Walkable Neighborhood Systems

This essay defines walkable neighborhood systems, summarizes the negative impacts of suburbia on the economy as a whole, and presents indirect pricing as a major cause of suburbia. The paper proposes several pricing reforms and green mobility as solutions based on prices that reflect full costs. Several hypotheses are presented concerning the performance of walkable neighborhood systems and the concept of an inflection point for the takeoff of non†auto modes when density within a walkable area reaches economies of scale. It proposes research on old neighborhoods as a way to quantify relationships in the absence of pricing reforms. The paper discusses building types and high rise, and how at highest densities there may be diminishing returns. While it is natural for most scholars to study dominant land uses, there is a need to understand better dense walking neighborhoods as solutions to the costs of suburbia and to enhance their functioning to show a path to a sustainable future.