I think this study is marred by, for lack of a better phrase, sampling errors. Or something. Legacy Towne Center, while admirable as all-heck, is a just-add-water outdoor suburban mall, and yet qualifies as a certifiable walkable community, according to the study. Sundance Square, on the other hand, while perhaps a trifle on the prefab side (it’s heavily subsidized at all events), has many of the characteristics of an actual urban neighborhood yet doesn’t make the cut. Uptown Dallas gets the nod — and sure, it’s the most theoretically walkable neighborhood in this region, but how many people do you actually see walking? A few, but go to Lower Greenville area on a weekday afternoon and you’ll actually see folks walking to the CVS, etc., yet because it’s bungalow-and-fourplex land it apparently doesn’t count.

I agree with the study’s overall findings, and with Leinberger’s observations as reported by Glenn, but a lot of the specific assertions of the study — as another example, it claims NYC is only the 10th-most-walkable major city in the U.S.A. — are questionable.

While I agree that Dallas has a long way to go in regards to urban walkability, I don’t agree with some of what you’re saying about downtown and surrounding areas. More specifically: I have lived downtown for over 2 years, just extended my lease another year, and have no plans to leave downtown at any point in the future – unless it’s for a better downtown.

Secondly, I’ll take that dare you just made regarding Mockingbird Station. Saturday afternoon, I took the train to Mockingbird Station, then walked across the street to Premiere Video. Both myself and my traveling companion are still alive today. That’s not to say that improvements couldn’t be made to that intersection. I believe they could and should – but it’s not an impossibility to get there.

I would dare anyone to walk from Mockingbird Station to the Jason’s Deli across the street.

Likewise with the Katy Trail. 50 feet on either side of the Katy Trail on local side streets most of the sidewalks are broken-up or do not even exist.

I would dare anyone to walk from Uptown to the AAC. Try walking across Harry Hines on a game night or any weeknight for that matter.

@Daniel & Stephen

this angry rhetoric gets us nowhere. I agree with the Brookings Institution’s assessment that this is a generational thing. Gen X’ers, and Millennials are leaving the suburbs for an urban environment, most specifically, to improve their quality of life by surrounding themselves with a UW infrastructure. My wife and I are included in this statistic, while our boomer parents just don’t understand it. The same way your parents didn’t understand the appeal of the 60’s. Because it’s a generational thing, I don’t even think it’s worth arguing. It falls under that “politics, religion, parenting” area, where you just will not sway the other side.

Developers focusing on creating walkable environments is a given that you can see by looking at all of the developments being built around the light rail stations. Richardson, Downtown Garland, and Downtown Plano all have major condo projects being built right now, around their stations. The West Village, Mockingbird Station, etc, are all touting their walkable natures. It’s not just Dallas, it’s every major downtown throughout the US. Look at Fort Worth for more evidence.

I sit in developers meetings regularly, and they are all clamoring to get the katy trail extended to their properties because they realize it’s a major selling point. In the end, that is what will drive this walkable trend.

More clubs yet fewer douchebags — good luck with that. You seem like you’d be a very un-uptight neighbor to have. Unless I were boring, which you’re apparently not prepared to tolerate. Or obese.

Yes, Stephen, we actually do get it — downtown Dallas is the scintillating epicenter of this planet’s intellectual life. By your standards, that is, which you have so candidly revealed.

the, it’s way too hot in dallas to walk argument is old, and unfounded. go to the katy trail, and/or the whiterock trail on the hottest day in august and you’ll notice that both will still be packed. most people don’t walk during the hottest hours of the day (between noon and four), they’re in their offices. but evenings and mornings in dallas (when everyone commutes to work), our nice 350 days out of the year.

also, how would you explain that argument in cities like chicago and new york, where it’s freezing four months out of the year?

lastly, get over the “it’s all an experiment, and you’ll move out in no time”. this is not the case. my wife and i have been downtown for seven years now. if people moved away early, it was due to a lack of retail development. i’ve got neighbors that have been here for years as well.

Huh?

You must have not gotten the memo that people who use the term “douchebaggery” are in fact what the word used to mean.