Rethinking: Location, location, location

Leave the car keys on the hook by the door and walk to your destination: it hardly seems revolutionary, but that simple act can be the greenest thing you do all day.

The trouble is that for some of us, there's little choice but to drive. The grocery store, park, or library is just too far away.

It's enough to make you want to move. But before you do, check out Walk Score.

Type in your address and the site gives a score from 1-100 and shows a map marked with all the places you might go.

Among other things, the site points out that choosing to live in a walkable neighborhood may result in:

• Better health,
• Stronger local businesses, and
• Reduced carbon emissions.

For fun, you can check out some celebrities' houses, like the working ranch in Crawford, Texas, or Bill Gates' house.

We ended up with a 75, but AT's headquarters scored an almost-perfect 98... so, AT, how walkable is your (dream) home?

Comments (5)

83 for me. Unfortunately, there's no way for them to assess quality -- for instance, they list 8 grocery stores within walking distance of me, but they're all liquor stores, 7-11s and tiny ethnic food stores. It's at least a mile and a half to get to a store where I could buy organic/locally grown anything. It's also unattractive and has fairly high crime.

Meanwhile, my parents' house gets a 74, but it's in a beautiful, safe neighborhood, surrounded by high quality, mostly independent shops and restaurants.

Kudos to Walk Score for acknowledging this, though.

posted by dancingspring on July 30th 2007 at 8:38am
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Yeah, mine's a 6. And that involves walking on a pretty unsafe highway, to a convenience store.

It's a good idea, but I suspect that if you live within (actual) walking distance of places, you'll know it without Walk Score.

posted by Joan A. on July 30th 2007 at 10:26am
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Joan, I'm sure you're right about neighborhoods that people already know well. (Although the listings in my neighborhood turned up a few places I didn't know about yet and will probably check out--even though we've been here 9 years.)

This seems like a great tool to use if you're considering moving, or if you're trying to figure out which hotel to stay at on vacation in an unfamiliar city.

posted by AngieK on July 30th 2007 at 11:46am
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Hey, and I just noticed that the graphic up there is in Seattle! Jonathanb, are you a local?

posted by AngieK on July 30th 2007 at 11:47am
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What a great tool! I agree with others that there are a few shortcomings. The big one for me is not having transit stop info, which Google Maps does now have for some cities. The creator does acknowledge the site's shortcomings -- http://www.walkscore.com/how-it-doesnt-work.shtml . And hopefully over time some of these can be addressed.

posted by lilleprins on July 30th 2007 at 12:56pm
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