Why Building a 20-Minute Walkable City Is Harder Than You Think

Shoppers walk around Pitt Street Mall in Sydney, Australia, on June 7, 2022. Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Walkable cities are beneficial for health, living costs, and potentially the environment, but retrofitting cities to become more walkable is difficult and costly.

A good example of walkability is the 20-minute neighbourhood, where all needs, for example, shops and services, schools, and parks, can be met within a 20-minute round trip on foot.

The construction cost of an ideal 20-minute neighbourhood with 30 dwellings per hectare is estimated at around $800 million (US$495 million). However, the cost of retrofitting an area far outweighs designing and building a walkable neighbourhood from the outset.

Senior Lecturer Lucy Gunn from RMIT University said there are also opportunity costs, such as our health, social connection, and opportunities.

“It’s more than just money,” Gunn told The Epoch Times.

Benefits of Walkable Cities

Senior research fellow from the University of Queensland, Laurel Johnson, said evidence suggests people who walk regularly in their neighbourhoods have improved physical and mental health, owing to exercise and increased social connection.

“Walking facilitates chance encounters with neighbours, nature and strangers and exposes people to their local environments,” she told The Epoch Times.

Another potential benefit of walkable cities is a reduction in vehicular traffic, which could reduce emissions and improve travel times for people remaining on the roads.

Well-designed walkable cities promote walking, cycling, and public transport use and reduce car dependency.

“There is evidence that when people live in walkable neighbourhoods, it does have a reduced impact on greenhouse gas emissions,” RMIT Professor Billie Giles-Corti told The Epoch Times.

However, Gunn mentions that Paris, which is highly walkable in its central area, has about 350,000 to 500,000 vehicles passing through daily.

Despite its walkability, the city still needed to implement a Limited Traffic Zone to reduce traffic and emissions, which is more likely due to the high volume of visitors and tourists rather than residents.

Gunn also said walkable cities are arguably cheaper for residents because walking and using public transport is much cheaper than all the costs associated with owning a car.

Additionally, better physical health corresponds to reductions in healthcare costs.

Yet, Giles-Corti said walkable cities are currently more expensive to live in due to their high quality of life. For example, many walkable suburbs in Australia are attractive places for people to live, which raises prices.

Costs of Walkable Cities

Gunn said monetary costs are complex and dependent in part on the geography of the country, the location of the city, and the city design.

Giles-Corti said that density levels are one of the key variables in determining the cost of building walkable neighbourhoods.

For example, a 20-minute neighbourhood built at 15 dwellings per hectare (dph) was estimated at $1.6 billion (US$990 million), double the price of a neighbourhood built at 30 dph.

As a starting point, higher densities, around four to eight storeys, are needed to provide enough residents to support shops, services, and good street infrastructure.

However, reaching this level of density is another challenge to retrofitting existing areas, as many cities were built as low-density developments.

As a result of the lower-density design in Australian cities, many people will not be able to access their essential needs on foot, so cycling infrastructure is required.

Giles-Corti said investing in cycling infrastructure to get people to the major public transport hubs and activity centres is another strategy to be factored in that would also cost money.

People are seen walking along the Bondi Beach boardwalk in Sydney, Australia on July 14, 2021. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Features of a Walkable City

The walking routes in walkable cities have intentionally designed wide, shaded pedestrian paths with even surfaces, which minimises interaction between cars and pedestrians.

In general, Australian cities are walkable, though some perform better than others.

Inner city areas are more walkable due to more residents, shops, and good streets, while middle and outer suburbs are not as walker-friendly.

Professor Giles-Corti said the key point is to have more destinations.

“People walk because there’s places to walk to,” she said.

Senior research fellow Laurel Johnson said lighting is also essential for encouraging walking after dark.

Research in southeast Queensland identified lighting as the priority concern for women and girls. It found that an absence of lighting prevented girls and women from walking and exercising at night.

Geography and weather in the city can also constrain walkability.

“As climate variation is and will continue to impact every Australian city, the conditions for the walkable Australian city will change,” Johnson said.

“More cover for unexpected wet and hot weather is needed.”

Johnson added that walkable cities connect walkers to places of interest, including public transport, jobs, shops, education, natural environment, and recreation.

“Having points of interest along walking routes such as public art, seating and signage are also important in the walkable city,” she said.