What can you get to within a 15-minute walk of your house?
A recent YouGov survey asked Americans what they think they should be able to get to within a 15-minute walk of their house.
Of these choices, I can currently walk to all of them from my apartment, aside from a university (no biggie, I’m not currently studying, although there is a Tafe within walking distance), a hospital, and a sports arena.
How many can you get to with a 15 minute walk from your house?
#fuckcars #walkability #urbanism #UrbanPlanning @fuck_cars #walking
the only ones i don’t have within 15 min walk from me
- a university
- a hospital
I do have a local GP within that distance though so i’m fine with not having a hospital within walking distance. Plus there is a hospital not too far away, just not within 15 mins.
I have a college about 25 mins walk away too
I live in the centre of a large british town though so having everything on my doorstep is kind of expected
@ajsadauskas @fuck_cars I’m in Toronto’s Danforth area, so basically everything except a professional sports arena is within 5-20 mins walk.
The framing of that poll has such a sinister American conspiracy theorist edge: “if your local government decided…” — like having these things nearby can only be forced upon you and you must fight back.
Interesting poll. Did you notice ‘gas station’ hiding in there?
That’s irrelevant if you’re walking, and also irrelevant if you’re driving - so, a red herring. The only time you go to a gas station is when you’re driving and your need gas.
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@CStamp @c_9 @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars many people envision grocery shopping as too big to manage without a car. They are buying large quantities to take advantage of sales or bulk discounts.
@ocursedspite @CStamp @c_9 @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars and then throwing out 40% of the food when it rots before they can eat it
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@CStamp @ocursedspite @c_9 @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars it’s not a hard and fast rule and maybe it doesn’t apply to you personally (I don’t think I throw out that much food either and I try really hard not to), but yes, Americans waste a ton of our food supply by just throwing it in the garbage. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-why-americans-throw-out-165-billion-in-food-every-year-2016-07-22
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@CStamp @ocursedspite @c_9 @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars I was just trying to give you something accessible so you didn’t have to go searching for the information. It’s also possible that I was misremembering the exact thing that that number was representing but Americans throw out a lot of their food. That was the statement I was making. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956053X19300194#b0085
@CStamp @c_9 @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars Bus stop is weirder. Do they want to drive to one?
@seanddotmedotuk @CStamp @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars Easy: “the people who use bus stops are not welcome in my neighbourhood.”
@c_9 @CStamp @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars Thankfully, I don’t think people here have reached that state of mind. Lots of people would never get on a bus themselves, but I think there’s a general feeling that they are a good thing, just not good enough to actually use.
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@CStamp @seanddotmedotuk @c_9 @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars measuring travel time should include parking at both ends of the trip when driving. And the level of concentration required to drive is more stressful – I would rather be able to read or knit or something (if the distance is not walkable) than have to pay attention to the road.
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@CStamp @c_9 @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars Yes, I know, for my commute, it is quicker to walk than to take the bus!
However adding bus lanes, banning cars from city centres etc could make the times closer.
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@CStamp @c_9 @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars
At the local Safeway it is assumed you drive because every receipt comes with a gas coupon. If you arrive with a backpack, for carrying, it is assumed you are a thief. The changes would mean people would need to check their assumptions and possibly adjust corporate enabling.
@CStamp @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars Most charitably, they don’t think food security without a car should be legislated. Less charitably, they want to ensure the car-less never live near them.
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@CStamp @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars Also very important to remember that “riffraff” is almost exclusively a racist definition for these situations. It adds more depth to all these situations and the solutions. Every story of bad planning is about keeping Black folk, Indigenous folk, or basically anyone not sufficiently white, out of [insert neighbourhood name here]. Class and income come into play too, but always subservient to race.
@CStamp @c_9 @fuck_cars It would also be interesting to see a regional and a rural/inner urban/suburban breakdown as well.
