# Most walk-able cities?



## TheGoodNews (Dec 5, 2013)

In your humble opinion, what are the most walk-able cities, large or small?


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

I spend most of my time in HK walking!


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## aaabbbccc (Mar 8, 2009)

Orlando is the least walkable city but where I live Winter Park is one of the most friendly walkable cities in Florida


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

Siena, Italy where cars are banned


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## alexandru.mircea (May 18, 2011)

I would say Amsterdam but I ****** hated the local cyclists. In fairness to them though I know they think exactly the same: ******* tourists spoiling the best city for cycling.


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## Galro (Aug 9, 2010)

I think mid-sized to small historic cities, like Siena shown above, tends to be very walkable.


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## datoriprogram (Sep 21, 2009)

In terms of large cities, I consider NY (manhattan) really easy to walk around in.


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

I've never been to a central core of a city that wasn't walkable. None were significantly more walkable than the next.


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

Central London is quite walkable in terms of big cities. They doubled the sizes of the pavements in the 90s to noughties forcing cars to squeeze into 2 lanes across the board (basically they found out the more space you give to cars the more they use them - read: more jams still and no let up in congestion). In the past decade they've now been getting rid of street obstructions and signs slowly, and even getting rid of the kerbs so you never have to step up or down constantly when crossing the street. In some areas like Soho the crowd often walks randomly in the road now, claiming it over the cars.

Also theyre now experimenting with the 'shared surface' idea coming from the Netherlands, where cars and pedestrians share the same surface, plus cafe tables etc. Everyone gives way to each other and the vehicles drive slower and carefully - accidents thus actually decrease dramatically.

However there isnt alot of large pedestrian only areas, which is made more the glaring as it's unlike every city and town centre in the country. The largest strip of pedestrianisation would be the South Bank by the river:

my pix




























There are loads of alleys and small streets that are ped-only, but not many extended areas



















Soho normal street open to traffic - but impossible due to the weekend crowds





























likewise 300 street markets that just take over regardless . Note on this first pic how theyve lowered the pavement to get rid of the kerb. Theyve added raised dots or lines so partially sighted people know it's the edge:





































shared surface - Chinatown



















and South Kensington


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## El_Greco (Apr 1, 2005)

Galro said:


> I think mid-sized to small historic cities, like Siena shown above, tends to be very walkable.


I find Italian cities of all shapes and sizes pretty walkable. Mostly because neither pedestrians nor drivers care much for the rules and as such urban Italy developed this curious culture where all road users are aware of others and for the most part act accordingly - something of a shared-surface but on a bigger scale.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

isaidso said:


> I've never been to a central core of a city that wasn't walkable. None were significantly more walkable than the next.


Even car centric cities such as Los Angeles has a walkable downtown and other commercial / entertainment hotspots such as Hollywood Blvd., Westwood Village, Melrose, etc.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

datoriprogram said:


> In terms of large cities, I consider NY (manhattan) really easy to walk around in.


Manhattan is more geared to the pedestrian despite the heavy vehicular traffic.


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## alexandru.mircea (May 18, 2011)

the spliff fairy said:


> Central London is quite walkable in terms of big cities. They doubled the sizes of the pavements in the 90s to noughties forcing cars to squeeze into 2 lanes across the board (basically they found out the more space you give to cars the more they use them - read: more jams still and no let up in congestion). In the past decade they've now been getting rid of street obstructions and signs slowly, and even getting rid of the kerbs so you never have to step up or down constantly when crossing the street. In some areas like Soho the crowd often walks randomly in the road now, claiming it over the cars.
> 
> Also theyre now experimenting with the 'shared surface' idea coming from the Netherlands, where cars and pedestrians share the same surface, plus cafe tables etc. Everyone gives way to each other and the vehicles drive slower and carefully - accidents thus actually decrease dramatically.


I'll second the motion for London. When we visited London we decided we would walk, and it was very fine in that respect (save for stumbling on Oxford Street on a Saturday afternoon). The reason to walk was that we decided to stick around the city centre like we do in every place we visit, and move between the various landmarks (mainly the most important museums and parks); we also found transport a bit on the expensive side for our budget then. The area we walked extended from Hyde Park and the V&A to the West, Tower Bridge to the East and Regents Park and St. Pancrass to the North. We walked the South Bank too and the only time we took transport was when taking a bus to the North, to find the Oto Cafe for a concert. 

