Foot Traffic Ahead 2016: Ranking Walkable Urbanism in America’s Largest Metros

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LOCUS and the Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis at the George Washington University School of Business released Foot Traffic Ahead 2016, a report ranking the country’s 30 largest metropolitan areas focusing on walkable urban places (WalkUPs).

LOCUS is Latin for “place.”

Place is important.

According to the report, places with the highest levels of walkable urbanism are also the most educated, wealthy, and socially equitable.

The new report will include three different rankings for all 30 metro areas: current walkability, development momentum, and social equity.

In addition to market-driven development trends, current walkability, development momentum, and social equity of urban places are relevant indicators when considering population health because they influence the social, economic, and physical conditions in the places people are born, grow, live, work, and play.  Examples of social, economic, and physical conditions include: safe housing; green space; access to schools, healthy food, and healthcare services; educational, economic, and job opportunities; sidewalks, bike lanes, and roads; alternative transportation options; social cohesion and discrimination; and concentrated poverty. The social, economic, and physical conditions of the places in which people are born, grow, live, work, and play have a greater influence on health than genetics.

LOCUS is a national coalition of real estate developers and investors who advocate for equitable and more economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable development. LOCUS members know that transportation drives development and that homebuyers and businesses increasingly demand walkable places; however, federal policy tends to support sprawl rather than walkability.

Read the report here.

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