walkability

I have moved into an apartment! Nice!

Really, the best thing (aside from the fact that living with my parents will always bring out my sulky, bratty side more than anything else) is that my new neighborhood is so much more walkable than the old one. It's a five minute walk to the bus stop instead of a twenty minute walk, and I'm served by four or five different bus lines. I can walk to the grocery store, and there's a liquor store and a Dollar General, as well as a couple of quite decent restaurants. There's even a bike trail nearby, so I could bike to the mall if I wanted (on a good day, with a tailwind).

That is one of the things I really miss about France: I could walk almost anywhere, or take a bus or a train. The towns I lived in there were much smaller than my current town is, but the public transportation and the setup of the neighborhoods was much better. The residences and schools were mixed in with the businesses and restaurants. Plus, even though there were dog-related hazards all over the sidewalks, there were sidewalks everywhere, even in the cobbled alleyways. The cities I went to in Europe were built with a focus more on the people and less on the vehicles.

This already happens in American cities, to some extent, but mostly only the really big ones, like New York, where people are already living in close proximity. Houston's business district is vaguely walkable, and they've got good buses, but the sprawl is incredible. I can't even imagine the suburbs. DC has a lot of public space that doesn't have much of anything but parks and museums and monuments, but they also have a lot of metro access, which is fantastic, and each neighborhood is packed full of conveniences.

I can't imagine it would be that hard to incorporate some businesses into the suburban residential model. Part of the charm of Europe is its use of space: apartments on top of cafés, groceries next to laundries next to bakeries next to hotels, even in small towns. I suppose they've had to be economical with space in the past (fewer of the buildings are pre-fab, and most of them started as villages), and gas is more expensive, and people are more willing to walk, and all of these things are factors that lead to superior walkability. Americans do love their sense of space, but would it really drop property values to have a cute little café and an épicerie down the road from your tiny mansion? Food for thought. Then kids would have a reason to walk, and grownups too, and if the grocery store were closer, we could buy fresher produce.