Came across on interesting site today: Walk Score.
Typed in 5 Main St Lockport NY as a test and was surprised with the score of 97/100 points. (the location of my house drops to an 88/100).
Walk Score helps people find walkable places to live. Walk Score calculates the walkability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc. Walk Score measures how easy it is to live a car-lite lifestyle—not how pretty the area is for walking.
The site goes in to the limitations of their algorithm (street width/length, crime, bodies of water, etc) but is an interesting measure nonetheless. I feel it goes to show that the area immediate of DT has the infrastructure and amenities to lay the foundation for better things ahead. Figuring a way to get more bodies (and income) to live in this immediate area would only go to fuel more amenities. Market the area to those who desire to have the option of walking.
It does list the amenities that are used in the calculation to the right and maps them. It makes for a nice city directory overview. Places can be added or removed to update the results.
The city's strength is in it's walkability. It is the trait that must be reinforced to fuel future reinvestment and growth. Cars need to be accounted for but should not have a higher priority than us, the users. One can go spend a nice afternoon at Shimer and Transit for that experience.
1 comments:
Humm, were the forums killed over at the US&J site?
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