/adgjyy

➜ Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:46 America is "too big" for walkable cities
1:34 Land use is important
2:47 The death of the corner store
4:05 Controlled access
4:38 The parking infestation
5:36 This is literally killing people
6:09 No, your city isn't "full"
7:39 Car dependent transit
9:16 The Portlands vs IJburg
10:47 How to build a proper suburb
11:36 The power of TOD
12:57 Americans want walkable cities