The past three years have taken the country into unknown territory, and that was especially true for the nation’s largest metropolitan areas. The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted public health, housing prices, and employment, causing many to predict the “death of the city.”

The 2023 Foot Traffic Ahead report finds just the opposite: the city endures, and across most metros, grew walkable urbanism.

This year’s Foot Traffic Ahead (FTA) report required a different approach in methodology and analytics than in past years. Since the 2019 report, much of urban life has changed: the popularity of remote work skyrocketed; ever-increasing housing demand continued to push up the price of homes; public parks became invaluable social gathering spaces; and streets that once served only cars were shut down to make way for people. Taking these changes into account, FTA takes stock of the nation’s 35 largest metropolitan areas to identify how walkability in these places has transformed, and how walkable urban places compare across the country.

The intent of this report is to present to the public, advocates, local policymakers, and urban researchers a systematic, data-driven glimpse into walkable urban places at the metropolitan level, and support this with observations about how markets respond. Specifically, how the low supply of walkable urban places has negatively impacted affordability. The report also provides policymakers with recommendations on how to increase both the supply of and access to equitable, walkable development while safeguarding affordability.

Walkable urban areas have the potential to improve community health by promoting physical activity, can reduce emissions by decreasing car use, and can advance equity by bringing access to economic opportunity. It is critical that people of all backgrounds, especially those historically disadvantaged by racist land use, housing, and lending policy, have access to walkability and all the benefits associated with it.

The urban–suburban typology of land use is not reflective of modern-day settlement patterns, as stereotypically “suburban” neighborhoods urbanize, and dense urban development shifts away from traditional central business district radial development. Instead, this report utilizes a typology that compares the urban form and economic function of a place to determine its role in its respective regional real estate market. The two urban forms we consider are walkable urbanism and drivable sub-urban. The two economic functions we consider are regionally significant and locally serving places.

Walkable urbanism comprises two different kinds of development, shown in our Form Function Matrix. Type I and Type II products represent development and settlement patterns that are more dense, walkable, and often connected via multiple transit options. Drivable sub-urban areas include Type III and IV real estate products. These places are low density, connected by highways and interstates, and segregate land uses based on product type.