Philadelphia Is One of 20 Most Walkable Metros

Next City reports today on Foot Traffic Ahead: Ranking Walkable Urbanism in America’s Largest Metros, a report by the Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis at George Washington University School of Business.  The report’s authors, Christopher B. Leinberger and Patrick Lynch, come to some pretty interesting conclusions about the way cities are changing when it comes to walkable urbanism. From Next City:

Leinberger and Lynch’s operating premise is that Americans with options are increasingly moving away from what they call “drivable sub-urban” in favor of walkable urban places, which they call WalkUPs — basically, places where offices and stores are walking distance from homes and where those spaces are beginning to fetch higher rents because of demand.

The report on the 30 largest metros in the country divides results into current walkable urbanism and future walkable urbanism; and then demonstrates the way walkability is related to education and wealth.

Charts below.

A current ranking of walkable urbanism in America’s 30 largest metros, from “Foot Traffic Ahead: Ranking Walkable Urbanism in America’s Largest Metros” © The George Washington University School of Business 2014