I lived the first 35 years of my life in a walkable community and it kind of sucked. https://twitter.com/Bro_Neill/status/1348355127216910336

Everything in New York is 45 minutes to an hour from everything else because of basic delays inherent in subway use. The subway itself is as famously unpleasant as you think. Trying to move anything heavy, bulky, or awkward by hand is a mess, especially to a walk-up.

The streets you pass through to get anywhere have you in a constant state of readiness to react which is draining in a way that’s hard to describe. Some of it is crime, much of it is constantly having to be on the watch for bike riders, runners, crazy people, the unaware, etc.

Oh it’s 95 degrees out and east coast humid? Fuck you, 20 block walk. Oh it’s 28 degrees out and your beard is frozen? Fuck you, 20 block walk. Raining, sleeting, snowing, in nor’easters and heat waves, fuck you, it’s the same 20 block walk. Walkability is a mobster.

I was a relatively physically fit young man in those years. What do you think life is like for someone who’s older, less fit, or has some sort of physical disability? I had a relative who, even having the resources to get around by car, was effectively house bound at times.

“But that’s just New York”

You’re not undoing the urban transition, guys. If you want high density and a lack of car traffic, this is what you’re going to get. The fantasy of walkability is the fantasy of toughing out discomfort for a chic 20’s urban millennial lifestyle.