User:Ajelliot5/Walkability

History
While there has been a push towards better walkability in cities in recent years, there are still many obstacles that need to be cleared to achieve more complete and cohesive communties where residents won't have to travel as far to get to where they need to go. For example, the average time it has taken American commuters to get to work has actually increased from 25 to 27.6 minutes, so much is still to be done if walkability is to be realized and a lessened reliance on cars comes into fruition.

Environmental
Further, cities that developed under guiding philosophies like walkability typically see lower levels of noise pollution in their neighborhoods. This goes beyond just making quieter communities to live, less noise pollution can also mean greater biodiversity. Studies have shown that noise pollution can disrupt certain senses that animals rely on to find food, reproduce, avoid predators, etc. which can weaken ecosystems in an already human dominated environment. Society depends on these ecosystem for many ecological services such as provisioning, regulation, cultural/tourism, and supporting services and any degradation of these services can go beyond just affecting the aesthetic of a neighborhood or community but can have serious implications for livability and wellbeing on entire regions.

Cities that have a relatively walkability score also tend to have a higher concentration of green spaces which facilitate a more walkable city. These green spaces can assist in regulatory ecological services such as flooding, improving the quality of both air and water, carbon sequestration, etc. all while also improving the attractiveness of the city or town in which it's implemented in.

Increasing Walkability

 * Work from home: working from home completely eliminates any travel time associated with work and allows for people to use the time spent commuting, an average of 27.6 minutes in America. An increase in people working from home in recent years after the COVID 19 pandemic not only has cut down on fossil fuels burned, but also has other benefits like improving productivity.