Walkable neighborhoods

Neighborhoods need to be delibertely developed so that all of the common conveniences are located in a neighborhood and all are reachable in an easy walk which I define as twenty minutes. Neighborhoods should include offices and businesses. It should incude grocery stores, clothing stores and restaurants. It should include parks and other commons for people to meet and have conversations.

Most districts in the United States are zoned as residential or commercial. Such zoning destroys cohesive neighborhoods.It forces people into vehicles to run errands. Vehicles hinder interactions between people.

What makes a neighborhood walkable?
Several items contribute to the walkability of a neighborhood.
 * A center: Walkable neighborhoods have a center, whether it's a main street or a public space.
 * People: Enough people for businesses to flourish and for public transit to run frequently.
 * Mixed income, mixed use: Affordable housing located near businesses.
 * Parks and public space: Plenty of public places to gather and play.
 * Pedestrian design: Buildings are close to the street, parking lots are relegated to the back.
 * Schools and workplaces: Close enough that most residents can walk from their homes.
 * Complete streets: Streets designed for bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit.

One neighborhood at a time
Building a neighborhood is easy. There is plenty of existing room in cities. Where? It is in the shopping plazas and shopping malls. If you add the area of the buildings and the parking lots of a large mall you can make thirty two acres -- a twentieth of a square mile. In Paris 100,000 people live in a residential square mile. Therefore 5,000 could live in each ex-shopping mall. That's 5,000 people living a happy life in a walkable neighborhood. With buildings no taller than 6 floors. Cities are full of dead and near dead shopping malls and plazas. Urban renewal starts there.