Foot Traffic Ahead: Ranking Walkable Urbanism in America’s Largest Metros - Boston Ranked Third! - June 19, 2014

Foot Traffic Ahead:  Ranking Walkable Urbanism in America’s Largest Metros

A new report from LOCUS, a coalition of real estate investors that's part of Smart Growth America, advises developers to invest in “walkable urban places”, including those in suburbs. It ranks the top 30 U.S. metro areas on their current level of “walkable urbanism” and projects their future rankings.  It ranked Boston third among the 30 metros currently (behind Washington and New York) and first in terms of future potential.

The study posits that many metro areas are experiencing a long term shift toward development in walkable urban places, which it defines as “regionally significant places”, including suburban town centers, with concentrations of employment, retail, civic and other assets.  It found that office rents in walkable districts were 74% higher than in drivable suburbs and sees this premium as reflecting a preference that is likely to continue.  It notes that “walkable urban places” take up just 1 percent of the available acreage, but contain up to 50% of the office, hotel, apartment, and retail square footage.  It sees this shift as a move away from sprawl and also finds the potential for economic growth in its continuation, as residents in walkable places tend to have above average levels of education.

Washington and Boston both rank highly because their walkable places are balanced between central city and suburban locations, unlike New York. The study identifies 37 walkable urban places in Boston metro, including several gateway cities.  The report concludes with a cautionary note about the potential impact of such development on housing.  While the majority of development to date in walkable urban places has occurred in “areas of concentrated upper middle class housing separated from concentrated minority housing”, little is known in detail, but one can expect that strategies will be needed to create and preserve affordable housing as future development occurs.