In hindsight I wish we took public transport more and explored. There were disappointments about the central area, the distances covered walking were quite long, and I didn't know that the old areas like I knew from English TV series I saw in my childhood are rather more suburban than central. I was also not aware of the existence of the alternative culture hotspots out of the centre, I only found them here on SSC in your photo reports, spliffy. That's what I want to visit next time around. Mind you this is the fault of my ignorance, nothing more. 

About shared streets, the experience of shared pedestrian-tram streets in central Strasbourg was quite awkward at first, but I loved it. Seems to work wonders, too; very practical.


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## IrishMan2010 (Aug 16, 2010)

Of the cities I've been too, I would say Amsterdam. Completely geared for pedestrians.


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## TheGoodNews (Dec 5, 2013)

the spliff fairy said:


> Siena, Italy where cars are banned


Beautiful. I know in some cities at certain hours cars are banned or blocked during peak hours of foot traffic.


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## Eric Offereins (Jan 1, 2004)

Rotterdam isn't too walkable. Allthough most of the neighborhoods are good for pedestrians, the city is intersected by wide roads, filled with traffic.

https://maps.google.nl/?ll=51.917933,4.481547&spn=0.003308,0.006196&t=h&z=18


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## Zetto (Jan 9, 2014)

London is very walkable.


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## tripleseis (Aug 8, 2010)

I can walk for hours in Amsterdam before I've realised how far I've walked. Fantastic place to explore on foot (or bike). Same with Utrecht, Haarlem and Breda. I found Rotterdam quite pleasant to walk around as well even if it had very wide roads (at least the pavements were very wide to walk on).

London is walkable (especially in places like the South Bank and Soho) but it's let down by lots of poorly designed roads that prioritise motor traffic rather than pedestrians and cyclists. Aldwych, Park Lane, Oxford/Regent Street (too many buses and taxis for a pedestrian shopping area) and Euston Road (just too much traffic and poor pedestrian provision). The latter is a real dirge of a road to be on if you're on foot and I really hope it gets sorted soon (the new Kings Cross Square is at least something). The less said about the Elephant and Castle roundabout the better.


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## alexandru.mircea (May 18, 2011)

One city that I would love to see moving towards a more pedestrian friendly urban identity is Lyon. It would benefit it so much. When I think of Lyon (which I visited this autumn), I think of narrow boardwalks where there's just enough space for two people to walk by in the two opposite directions. The recurring theme of walking around in Lyon would be me letting my wife's hand and taking place at her back to let the person coming from the other way have enough space to walk by us. That, again and again. And that's a shame, especially for a city with such a large and pleasant historical area (I'm not thinking here of Vieux Lyon, the medieval part which is properly pedestrianized and benefits from being separated from the rest of the city by river on one side and abrupt cliffs on the other). 

Some examples:

1 This street is very important as it's the only one large enough to connect via surface public transport (some very wide trolleybuses) downtown with uptown (in an altitude sense), so I'm okay with the two wide lanes for each way. But parking rows on each side mean some really tiny boardwalks. Walking them each day was awful, and when dragging my trolley behind me it was a challenge for the person coming from the other direction to pass. 
2 This is typical of the "peninsula" area, why keep two lanes and a parking row, when you can benefit of the grid-type pattern and focus traffic on some streets and focus the others on walking? Instead all central streets are like that (with the exception, like I said, of Vieux Lyon).
3 The main shopping street of a whole area, which consequently gets very crowded; why not get rid of cars altogether and let them use the grid(ish) streets around anyway?


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## 009 (Nov 28, 2007)

My favorite are the historic centres of European and Mexican cities


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## zeb (Sep 19, 2002)

Lyon


Lyon - Rue de la platière par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Rue Lanterne par smazoyer, sur Flickr

DSC_8153 par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Quai de la Pêcherie par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Quai de la Pêcherie par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Quai Saint Antoine par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Quai Saint Antoine par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Passerelle du Palais de justice par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Quai des Célestins par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Quai des Célestins par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Quai des Célestins par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Quai des Célestins par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Cathédrale Saint Jean par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Cathédrale Saint Jean par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Cathédrale Saint Jean par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Saint Jean par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Saint Jean par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Place Bellecour par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Place Bellecour par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Tour Oxygène par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Parc de la Tête d'Or par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - musée d'art contemporain par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - cité internationale par smazoyer, sur Flickr

