Walkability is the ability to safely walk between homes and businesses, transit stations, and other amenities in a reasonably short amount of time. Promoting walkable neighborhoods and cities reduces the need for personal vehicles and carbon emissions, gives citizens more freedom to access services and businesses, and encourages high-density infill development that makes use of existing resources and infrastructure. Planners can promote walkable design by incentivizing infill, eliminating parking requirements, and investing in robust public transit and mixed-use development that puts businesses closer to where their customers live and work.

Walkability Courses

leed buildings with green space in foreground
Greening the Neighborhood: LEED-ND Globally and v.4 Update
Eliot Allen
51 Mins
  • AICP CM
  • SACPLAN CPD
bicyclists with city bus in background in santa monica
Incorporating the Sustainable Development Goals into the Planning Process
Chris Holtkamp
66 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • SACPLAN CPD
View on pedestrian crossing and bike way in city
Walkable City 4: The Safe Walk (B)
Jeff Speck
82 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
aerial view of los angeles at night
The American City, Part 2: The Invention of a New Scale
Mark David Major
50 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
city skyline
A New Era of Downtown Opportunity: The Intersection of Housing and Innovation
David Dixon
65 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
aerial view of cars at large intersection
Transportation Planning: Travel Behavior Principles and Modelling Approaches
Richard Willson
55 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
  • SACPLAN CPD
Bus departs busbay in town center
Planning Communities for Maximum Transit Access
Jarrett Walker
75 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
aerial view of large outdoor parking lot
Parking Reform Made Easy
Richard Willson
72 Mins
  • AICP CM
three images of New York buildings, Central Park and a man riding a bike
U.S. City Planning 101
Dave Amos
46 Mins
Bright walkway inbetween buildings with palm trees and a man walking in the background in Dubai
Walkable City 5: The Comfortable Walk
Jeff Speck
66 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
aerial image of portland oregon
The American City, Part 3: Learning from the Grid
Mark David Major
53 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
Rendering of a mixed use development with a theatre, restaurant, and residential units above
Suburban Remix: Creating the Next Generation of Urban Places
David Dixon
63 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • SACPLAN CPD
aerial view of cars on highway
Transportation Planning: Strategies for Working with Roadway Capacity
Richard Willson
63 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
  • SACPLAN CPD
A grade-separated roundabout in the Netherlands
Introduction to Dutch Network Planning
Lennart Nout
63 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
street with storefronts and living spaces
Form-Based Codes 101: Introduction
Mary Madden, Victor Dover
74 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
aerial view of a large outdoor parking lot with cars
The High Cost Of Minimum Parking Requirements
Donald Shoup
65 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
  • SACPLAN CPD
Park on the historic walkable city wall of the Italian city of Lucca in the Pisa region
Walkable City 6: The Interesting Walk
Jeff Speck
77 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
colorful townhomes
Missing Middle Housing: Meeting the Growing Demand for Walkable Urbanism
Daniel Parolek
72 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
mixed-use development with people walking, retail stores
Walkable Density: Building Livable, Equitable, and Resilient Communities
David Dixon
60 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • SACPLAN CPD
collage of images with families, a crowded sidewalk, and a farmer's market
Defining Neighborhoods
Emily Talen
54 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
  • SACPLAN CPD
car-free modern condominiums
Walking Towards Inclusion
David Dixon
41 Mins
  • AICP CM
tree lined neighborhood
Form-Based Codes 101: Learning How To Look
Geoffrey Ferrell
71 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
cars parked along curb in Old Town Pasadena California
Parking Benefit Districts
Donald Shoup
56 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • SACPLAN CPD
Image of International Symbol of Access next to weighing scales
US Disability Access Laws for Planners
Jonathan Katz-Ouziel, Thomas Hamed
109 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM

Top Walkability Instructors

David Dixon

David is well known for helping create new, mixed-use urban districts (in both cities and suburbs)...

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Richard Willson

Richard Willson is a professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at California State...

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Jeff Speck

Jeff Speck is a city planner who advocates internationally for more walkable cities.

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Eliot Allen

Eliot Allen, certified, LEED AP-ND, is an urban planner and Principal with Criterion Planners of Portland...

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Mark David Major

Dr. Mark David Major, AICP, CNU-A is a Professor of Urban Design at the Savannah College...

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Lennart Nout

Lennart is an urban mobility design consultant, specializing in design and planning of bicycle networks and...

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Kristin Faurest

Kristin Faurest is a public garden education and outreach professional, author, and landscape architecture educator, committed...

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Adam Fine

Adam is the Director of experiential graphic design at Nova Scotia-based Fathom Studio and has worked...

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Geoffrey Ferrell

Geoffrey is one of the originators of the modern practice of Form-Based Codes. His work ranges...

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Jarrett Walker

Jarrett Walker is an international consultant in public transit network design and policy, with 25 years...

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John Hersey

John is a planner with two decades of experience critically evaluating and advancing transit-oriented development as...

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Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman

Katrina is a lecturer, researcher, and advocate for heart-centered cities. Her work focuses on human behavior...

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Donald Shoup

Donald Shoup is Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA. His research...

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Lisa Nisenson

Lisa Nisenson has 20 years of experience and leadership in smart growth, sustainable development and civic...

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Daniel Parolek

Daniel Parolek is a nationally recognized thought leader in architecture, design, and urban planning, specifically in...

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Victor Dover

Victor Dover is a town planner and urban designer with 29 years of leadership in the...

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Mary Madden

Mary Madden has nearly 20 years of experience in the fields of urban planning and design...

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Tim Halbur

Tim Halbur is communications director for the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), the leading organization...

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Mike Lydon

Mike Lydon is a Principal of The Street Plans Collaborative.

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Thomas Hamed

Thomas Hamed, AICP is a transportation planner who specializes in commuter transportation and mobility for all...

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Jonathan Katz-Ouziel

Jonathan Katz-Ouziel is an autistic planner, an independent accessibility consultant, and the founder of Opossum House...

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Angie Schmitt

Angie Schmitt is a writer and founder of 3MPH Planning and Consulting, a Cleveland-based firm focused...

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Lance Freeman

Lance Freeman is a Professor in the Urban Planning Program at Columbia University in New York...

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Dave Amos

Dave is an Assistant Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at Cal Poly...

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All Walkability Courses

Urban Design for Planners 8: Parking and Traffic Sign Up

Urban Design for Planners 8: Parking and Traffic

Instructor: Emily Talen

The final course in the Urban Design for Planners series addresses the automobile as part of the urban fabric. The storage of cars and high levels of congestion can be very detrimental to neighborhoods, but good design can mitigate those negative effects. 

4.20
90 Mins
AICP CM
CNU-A
LA CES
GeoDesign Using CommunityViz: Buildout and Visualization Sign Up

GeoDesign Using CommunityViz: Buildout and Visualization

Instructor: Chuck Donley

This second course in the "GeoDesign with CommunityViz" series shows how the CommunityViz extension of ArcGIS can guide the design, and assess the impacts, of a project.

4.07
130 Mins
SACPLAN CPD
GeoDesign with CommunityViz: Land Use Designer Sign Up

GeoDesign with CommunityViz: Land Use Designer

Instructor: Chuck Donley

Learn how the CommunityViz extension of ArcGIS can guide the design of a project and assess the project's impact. This course specifically focuses on a suitability analysis using essential functions and the Land Use Designer wizard.

4.16
86 Mins
SACPLAN CPD

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