Walkability Becomes Plus for Buyers

In this day and age of Green consciousness and rising gas prices, it's become increasingly important for some to be able to ditch the vehicle and commute to/from work.

And for those that are fortunate enough to leave the ride and venture around on foot, here is a nice Web site of a software program that attempts to quantify the quality of walkability.



It figures that walkability is largely determined by the number of amenities within a mile -- and preferably much less -- of your dwelling, or any desired location, for that matter.

When you type in an address, it goes to Google Maps and looks for restaurants, shops, libraries, schools and anything else you might want to walk to. Then it determines the location of all that stuff and assigns a score. The more amenities in close proximity to an address, the higher the score.

Walk Score identifies San Francisco as the most walkable city in the United States, mainly due to the hustle and bustle of the Financial District and SOMA, and other smaller, gentrified neighborhoods like the Mission and Potrero Hill.

New York's Tribeca, Little Italy, and Soho neighborhoods helped it land a No. 2 ranking on the Web site's list of the most walkable cities, with Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, the District of Columbia, Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Portland rounding out the top 10, in that order.

Experts say more people are moving to urban areas as a way to spend less money on gas, though convenience and exercise also play a role.

The Center for Neighborhood Technology -- which insists a shift in transportation spending is necessary to make mass transit more efficient -- says individuals reduce their annual gas expenses by as much as $2,100 when they live in urban areas versus outer-ring suburbs.

Source: Seattle Times, Amy Hoak (08/10/08)