DSC_8576 par smazoyer, sur Flickr

DSC_8577 par smazoyer, sur Flickr

DSC_8594 par smazoyer, sur Flickr

DSC_8608 par smazoyer, sur Flickr

DSC_8624 par smazoyer, sur Flickr

DSC_8639 par smazoyer, sur Flickr

DSC_8648 par smazoyer, sur Flickr

DSC_8650 par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Rue de la République par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Rue de la République par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Place Bellecour par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Place Ampère par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Confluence - Quai Rambaud par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon - Confluence - Le centre commercial par smazoyer, sur Flickr

DSC_3887 par smazoyer, sur Flickr

DSC_4691 par smazoyer, sur Flickr

DSC_4695 par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon par smazoyer, sur Flickr


DSC_5047 par smazoyer, sur Flickr

DSC_5050 par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Centre Commercial Part-Dieu Lyon par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon la Confluence - 2013 par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon la Confluence - 2013 par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Lyon la Confluence - 2013 par smazoyer, sur Flickr


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## alexandru.mircea (May 18, 2011)

^ Nice pics, thanks. I was thinking of coming back with another post just to make sure people don't get my other post as demeaning of Lyon. It isn't a bad city for pedestrians, on the contrary. (And I just wish they would boldly go further, in certain key areas). I love Lyon.


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## zeb (Sep 19, 2002)

Yes it's true, small streets could be pedestrian in the center.


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## IThomas (Feb 11, 2011)

TheGoodNews said:


> Beautiful. I know in some cities at certain hours cars are banned or blocked during peak hours of foot traffic.


Yeah...are the "ZTL" ... limited traffic areas...are located in some places of the city, for example, in the historic centers, in order to limit traffic at certain times the vehicles under specific rule conditions. among the goal this measure include: maintaining security in the city center during the hours of attendance of a large number of pedestrians or more traffic, lower levels of pollution in the central areas, increase administrative revenue through tolls or parking. Generally are everywhere, also in the little town/villages, especially during the weekend...then in big or touristic cities, there are some prohibitions. To make an example to you: Milan has its Area C (area inside red line) every day 7.30 am/7.30pm. no saturday-sunday, but traffic in this area is under control


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## WingWing (Jun 14, 2013)

Not sure about European cities or US, but among Asia and Australia, my top choice is Singapore.

Not only that I think in the world only Singapore has the best pathway for the wheelchair. No matter which part of Singapore, you would be able to find handicap toilet, handicap parking, handicap slope, handicap lift and even our public transport which is MRT including the buses are equipped with handicap facilities.

Why I take notice of this? because my grandma using wheelchair and we have travelled many cities in Asia pacific and Australia as well but none beat Singapore for convenience and accessibility.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

^^ Really? I thought Singapore not so great - in many suburbs pavements are small, nonexistant etc. The public transport is very accessible friendly, but walking is not so great there in my opinion compared to other places (but we've had this argument in another thread and it went on, and on, and on so I'll leave it there and say that a number of people disagree and a number of people agree with me). 

Tokyo, and a lot of Japan is very walkable - in fact I'd say Tokyo is one of the most walkable cities I've been to. Stockholm, too, is very walkable and all public transport is disabled friendly with elevators at every station. In fact, most European cities in western, northern and central Europe have been very walkable. Public transport accessibility though does vary considerably.


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## WingWing (Jun 14, 2013)

^^ i never seen non-existant pavement in singapore before. From what i see everyday there are pavement everywhere though in suburb area might be smaller but difnitely wide enough for 3-4 person to walk together.

Even singapore hawker centre have disabled facility


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## Ribarca (Jan 28, 2005)

Singapore has pavements everywhere but compared to European cities it's very heavy on traffic with many big roads in the city. In some places you have to wait very long to cross the road or you have to use a walkway to cross over. Except for areas such as Chinatown or Marina Bay it's more geared towards cars.


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## Airman Kris™ (Feb 22, 2014)

New Orleans in general is very walkable. Especially anywhere within 5 miles of the Quarter, except across the river.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

WingWing said:


> ^^ i never seen non-existant pavement in singapore before. From what i see everyday there are pavement everywhere though in suburb area might be smaller but difnitely wide enough for 3-4 person to walk together.
> 
> Even singapore hawker centre have disabled facility


Smaller, with massive storm drains next to them, inconvenient plantings and difficult to navigate pavements.

