From walkability scores to neighbourhood design principles — a resource on the infrastructure, policy, and planning behind livable streets in Canada.
Yonge Street pedestrian mall, Toronto. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Each article examines a different layer of how walkable neighbourhoods come to be — from the metrics used to measure them to the infrastructure that makes them function.
The metrics behind Walk Score and related indices — what counts, what gets missed, and how Canadian municipalities use the data.
Mixed-use zoning, block size, street-level activation, and the 15-minute neighbourhood concept in Canadian planning policy.
Pedestrian bridges, protected crossings, cycling networks, and the particular challenges of winter walkability in Canada.
In Canadian cities, the ability to complete daily errands on foot — picking up groceries, reaching a transit stop, walking a child to school — is closely tied to neighbourhood form. Planning decisions made decades ago, from street grid layouts to zoning categories, continue to determine whether residents need a car for everyday tasks.
Walkability research has grown considerably over the past two decades. Researchers, planners, and public health agencies in Canada now treat pedestrian access as a measurable quality of the built environment, not simply an aesthetic preference. Indices like Walk Score provide a starting point, while more detailed assessments examine intersection density, sidewalk continuity, and the proximity of amenities by actual travel distance.
This resource examines the mechanisms behind those measurements and the planning tools that influence them.
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