Walkability of Neighborhoods

Planning in United States during the last forty years has focused more on the automobile usage and less on pedestrian movement. This approach has created an automobile dependent society where walking has become more and more difficult and unsafe. Today due to an increasing awareness on environmental issues and public health, people are realizing the negative consequence of their over automobile usage and have started to support walkable communities. Substantial research has been carried out on the importance of walking and on ways to create walkable neighborhoods. But have these researches found its way into the actual planning practice? How much have the local governments and practitioners adopted the current research on walkability to create a pedestrian friendly environment? This book is an effort to answer these questions. It uncovers the existing disparities between the research and the practicing world with respect to walkability. The analysis and recommendations provided in this book to improve the pedestrian environment should be of equal interest to planning students, practitioners and local planning agencies.