These days, it seems like everyone is talking about “walkability” and “walkable cities.” But these are more than just buzzwords. Their recent increase in popularity demonstrates a growing desire for communities that you can easily navigate on foot.

In fact, the National Association of Realtors’ 2023 Community & Transportation Preferences Survey found that 79% of respondents agreed that it was “very important” to them to live within easy walking distance of parks and stores. 78% even stated that living in a walkable community was worth an increased cost of living.

So walkable neighborhoods are clearly in high demand. It stands to reason that most of this increased interest results from the great personal benefits that can come from living in communities where you don’t need a private car to get around. However, the positive impacts of walkable communities extend far beyond the immediate benefits to residents.

But let’s start from the beginning—reviewing some of the benefits residents gain directly—and continue from there.

It’s evident that walkable communities would benefit their residents in many ways—after all, people decided to live in these areas for a reason.

Enhance Overall Wellbeing: We all know that studies show exercise is good for our physical and mental health. People who spend at least two hours each week engaging in outdoor activities like walking, biking, or enjoying nature tend to report higher life satisfaction. In walkable neighborhoods, the gym is just a few minutes from your front door, and you can fit a daily walk in simply by running your errands.

Increase Community Belonging: When walking and biking are your main forms of transportation, you’ll likely bump into neighbors while you’re out. Shared outdoor spaces like neighborhood parks and plazas provide residents with even more opportunities to gather, socialize, and participate in activities together. These ample opportunities to get to know the people who live around you can help create a sense of community.

Encourage Urban Exploration: Using alternative forms of transportation like bikes, scooters, or trains can eliminate some of the barriers to exploring the city that car travel entails—finding parking, to name one. Some car-free communities even provide lists of attractions or recommended locations that residents can quickly and easily reach without using private vehicles.

But these walkable neighborhoods do not only impact their residents. They also bring tangible benefits to their local community.

Strengthen Local Economy: When you can easily reach shops and restaurants, you are more likely to spend money at these area businesses. This increased spending stimulates the local economy. Not surprisingly, increased walkability also correlates with higher property values, which benefits property owners in walkable communities and their surrounding areas.

Support Infrastructure and Initiatives: Using walking and biking paths or public transportation frequently—as people who live in car-free neighborhoods are wont to do—demonstrates their usefulness and can convince local governments to allocate adequate funding to these public initiatives. This funding can pay for the maintenance or expansion of these resources, improving them for all community residents and visitors.

Encourage Community Engagement: Walking, biking, and scootering around allow you to engage with the city face-to-face. When you gain this more intimate knowledge and connection with an area and its people, you’re more likely to get involved in local organizations, volunteer opportunities, and community events that create positive local impacts.

Walkable neighborhoods’ benefits aren’t just limited to their geographical location; they can also have a positive impact globally.

Reduce Air Pollution: Walkable, car-free communities provide an alternative to driving everywhere. You can access everything you need within a short walk or bike ride, and this decreased dependence on private vehicles reduces the amount of carbon emissions your daily activities produce.

Increase Green Space: The math is simple: fewer cars means fewer parking lots and roads, and this means more open space for parks or gardens. This decrease in pavement and increase in plant life boosts clean oxygen production and rainwater absorption.

Promote Sustainable Lifestyle: Whether or not you choose to live in a walkable community for the ecological benefits, it’s impossible to deny that these neighborhoods are naturally eco-friendly. They decrease car dependence, encourage compact development, and increase community green space, all of which contribute to leading a sustainable lifestyle in a relatively low-effort manner.

There’s no denying that increased walkability brings a myriad of benefits to everyone. But the question is, then—how can we make more walkable communities so we can increase this positive impact?

Some cities like New York have introduced initiatives to close streets to car traffic, which creates more pedestrian-friendly space. But increasing walkability in pre-existing communities comes with a variety of challenges. City planners must work with current urban designs and adapt what they can to make improvements. This is a very worthwhile endeavour to be sure. But there is also an alternative worth considering: building walkable, car-free neighborhoods from scratch.

That’s where Culdesac comes in. Culdesac Tempe is the first intentionally designed car-free neighborhood in the United States. Instead of working around existing homes, stores, and infrastructure, the entire community was built from the ground up with walkability and person-centered design as its main priorities. This project presented some challenges of its own, but it also allowed Culdesac architects and planners to create an optimal, walkable neighborhood from the very beginning—no retrofitting required.

And Culdesac Tempe is just the start. To learn more about Culdesac and our mission to create vibrant, car-free urban spaces, click here.