Trees and objects such as electricity boxes blocking pavements - I saw this quite frequently:
https://www.google.com/maps?ll=1.32...d=s2oVNaqn3Svx0MQnH1EWCw&cbp=12,178.54,,0,6.9

Long roads with nowhere to cross nearby so people jaywalk:
https://www.google.com/maps?ll=1.31...KCc79ERBLnGpH2aGJvocNQ&cbp=12,347.22,,0,-0.73

The list could go on, but I really don't feel that outside the centre that Singapore was that walkable. Accessible for disabled people on public transport - hell yes, but not overall walkable.


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## Ribarca (Jan 28, 2005)

You are absolutely right. Few people actually walk long distances on the street.

1) People take public transport or the car
2) It's a mall oriented city outside of some of the old (touristy) neighborhoods. There are hardly any shops on street level.
3) This is largely a result of the climate of-course.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

isaidso said:


> I've never been to a central core of a city that wasn't walkable. None were significantly more walkable than the next.


In all the central cores I've visited. Jakarta seems to be least walkable except Old Town Jakarta and Merdeka Square.

No offense to the Jakartans out there cause some of you tend to be sensitive.

The area around Jalan Thamrin does have some wide sidewalks but pedestrian activity is not as busy compared to HK, London or NY.

The city is still best explored on the wheel even in the centre.

Though it has car free sundays and you'll see people walking around and hanging out in the boulevard.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

WingWing said:


> Not sure about European cities or US, but among Asia and Australia, my top choice is Singapore.
> 
> Not only that I think in the world only Singapore has the best pathway for the wheelchair. No matter which part of Singapore, you would be able to find handicap toilet, handicap parking, handicap slope, handicap lift and even our public transport which is MRT including the buses are equipped with handicap facilities.
> 
> Why I take notice of this? because my grandma using wheelchair and we have travelled many cities in Asia pacific and Australia as well but none beat Singapore for convenience and accessibility.


Yes Singapore is walkable especially in The Downtown Core.

Though my top choice for Asia is still Hong Kong as mentioned earlier.


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## WingWing (Jun 14, 2013)

Manila-X said:


> Yes Singapore is walkable especially in The Downtown Core.
> 
> Though my top choice for Asia is still Hong Kong as mentioned earlier.




My onky complaint in hk is walking along the mongkok and some old streets whereby aircon water driplets hit my head:bash:


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

WingWing said:


> My onky complaint in hk is walking along the mongkok and some old streets whereby aircon water driplets hit my head:bash:


It's what we can expect from one of the densest cities in the world.


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

I felt that Boston was more walkable than NYC.


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## Airman Kris™ (Feb 22, 2014)

Xusein said:


> I felt that Boston was more walkable than NYC.


 It absolutely is, less pedestrian traffic in many areas.


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## Arqui-suario (Sep 11, 2013)

*Buenos Aires - Argentina - Latin America
*


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## Robfert (Apr 7, 2014)

London is very walkable


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## rocky2 (Mar 19, 2014)

from my experience

London definitively
Toulouse


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## BrickellResidence (Feb 4, 2008)

Where i have been i would say

NYC 
Madrid
Barcelona
Mexico City


Least walkable
Miami
Cancun


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## NordikNerd (Feb 5, 2011)

What is walkable ? Does it mean less cars ? straight flat streets ?

San Marino City has almost zero cars, but it was very exhausting to walk there because of the hilly narrow streets and tourist crowds. It seems easier to walk in Brasilia, Brazil.

The Old town of Stockholm has very limited traffic, but is it walkable ?
Conclusion it takes shorter time to walk 1 km in Brasilia than in the old town of Stockholm because Brasilia has straight wide flat streets and not many crowds. Brasilia is a very walkable city.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

That is just talking about speed and nothing more. Few people want to walk in a straight line for 1km. Where are all the provisions for pedestrians? Visual distractions? Frequent crossings to make it easy for pedestrians to traverse roads? A multitude of different pathways to better distribute the pedestrian traffic?

True it depends on how you define walkability, but your example does not fit the bill in my opinion.


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## alexandru.mircea (May 18, 2011)

^ indeed, I've also interpreted this topic as being about best pedestrian urban experiences as a whole. Being able to walk freely but in a un-rewarding urban context wouldn't rate very high as a pedestrian urban experience for me either.


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## 009 (Nov 28, 2007)

NordikNerd said:


> What is walkable ? Does it mean less cars ? straight flat streets ?
> 
> San Marino City has almost zero cars, but it was very exhausting to walk there because of the hilly narrow streets and tourist crowds. It seems easier to walk in Brasilia, Brazil.
> 
> ...


