I work in downtown Denver. It has a fairly active city center. I live out in suburbia.
I’ve noticed that there seems to be far more handicapped people in the downtown area, per capita, than out in my suburb area. Downtown it’s not unusual to see sight limited people using white canes or electric wheelchairs. They’re a comparitive rarity in the suburbs.
I realize that there a much higher density of people in the city than in the suburbs but there’s still seems to be a much higher percentage of those with physical limitations in the city center.
I’ve got two theories, neither or both, of course, may be right.
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Density of services. Since most of these people may be limited in their abilty to operate a car, the higher concentration of public transportation & businesses may make daily life easier. The counter to this argument is that while there’s many more businesses downtown per linear foot, the business variety isn’t very convenient. There’s no supermarket or video store, for example, downtown. The city is a entertainment/tourist center first. I’ve got a supermarket, gas station, video store, etc. all within a mile of my house in the suburbs.
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Controlled situation. This theory is based on the idea that controlled intersections, prevalent sidewalks, etc. make it easier to get around that the less organized suburbs. While that supermarket is a mile away from me, the shortest route down a dirt/gravel path. The non-path route isn’t fully covered by sidewalks - some “four-wheeling” would be necessary.
So - what’s the dope - am I flat-out wrong about the ratio of handicapped people in urban areas? If not, what’s the attraction?
-B