Make America Walkable Again
City of Yes, And… #9
Welcome to City of Yes, And…, my monthly bonus essay for paid subscribers. These pieces are a little more “voicey,” often more irreverent, and (I hope) always a fun but thoughtful read. All subscribers receive my free weekly essays, but paid subscribers get to start their Mondays with a bit more merriment.
“Walkability” is one of those buzzwords that’s occasionally seized on by certain types as proof of some kind of elitist/urbanist conspiracy—and the elitists don’t necessarily help. Take the “15-minute City” concept. As Addison Del Mastro notes, academics took a timeless idea and, by rebranding it in convoluted jargon, made it sound alien and threatening. But the basic concept is simple: wouldn’t it be great if you could live within a short walk of most of your daily needs? In our hyperpartisan and culture-war-obsessed political times, this concept of a neighborhood—the basic social building block of human civilization—was compared to an open-air prison. Nobody wants to be controlled, least of all by some namby-pamby pencil-pusher with soft hands and an e-bike.
Of course, walkable neighborhoods aren’t conspiracies—they’re just really good places to live, and people pay dearly to enjoy them.