I think when people talk about "walkable cities", they are usually thinking about two things: priority given to pedestrians, and interesting site density - shops, restaurants, museums etc., i.e. places where people would enjoy to spend time walking around. Basically the opposite of the middle picture, and more like the others


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

putting up with the constant noise and fumes of traffic is not pedestrian friendly, even if it is the quickest route. Id much rather take a winding, even hilly but far more rewarding and interesting route designed for my behalf than that shortcut.

By rights any city with a grid plan, such as Barcelona would be automatically relegated because if your destination was in a diagonal to you it would take you 30-40% further to reach it rather than as the crow flies.


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## scrapermaniac1 (Feb 25, 2014)

Shouldn't everyone say Hong Kong? If i remember correctly it's the major city with the least cars per capita


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

scrapermaniac1 said:


> Shouldn't everyone say Hong Kong? If i remember correctly it's the major city with the least cars per capita


Well, yes and no. HK struck me as a PT city rather than an eminently walkable one. It has some excellent areas for walking, and then it has some that aren't so nice. The sheer volume of pedestrian traffic too makes walking in some areas difficult as the paths cannot cope with them all. I would say overall that Stockholm has better pedestrian amenities than HK, but HK is still very good overall. 

That said, I enjoyed walking around HK.


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## jacint.mif (Jan 24, 2014)

Louvain-la-Neuve. All motorized traffic in the centre is buried underground, so it is only pedestrian on its streets.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

brickellresidence said:


> Where i have been i would say
> 
> NYC
> Madrid
> ...


Mexico City has its walkable areas such as The Zocalo Area but places like Santa Fe isn't for environment for such.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Fort Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, Metro Manila. Photo taken by me!


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

Svartmetall said:


> Well, yes and no. HK struck me as a PT city rather than an eminently walkable one. It has some excellent areas for walking, and then it has some that aren't so nice. The sheer volume of pedestrian traffic too makes walking in some areas difficult as the paths cannot cope with them all. I would say overall that Stockholm has better pedestrian amenities than HK, but HK is still very good overall.
> 
> That said, I enjoyed walking around HK.


Fully agree. The crowds are quite intense and the sidewalks are not always very wide. 

Many mainland Chinese cities have built their new areas with a lot of pedestrian space, but it would take some time for these communities to settle in to make good use of these spaces.


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## skyridgeline (Dec 7, 2008)

By britoca





BY Leung Ching Yau Alex











From Yung Shue Wan/Tai Peng, Lamma Island to Kiangsu-Chekiang School (North Point, HK Island) ...

Posted by Neu Naame





Posted by Neu Naame


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## BE0GRAD (May 29, 2010)

Central Barcelona was definitely a pleasant surprise for me on this issue.


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## parody24 (Nov 18, 2013)

Savannah, Georgia... Portland, OR... Munich, Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagan, Amsterdam, Ljubljana, Barcelona, Madrid, Oslo, Bergen, Boston, Montreal, San Antonio, New Orleans, NYC, Tokyo and London.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

San Antonio is arguably the most walkable city in Texas and it is made for walking!


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## zeb (Sep 19, 2002)

Lyon! :


Berges du Rhône Lyon par smazoyer, sur Flickr

Berges du Rhône Lyon par smazoyer, sur Flickr


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## Mr Bricks (May 6, 2005)

brickellresidence said:


> Where i have been i would say
> 
> NYC
> Madrid
> ...


Haven't been to Mexico City but I didn't find NYC to be very walkable at all. Both Madrid and Barcelona are lighyears ahead.


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## Charlie_ (Nov 20, 2012)

alexandru.mircea said:


> ^ indeed, I've also interpreted this topic as being about best pedestrian urban experiences as a whole. Being able to walk freely but in a un-rewarding urban context wouldn't rate very high as a pedestrian urban experience for me either.


I interpreted it as the cities where you'd be most likely to choose walking as the means of getting from A to B. 

Pretty much all the great european cities are extremely walkable, I can't really find a criteria to rank Paris above or below Copenhagen or Barcelona above or below Munich or London ^^


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## Charlie_ (Nov 20, 2012)

http://www.walkscore.com/

This website rates neighbourhoods based on how many local amenities you can walk to within a 5 minute walk. It covers more American neighbourhoods than European at this point, I think.


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