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Comment by macNchz | Hacker News Reader

I think a lot of people in America simply don’t have a great concept of what living somewhere within walking distance of amenities can be like. Walking totally sucks in most of the country, so it’s very reasonable to devalue it.

I grew up in a rural place but live in NYC now. It took me a while to get into the rhythm of having things nearby. My family from suburban and rural places always seem surprised when I mention I need to run out to the grocery store at 6pm on a Tuesday. For them that’s a once a week trip at most–I can probably get there and back in the time that it takes them to get to just get to the store.

I am not making a case for the superiority of one lifestyle over the other (though I see suburbia as kind of a worst of both worlds between urban and rural), just offering my interpretation of why people in America might feel this way.

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I have a great concept of walking in a city. I enjoy the walkability of NYC. When I am there I take transit everywhere and it's great.

I live in Florida. It gets into the high 90's with 80% humidity. At the same time NYC is in the 80's with 50% humidity.

There are places that just aren't walkable certain times of the year.

>> It gets into the high 90's with 80% humidity

96 degrees and 80% humidity is a dew point of 89. The highest verified dew point ever recorded in the US is 88, and that was in Minnesota which might sound odd to people who have never heard the term "corn sweat".

But yeah, even high 90's with 65% humidity (dew point in low 80's) is not healthy to be walking around in.

Yes, my bad...humidity decreases some in the hottest part of the day. So the 80% humidity is overnight while the high 90's temperature is during the day.

As you said, still not walkable :).

> There are places that just aren't walkable certain times of the year.

Because we built them to be unwalkable. We ripped out the trees so there's no shade. We paved the soil so we could drive portable furnaces over it. You're not wrong that it's unwalkable where you live - it is also unwalkable where I live. But it not just because of natural climate.

Additional anecdote from someone who lived in a few different walkable neighbourhoods in a European city (around 180 000 people).

The main benefit was having easy access to grocery stores and cafes. For everything else that's not basically interchangeable, I still used a car. Going to work, dancing classes, well equipped gym (there are 2-3 in the city that are worth going to), other sport facilities. So I was still driving basically every day.

And even meeting at cafes and pubs meant using a car (or taxi) most of the time, as most of my friends are living in their own (also walkable) neighbourhoods.

Public transit exist, but that means 30-40 minute bus ride (with waiting, if you need to switch buses - which you often will) vs. 10 minute car ride.

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