Studying What Makes A Neighborhood Walkable

A new King County, WA study shows that residents in the most walkable neighborhoods are over twice as likely to be physically active than people who live in the least walkable neighborhoods.

1 minute read

September 29, 2005, 9:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen

Karen Wolf and Richard Gelb are senior urban planning advisers "who have been involved for the past two years in a King County study about making city and suburban neighborhoods more walkable. County Executive Ron Sims commissioned the research funded in part by a Federal Transit Administration grant.

...'Costco or any big-box store isn't the answer,' said Wolf, Sims' senior adviser for land use. 'It's not about square feet as much as a number of different stores and services.'

One reason, quipped Wolf, is that people don't necessarily like walking home with a '16-roll tissue package on their backs.' "

FULL STORY: Study finds what makes a neighborhood foot-friendly

Wednesday, September 28, 2005 in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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