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

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
aerial view of new york city
The American City, Part 4: Complexity and Pattern in the City
Mark David Major
53 Mins
  • AIA CES
a row of three suburban homes
Just Suburbs: The New Frontier for Equity and Inclusion
David Dixon
56 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • SACPLAN CPD
map showing walkability created in arcmap
GIS Walkability Modeling
Steph A. Nelson
46 Mins
  • SACPLAN CPD
aerial view of houston freeways
Transportation Planning: Making Transportation Plans—Rationality and Politics
Richard Willson
60 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
  • SACPLAN CPD
Dutch auto-te-gast street with windmill in background
Good Speed by Design: A Network Approach to Traffic Calming
Lennart Nout
58 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
frontal view of different colored apartments lined on street
Form-Based Codes 101: Neighborhoods
Geoffrey Ferrell, Daniel Parolek
68 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
  • LA CES
book cover for Right of Way
Right of Way: How Racial and Class Disparities Created a Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths
96 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • SACPLAN CPD
transit route designed using remix transit planning platform for urban planning course
Transit Service Design 101
Emily Yasukochi
52 Mins
  • AICP CM
  • SACPLAN CPD
people viewing wayfinding map
Planning a Municipal Wayfinding System
Adam Fine
57 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
title graphic reads "tactical urbanism"
Tactical Urbanism: An Introduction
Mike Lydon
81 Mins
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
  • SACPLAN CPD
freeway with Dallas skyline in background
Transportation Planning: Principles and Practices of Transportation Finance
Richard Willson
62 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
  • SACPLAN CPD
Woonerf street in Dutch neighborhood
The Good Street: A New Methodology for Balancing Place and Flow
Lennart Nout
55 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
street with buildings and trees
Form-Based Codes 101: Corridors
Geoffrey Ferrell, Kaizer Rangwala
55 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
  • LA CES
examples of universal design which include bus stop sign with large letters, public transit space for wheelchair bound people
Planning for Universal Design
Lance Freeman
46 Mins
  • CIP
  • AICP CM
pedestrians walking in city
Beyond Complete Streets for Walking and Biking
William Riggs
54 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
  • SACPLAN CPD
fingerboard sign
Designing a Wayfinding System
Adam Fine
58 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
crosswalk intersection painted with rainbow colors
Tactical Urbanism: How It's Done
Mike Lydon
96 Mins
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
  • SACPLAN CPD
aerial of downtown colorado springs
Incremental Code Reform: Enabling Better Places
Lynn Richards, Susan Henderson
59 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
  • SACPLAN CPD
Cityscape view of buildings, roads, highways, and sea
Decking Highways: Reconnecting Communities
David Dixon
51 Mins
  • CIP
  • 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

GIS Walkability Modeling Sign Up

GIS Walkability Modeling

Instructor: Steph A. Nelson

As the field of planning continues to trend toward multi-modal, sustainable transportation practices, tools to model or analyze the walkability of a given area have grown in number and complexity. In this course, students will learn how to apply ArcMap and the Spatial Analyst extension to model walkability. The course assumes students have a working knowledge of GIS and basic familiarity with Spatial Analyst.

4.27
46 Mins
SACPLAN CPD
CommunityViz Introduction Sign Up

CommunityViz Introduction

Instructor: Doug Walker

In this course you will learn practical applications for CommunityViz, one of the world's premiere GeoDesign and planning scenario tools. Planners, resource managers, local and regional governments, and others use CommunityViz to help them make decisions about development, land use, transportation, conservation and more. 

4.21
72 Mins

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