Indeed. In NYC I do 98% of my shopping by walking. I can reach my doctor by walking. My daughter used to walk to school because it was a 10 minutes walk (and an excellent school).

That would be impossible in a suburban setting; at best, one of these destinations would be within the theoretical waking distance, but without the walkways.

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Schiendelman 6 hours ago | parent [-]

Absolutely. There's a reason body fat percentage in New York City is so much lower than anywhere else in the US!

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Gigachad 5 hours ago | parent [-]

This is something I've visually observed all over Australia. The walkable areas are noticeably fitter. I don't think all of those people just happen to care about fitness more, they just spend more time moving to get between places rather than sitting all day.

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Schiendelman 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Absolutely! Fitness scales super closely with localized population density.

	▲	Earw0rm an hour ago \| parent [-]
		This is a recent phenomenon. The original reason for low population density was agricultural work, which - even in the early days of mechanisation - was plenty physical. Living in exurbia to work and consume like a city dweller is a new kind of stupid.