I suspect the numbers might be very different between, say, someone who lives in the heart of Brooklyn vs a rural town in Idaho (where everything in town is or could be a 15-minute walk) vs a suburb of Dallas or Atlanta.
@ajsadauskas @CStamp @c_9 @fuck_cars I live next door to a single woman who is solidly middle class, lives within 5 walking-minutes of a grocery store and restaurants. She never EVER walks, preferring instead to fire up her oversized, gas guzzling, Cadillac Escalade (to drive 60 seconds).
Why?
Because America. 🤦🏼🤦🏼🤦🏼
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@ajsadauskas @fuck_cars Great question! I can do all of these in a fifteen minute (ish) walk except:
- a hospital (though I can walk to my doctor’s office in 15 min)
- a university (if you count community colleges, I have one about 30 minutes walk away)
- shopping mall, movie theater, and sports arenaEvery last one of these is accessible within 20-ish minutes if I use public transit, though.
Have everything except university and sports arena. But for me it makes sense being in the NJ/NYC metro area.
Bar should be way higher on that list. Seems a lot of people haven’t experienced the freedom of being able to walk home drunk from a bar, or at least take a subway/bus, without worrying about dealing with a car. Or worse relying on the friend who had a few beers but is still “good” to drive.
Pretty bizarre results. Park and bus stop should be 100.
University, hospital, mall, theatre, arena? Those are massive, you can’t have one 15 minute walk from everywhere.
Now bars are the one commercial item that’s easy to have around.
I’ve got all those things in my suburb of Melbourne! Well the hospital might be more like 20-25.
Living in an urban part of Ottawa, Ontario. The neighborhood is called Centretown West
Grocery: Not a supermarket, but right across the street from my building, there’s a corner store that sells all of the relevant staple foods like bread, milk, eggs, some produce, dry groceries, etc.
Pharmacy: Yes actually a couple of options.
Bus stop: There is one near me, and I’m also only about 10 minutes from the metro light rail station.
Restaurant: I live near the city’s “little Italy” and “Chinatown” areas, so I’m spoiled for choice here. I also live near a stroad which means fast food options.
Post office: They are commonly in pharmacies here in Canada, and the one near me is no exception
Bank: Yes, in fact I could probably access a branch for all of the major Canadian banks within a 15-20 minute walk.
Elementary school: Yes there’s one close to me. A high school too.
Daycare: Yup, a few actually.
Hospital: Not within walking, but there are clinics
Barber: Quite a few over in Little Italy, including the one I go to.
Bar: Tons along the strip of Little Italy
Mall: Nope, but lots of shopping options at individual shops around me. Malls are gross anyway.
University: I am about a 20 minute walk to Carleton, and the walk would be through the park mentioned above
I’m only missing 3 here in Philadelphia, a hospital, movie theater, and university. Though there are plenty of urgent care facilities around my location. And if we include a 15 minute bus ride, I can get to all three. I had to think in where the nearest theater was.
@ajsadauskas @fuck_cars I live in Philadelphia, so all those are within a 15 minute walk from me except the university, mall, movie theater, and sports arena. But these are all accessible by transit, whether bus or subway.
On the short distance, the nearest bar to me is 40 ft (12m) away!
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@ajsadauskas @fuck_cars 57% of respondents prefer to drink and drive.
@ajsadauskas @fuck_cars I’m in Riverside South in Ottawa, so I can only walk fifteen minutes to a park, a bus stop, and an elementary school (which also, I believe, operates a day care). That’s it. But if I expand that to half-an-hour, I can add a pharmacy and a post office in one direction and *maybe* a restaurant and a grocery store in another (I’m not sure if I’d get there in half an hour, though. Might be a bit longer).
And lord knows the bus stop in Ottawa, via OC Transpo is… a gamble.
Everything but a movie theater, but when the street car extension is done, I’ll have one on the streetcar line.
It is pretty glorious.
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@ajsadauskas @fuck_cars who doesn’t want a park 15mn walking from their home? SMH.
