The most “walkable” cities in the world, gathered on a map with an overwhelming winner: Europe
Little by little, Europe has been expelling the car. It’s something that goes beyond low emissions areas: It’s almost cultural. The cities of the continent were designed tailored to the pedestrians in which the cobbled streets and the squares were usual and, although they have given way to the roads, that pedestrianization is coming back. And show that pedestrian power is this map elaborated by Visual Capitalist in which we see the 20 most passable cities in the world on foot. Spoiler: The 20 are European. The map. The data to prepare the map have been extracted from the study ‘A universal frame for inclusive cities of 15 minutes‘and the graph of The Economist And it allows us to visualize the average time that someone living in a city of 500,000 inhabitants or more has to walk to reach some basic service. These services or comforts include places such as schools, restaurants, stores or hospitals and, although cities must be scored to choose an order, the truth is that the average time is very, very similar among them. Average time. Thus, of the 20 most pedestrian or more passable cities on foot in the world, the first would be Milan (with an ideal center to walk, everything is said) and the last one would be Oslo. Of course, as we can see in the table that we leave below, the difference between them is not a nonsense: Milan 6 minutes and 24 seconds Copenhagen 6 minutes and 36 seconds Turin 7 minutes and 6 seconds Dublin 7 minutes and 24 seconds Lyon 7 minutes and 24 seconds Munich 7 minutes and 30 seconds Paris 8 minutes Marseilles 8 minutes and 6 seconds Genoa 8 minutes and 6 seconds Edinburgh 8 minutes and 12 seconds Berlin 8 minutes and 12 seconds Vienna 8 minutes and 18 seconds St. Petersburg 8 minutes and 18 seconds Bilbao 8 minutes and 24 seconds Bordeaux 8 minutes and 30 seconds MINSK 8 minutes and 36 seconds Stuttgart 9 minutes and 6 seconds Lille 9 minutes and 6 seconds Barcelona 9 minutes and 12 seconds Oslo 9 minutes and 30 seconds Characteristics. The European advantage over other countries and the characteristics that make cities more friendly to pedestrians are diverse. On the one hand, these big cities usually have historical centers that have been pedestrianizing or that were already. There are many examples, but cities like Amsterdam or Paris, among many others, They have gained ground to the car In recent years with more pedestrian areas of both the center and the school streets. Another important factor is that many of them were founded before the arrival of the car, so they were designed to reach everywhere. That is why there is a greater proximity to essential services and there is a green infrastructure such as squares, gardens and parks that are also inciting, in addition, to walk. On the other hand, public transport is also very developed, reducing the dependence of the private car. Advantages. There are many, but we can encompass them in one: health. Walking more and taking less the car implies that air quality improves because there is less pollution. Noise is also reduced, although these two factors are something that the electric car has potential to change. Having a more active lifestyle, it has positive consequences on health and the cardiovascular system and is something that promotes community life. Projects. All this has led to the fact that, as we say, Europe is friendly with the pedestrian, there are cities that are rethinking their urban model. In Spain, there are cities like Logroño that They have gained space to the car. Pontevedra is Another curious casewith 80,000 vehicles in the center in the late 90s only 7,000 in 2018. The idea is to have “15 minutes cities”And, although in Spain we already live in them, there are projects for large cities to be even more friendly. An example is the Supermanzanas of Barcelonahe XPANDE project of Burgos to convert 23,000 square meters into pedestrian areas, the regeneration of Bilbao, Valencia either Sevilleamong other large and small throughout the territory. Out of Europe? And, in fact, it is something that has been encouraged at European level. He WALKING PANEUROPE PLANor European Walking Plan, was an initiative to promote that pedestrian mobility throughout Europe, driven by common policies and focused on improving health. Outside Europe, then … there is everything. To find the first most passable city on the list, you would have to go down to 28th place, where Kyoto is. And, within the top 50, there are other cities that are not European such as Taipei, Katmandú, Taichung or Tokyo, all in the lowest part of the list. USA, Cochista region. On the other side of the end is North America. The United States and Canada are countries that have developed cities in a completely opposite way to European: prioritizing the use of the private car. The first on the list is Vancouver in 53 position and it is something that will be difficult to change despite the projects individuals of each city. The reason is that it is something cultural due to the urban design of its large cities, where suburban areas are They expanded big before and after Second World War and where the highways They won the ground to the neighborhoods very quickly, destroying communities and that model of “cities of 15 minutes”. Cities like Houston or Los Angeles They could not sustain themselves without the car, in fact. In the end, it is curious as, at least in Europe, the cities of the future seem to look at the past to recover a healthier and closest urban model. In Xataka | High speed lanes for pedestrians, the solution for all those who hate the slow sidewalks
