Walk Score is a web-based tool for researching real estate to find out the walkability of a property's neighborhood.
The interface allows you to enter any address into its search engine. It then calculates the distances from that address to shopping, restaurants, bars, schools, etc. and combines them all into a formula to calculate a "walk score".
The site breaks down the scores it computes as follows (paraphrased):
* 90-100: Can live fairly easily without a car
* 70-90: It's possible to get by without a car
* 50-70: Some businesses within walking distance, some require the use of a bike, public transportation or a car
* 25-50: Few destinations are within walking range, most require the use of a bike, public transportation or a car
* 0-25: Forget about walking
The site does admit its faults. It doesn't include factors such as street width, block length, crime, traffic, the availability of sidewalks, topography, the availability of public transit, freeways, bodies of water, or weather in its calculations.
It's fun anyway.
One thing that I noticed right away is the influence an adjacent neighborhood can have on the score. For example, Hopple and Colerain in Camp Washington is home to few walkable amenities, but the software draws into the formula destinations from both Clifton and Clifton Heights. Queensgate scores as moderately walkable, but I wouldn't try it.
Also, the score seems to have a socioeconomic aspect. Some neighborhoods near the bottom of the list are completely walkable, but the lack of economic investment lowers the number of available destinations.
And it's pretty clear that the public housing projects are little isolated islands, built without taking into account the residents' needs to actually go and buy things--or work--in a nearby commercial district.
I have tried my best to approximate the "center" of each neighborhood*, which is listed after the neighborhood name. These are subject to debate of course, and please feel free to post your findings.
The purpose of this project is to find out how walkable an area would be for someone living near one of these centers.
(NEXT WEEK: The rest of Hamilton County)
Car-free living
Downtown (Fountain Square): 97
Over-the-Rhine (Vine and Liberty): 91
Borrow a car every now and then
Oakley (Oakley Square): 88
Pleasant Ridge (Montgomery and Ridge): 86
Northside (Hamilton and Blue Rock): 85
Prospect Hill (Sycamore and Milton): 83
Clifton Heights (Clifton and McMillan): 82
Hyde Park (Hyde Park Square): 82
Clifton (Clifton and Ludlow): 80
East Price Hill (Warsaw and St. Lawrence): 80
Corryville (Corry and Short Vine): 78
Walnut Hills (Peebles Corner): 78
Mount Adams (St. Gregory and Pavilion): 77
Mount Auburn (Auburn and Dorchester): 77
Fairview (Ravine and Warner): 71
East Hyde Park (Erie and Marburg): 71
O'Bryonville (Madison and Cinnamon): 71
West End (Linn and Liberty): 71
You should own a car, but you won't always need it
Mount Lookout (Mount Lookout Square): 66
Roselawn (Reading and Summit): 65**
East Walnut Hills: (DeSales Corner): 63
College Hill (Hamilton and Cedar): 62
Mount Washington (Beechmont, Corbly and Sutton): 58
West Price Hill (Glenway and Cleves Warsaw): 58
Bond Hill (Paddock and California): 57**
Carthage (Vine and 70th): 57
Westwood (Harrison and Montana): 57
Avondale (Avondale Towne Center): 55
Hartwell (Vine and Galbraith): 55
Lower Price Hill (Eighth and State): 54
University Heights (McMicken and Marshall): 54
Madisonville (Madison and Whetsel): 52
Queensgate (Union Terminal): 52
Buy a gas discount card
South Cumminsville/Millvale (Beekman and Dreman): 48
Columbia Tusculum (Columbia Pkwy and Delta): 46
Camp Washington (Hopple and Colerain): 45
Kennedy Heights (Montgomery and Kennedy): 43
East End (Eastern and Setchell): 42
Paddock Hills (Paddock and Tennessee): 40
Sayler Park (Gracely and Monitor): 40
Evanston (Five Points): 38
North Fairmount (Beekman and Hopple): 37
Mount Airy (Colerain and North Bend): 35
Winton Terrace (Dutch Colony and Winneste): 32
Linwood (Eastern and Linwood): 32
Spring Grove Village (N Edgewood and Epworth): 31
Sedamsville (River and Delhi): 29
South Fairmount (Queen City and Grand): 29
North Avondale (Reading and Paddock): 28
East Westwood (Baltimore and McHenry): 26
English Woods (Community Center): 26
Help...I'm trapped!
Fay Apartments (3800 President): 23
Riverside (River and Anderson Ferry): 18
California (Kellogg and Eldorado): 15
* Winton Hills doesn't really have a center. I have included Winton Terrace instead. Also, I've included the subneighborhoods of East Hyde Park, O'Bryonville and Prospect Hill. Generally, I will put the "center" in the middle of a business district or at the busiest intersection.
** Jordan Crossing (Swifton Commons): 72
"Lead, Learn, Serve" in the Queen City
4 hours ago
13 comments:
Why is "walk score" so important to you? It appears that you are one of the nostalgia nuts that wish we could go back to a year that you dream about but have never experienced.
It could happen, I suppose, when hell freezes over or if gas prices rose to fifty dollars a gallon today and one hundred dollars a gallon fifteen years from now. And if that happened, growth in our economy would come to a halt. Washington would never allow that to happen because they like taxes and the resulting power too much.
