We just purposely moved to an actual town. One developed in the late 1800s. I spent most of my life in suburban sprawl. I love living in a walking town.
I did live in NYC when I was little but that was 50 years ago.
Me too, but I’ve never owned a car there. I left when I was 14, and went back briefly after college, but then came back to Indiana again, and have been here since.
The house I rented in Little Rock was located in a neighborhood where construction began in 1953 and there wasn’t a single sidewalk throughout the whole division. At the time the neighborhood was built, there really wasn’t a lot close by and I suppose people didn’t think sidewalks were a necessity for walking through the neighborhood. I live in a suburb now and my neighborhood was built in the 1990s and we have sidewalks. Though it’s weird, the adjacent neighborhood built in the 70s has no sidewalks and another adjacent neighborhood has some streets without sidewalks.
I’m pretty sure it’s building developers rather than the government who installs sidewalks. And so far as walking leading to more vagrancy or undesirables, I’ve heard that complain made about roads but seldom sidewalks.
I’m sure you are right, but the developers presumably follow municipal and state codes. In Canada, most communities do have sidewalks although I believe in my town there is currently a conflict between the city (that wants to install a sidewalk for disabled access) and suburban homeowners who wish their street remains without a sidewalk. I might have those details wrong. Clearly, sidewalks are more important on busier streets than cul-de-sacs.
In my town the sidewalks are owned and maintained by the town. Developers don’t have a choice, any more than they have a choice about installing roads.
But in the 80s I did work with a woman who lived in a place without sidewalks, and said the neighbors didn’t want sidewalks because it would make the place more accessible to thieves or something. Around here, the thieves all use cars to remove their loot, and I really can’t imagine that the lack of sidewalks would discourage them anywhere. But that was her opinion.
My sentiments exactly.
See “built environment,” in particular the section that relates to physical activity:
After decades of optimizing our cities and suburbs to accommodate the needs of motorists, we’re finally starting to realize that we’d be better off if we did more to accommodate pedestrians.
Admiral Spruance walked 8-10 miles a day and was by all accounts in great shape.
Biking no, but running I could see. The debate between running and walking is common, and the general result seems to be that walking is overall more beneficial if you aren’t trying to lose weight since running typically leads to more injuries (overuse/accidents). I’m still running, but once I’m over 60 I’m looking into walking some of those miles.
I recall reading some place that running and walking both burn about the same number of calories per mile, although, of course, you can burn more in the same amount of time by running.
And you get more cardio running, but if you need something low impact for other reasons, walking either fast, over rough terrain or up and down hills, will get your heart rate up to the point of being beneficial.
It really depends on your goals.
If you want to increase your endurance, either in general, or for another sport, or you have weight you really want to lose in a specific period of time for some reason, running may be the only thing that will do.
But if you are just trying to reach your endurance threshold for general health, and and get enough exercise to maintain your weight, improve your circulation, and such, walking is fine. But not strolling, not sauntering. Walk with a purpose. Don’t stop every 30 feet, unless you are rehabbing an injury or recovering from surgery, and have a goal to sit every n feet today, n + 5’ tomorrow, n + 8’ the next day, etc. Walk till you break a sweat and your pulse pounds.
Right now I’m walking around the block, (a 3x3 block) which is about 25 minutes at a brisk pace, around 2km/1mi, making sure to break a sweat each time (even if only due to ambient temp). But I seem to have reached a plateau on how much weight loss I can achieve, so I might double the length, and walk twice around, to see if that makes more of a difference.
As the OP, I’ve neglected this thread horribly, but that’s also why I asked the question. Before the pandemic, I’d go the gym enough to maintain my health and physique, and it was mostly with weights followed by some running. Being concerned that I wouldn’t be able to go to the gym, I voiced some concern. Running Coach sent me this exercise program, which has been great: The PERFECT Home Workout (Sets and Reps Included) - YouTube
As I mentioned in another thread, I got vaxxed up so decided to work from a beach condo just north of Miami Beach for a month. Since I had no car, and the town center is about a 1/2 mile away, I’ve been walking like crazy for 3 weeks. Now I’m still doing that workout program here, and also swimming in the ocean, but also with all that additional walking. As far as I can tell, I still look the same and weigh the same.
Updated measurements show that running burns more calories per mile than walking, roughly 25% more. But of course, there are other consideration besides calories.
Is there any evidence for this? I mean, if you saunter, you obviously need to saunter a lot to go the same distance as you could cover in a brisk walk, but if you saunter quite a lot, it seems to me that that would still be a vast improvement to your health over a sedentary lifestyle.
I’m pushing back a little on this because I dislike the paradigm that exercise has to make you uncomfortable, has to be something you push yourself to do, it can’t just be part of a normal life. There’s a lot of the world where normal day-to-day life involves 5 or 10 miles of walking, but all of it is functional–none of it involves pushing yourself past your natural speed. Near as I can tell, people that do that are in vastly superior health than people from sedentary cultures, even if they never get their heartrate up much.
I always balance my time between walking and sitting on the couch. 
I’ll have to take your word for it. I can walk a mile quite easily but running a mile…not so much.
There are some metabolic functions which don’t really kick in at low-levels of exertion. For example, aerobic exercise causes fat to release a hormone called adiponectin, which helps with weight loss and reduces the risk of diabetes. That hormone can also trigger the body to move inner abdominal fat to instead be stored under the skin. Abdominal fat around organs can contribute to health issues. I don’t think that a leisurely stroll is rigorous enough to trigger as many exertion-type benefits to be produced. Even if a leisurely stroll and brisk walk over a fixed distance both burned the same number of calories, the higher exertion level of the brisk walk would cause your body to have to adapt to that higher stress level and produce more changes in your cardiovascular systems, muscular systems, metabolic systems, etc. But as you note, light exercise will still produce many significant benefits over being sedentary that makes it very worthwhile.
A bit over 50 years ago I used to walk all the time from the UN to the East Village. When we visited NY for 3 weeks pre-Covid I walked from 90th street to the village, and it was just as enjoyable as 50 years before.
The summer after I graduated from high school I was a messenger, before they used bikes, and I spend most of the day walking around midtown, only using the Subway when going long distances to Wall Street, for instance.
I’m almost 70, and I can walk 40 minutes at high speed (like I said, I’m from NY) without my pulse pounding or much of a sweat. I used to walk longer then that, but my bladder no longer allows it. That was my Covid test - I figured if I could arrive home without panting I must be okay.
I don’t know for sure about health benefits, but all my many doctors are thrilled I walk so much. My neighborhood is great for walking, and we have lots of other walkers around here.
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/ATVBAHA.112.300878
Bottom line: when same energy is expended similar benefits obtained.
I also state the following with some reluctance as I enjoy my exercising alone, but there is very good evidence that exercise that is also social play (walking or running together, a racquet sport, etc.) has extra huge benefits.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326234013_Socially_Interactive_Exercise_Improves_Longevity_The_Power_of_Playing_with_Friends
I once attended a cardiac seminar at a local hospital meeting room. The doctor said the best thing you do for heart health is walk up stairs. Then he gave us a challenge: “Go out the in the hall and see if you can find the stairs”. Medical architecture keeps them so well hidden, they are impossible to find.
Since then, I always make it a point to find and use stairs in medical buildings.