Neighborhood Walkability Index

Via Andrew Sullivan, this is one of the most interesting things I've seen on the web-- a site that assigns a rating to neighborhoods for their walkability, their physical location to amenities like shopping & parks.  Caveat: it's very easy to quibble with the details, as the man behind the site acknowldges:

“There is no data source out there that actually reflects the real world,” he said. But he said that the scores remain pretty good indicators for people looking for a new home. “We get lots of emails that say, ‘Hey, this bookstore closed, and you don’t have this new cafe that opened, but yeah, you pretty much have it right..."

So, I'd say this is beyond "beta", but is still a 1.0 version.  If you were going to move to another city, it would steer you in the right direction for finding a walkable street to live on.

So, how'd Chicago do?  We placed 4th out of the cities they've done so far-- behind San Francisco, New York and Boston.  And Hyde Park: 10th among Chicago neighborhoods with a score of 87.  How about corners within Hyde Park?  55th & Hyde Park Blvd seems to rate the highest with a 95.  International House only managed a 66, about the same as 53rd & Ellis, but better than 56th & Ellis, which only registered a 58.

I think this website works great as a way to compare neighborhoods at a macro level, devoid of measuring the quality of specific amenities.  Oh, I suppose I'd be less excited if it actually rebutted more of the conclusions I've reached about Hyde Park.  I think I'd argue that amenities are actually better west of the viaduct, but otherwise my core beliefs remain intact. 

Specifically, the problem with Hyde Park isn't so much Hyde Park.  Sure, there are nine neighborhoods ahead of us and there's room for improvement.  The problem is more that the neighborhoods around Hyde Park have so little to attract people, compared to the north side where there's one walkability champion after another, especially along the lake.   Our isolation makes Hyde Park seem less walkable than it really is.

And, within Hyde Park, the University is the problem.  They've chosen to make the campus area less walkable by removing the commercial properties along 55th Street during urban renewal and, ever since, rarely planning for replacement commercial space on their own land.  They keep rushing the other team's basket, but the ball has been in their court the whole time.