Why would one want to walk to a grocery store and then have to carry home groceries even ten blocks? Prices of groceries would also rise to the level of convenience store prices.
What thrill is there walking through neighborhoods where all that you can see is only the fronts of houses void of humans. The humans are inside with air conditioning or heat and occasionally in the rear yard. Unless you can get off admiring the facades of the same buildings over and over again, I would think that walking would get boring and it would certainly be time consuming.
I have lived in cities where I didn't want or need to have a car, but Cincinnati is not and never will be one of them.
exactly Dieter,
You hit the nail right on the head.
Thats why you want to live downtown, I can't walk a block without running into someone I know. I can't understand why people want to live in the suburbs either.
Although I can imagine what you must look like, heaven forbid someone would walk farther than their car!
Depending on where you are, walking does not always take longer than driving. For example, I have a 10-15 minute walk to work. Most people who drive to work are on the road longer than this. And don't forget about the amount of time it can take to circle around a parking lot or garage to find a parking space! There is also a cost savings involved. I don't need to spend a ton on gas for the car, and the premiums for my car insurance went down when they found out my husband and I both walk to work.
I agree that I would not want to walk home from a grocery store carrying 30 canned goods or something like that. But, I can easily walk to a butcher shop for meat or a bakery for bread. In both of these cases, I'm getting a much better product for not that much more money.
5chw4r7z has something. Whenever I walk around downtown, I almost always run into someone I know. In my my ten months of living downtown, I have met more of my neighbors than I did in the 3.5 years I spent in my suburban home.
Yeah, I don't know how they do it in NYC. It must be so miserable to live sans car (and be forced to buy small batches of fresh groceries) that no one would ever want to live there.
I think walking is so much more rewarding than driving. I would hate to have to stay cramped inside a cage, avoiding all the wonderful Cincinnati drivers, and sitting in traffic all day.
Dieter,
How could you glean from my post how important Walk Score is to me? I made no editorial comments about be pro- or anti-walking.
That being said, human beings are built for walking, not for sitting. Walking is also good for your health, and it costs nothing to travel by foot.
Luckily there are still people who enjoy walking around, taking in the intricacies of their surroundings, and chatting up the neighbors. There are actually places in this city where this sort of life dows exist, and pedestrian-scaled developments are coming to a suburb near you.
Kevin LeMaster said...
Dieter,
How could you glean from my post how important Walk Score is to me? I made no editorial comments about be pro- or anti-walking.
You would not have spent the time writing the article if you weren't looking to challenge the long and accepted trend of less walking and more driving.
xumelanie! ( and Sean)
You wrote: But, I can easily walk to a butcher shop for meat or a bakery for bread. In both of these cases, I'm getting a much better product for not that much more money.
Do you live in Cincinnati? Where can you easily walk to a bakery and a butcher and be getting a much better product than say Hyde Park Krogers or Servati's? Do you only eat bread and meat?
Sean!
Where in Cincinnati does one wait in traffic all day? I can't remember the last traffic jam in Cincinnati that I could not find my way around. Are you new to Cincinnati?
I have lived in Cincinnati my entire life, and I actually now live downtown. I can walk to Avril and Bleh Butcher shop on Court Street (which has the best meat I've ever tasted) and Shadeau Bread (best bread and pastries I've ever had).
And no, I don't eat just meat and bread. I was just using these as an example. I also buy fresh produce at Cianciollo's and Findlay Market.
I would also like to point out that we still own a car. We just own one instead of two. I still make some trips to the grocery store In fact, I just went to Trader Joe's last night to stock up on cereal and other stuff. I'm not anti-car, I just prefer walking places.
"You would not have spent the time writing the article if you weren't looking to challenge the long and accepted trend of less walking and more driving."
Dieter,
Honestly, it didn't take me very long to write that.
I often write about things that I'm fairly indifferent to but that might appeal to readers. On this issue, I am definitely in favor of development that keeps the pedestrian in mind, but for you to come to that conclusion simply through the article I posted is quite a logical leap.
Also, I do own a car and I do drive it.
Dyou hate walking that much? What do you care if others like to walk?
Dieter,
You seem to have anger issues. This is obviously a hot-button issue with you.
Is it not possible to write on something innocuous for simple writer and reader gratification?
I think Kevin might be on to something: You must really have it in for those walkers!
Dieter is an idiot, don't waste your time with him.
The articles you've written about walkability are absolutely great and will help anyone wanting to move to a new place in this region. I moved from highland hts. to Cinci approximately a year ago. At that time it was pretty hard for me to figure out the neighborhood which had high walkability. So I had to allocate time to visit couple of different places every weekend. Now you made it seem like a piece of cake which I could've done without even leaving my chair.
Great Work!!!
Thanks!
I still stress that one should visit prospective neighborhoods or at least ask around, though. Walk Score still has major issues, such as:
* Relying on possibly inaccurate or incomplete Google information
* Treating shopping malls as "walkable" just because there are a lot of stores
* Measuring distances "as the crow flies" instead of by the length of streets, sidewalks or trails.
They make a great guideline, though, and they continue to tweak the algorithm. It should be much better as time goes on.
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