Streets for feet: The world’s great walking cities

Good urban design is about making a city as walkable as possible, which affects us more deeply than we know. Neuroscientist Shane O’Mara writes in praise of the world’s great walking cities

Shane O’Mara. ‘The steps to make and re-make our cities walkable are straightforward. We just need to take them’ Pic: Maura Hickey

Walking a city is the best way to get to know it. You can’t get to know the mood of a place, its energy and pace, when you’re driving or being driven around. On foot you are directly in touch with city life in all its dirt and glory: the smells, the sights, the thrum of footsteps on pavements, shoulders jostling for position and placement, the street lights, the snatches of conversation.

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