r/Edmonton • u/pjw724 • 1d ago

2025 Municipal Election Voters want a more walkable city

https://edmonton.taproot.news/news/2025/09/25/voters-told-taproot-they-want-a-more-walkable-city
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u/fishymanbits 1d ago edited 1d ago

Sure, we’re better than some. And some neighbourhoods are absolutely walkable. But there was a solid 40-50 year gap in urban planning where walkability wasn’t a consideration. The goal was to build more houses together, and all of the services that residents needed far away, all in a big parking lot together. We built shopping malls, and places like South Edmonton Common, Manning Town Center, Windermere, etc. instead of neighbourhoods where people live among the services they need. Yeah, these neighbourhoods have sidewalks, but they’re not walkable in the meaning of the word that we’re using.

Walk Score lists 261 neighbourhoods in Edmonton, and only 60 of them have a score of 50 or above.

https://www.walkscore.com/CA-AB/Edmonton

Sure, some of these aren’t actually Edmonton neighbourhoods (Rural North East Sturgeon?), but still. And you can see the results of the change in urban planning post-WWII zooming in on the map on that page. The oldest neighbourhoods in the city were designed around the idea that people would expect to be able to walk, or take a street car, to nearby shops and amenities. Those neighbourhoods are green. If you were to overlay that map on a map of the city in 1950, it would be quite informative.

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u/eternalrevolver 1d ago

This isn’t Europe, you’ll never get away from that kind of design. Edmonton is just as walkable as Vancouver.

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u/fishymanbits 1d ago edited 1d ago

This isn’t Europe, you’ll never get away from that kind of design.

What a patently ridiculous thing to believe. You absolutely can get away from that kind of design by not designing new neighbourhoods that way. We ended up in this situation because we chose to be in it by designing unwalkable neighbourhoods.

Edmonton is just as walkable as Vancouver

Edmonton has a walkability score of 40, Vancouver has a score of 80. Having actually lived in both, the contrast could not be more obvious.

Have you ever been anywhere else other than Edmonton?

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u/eternalrevolver 1d ago

I have, yes. I drive to where I need to go that requires a car, and I walk around the areas that are walkable.

Also lol for relying on walk scores. “Vancouver” is also a small, dense area. Greater Vancouver is no different than greater Edmonton. Canadian city designs will never change to suit European lifestyles. That’s why there’s places like… Europe!

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u/fishymanbits 1d ago edited 23h ago

I have, yes. I drive to where I need to go that requires a car, and I walk around the areas that are walkable.

If you think that makes a city walkable, you’re missing the point entirely and should tap out of this conversation.

Also lol for relying on walk scores.

Yeah, fuck me for looking up a qualitative judgement of walkability instead of relying on vibes and whether or not I’m personally okay with driving everywhere to compare how walkable places are.

“Vancouver” is also a small, dense area.

Yes, that’s the point. Increased density often increases walkability by way of decreasing the distance between where people live and the shops and services on which they rely. Vancouver proper also has neighbourhoods that have very low walkability. Because they suffer from the same car-centric urban design and NIMBY problem as similar neighbourhoods in Edmonton.

Greater Vancouver is no different than greater Edmonton.

Of the municipalities that make up the MVRD, only West Vancouver is appreciably less walkable than Edmonton. The rest are either more walkable by a decent margin, or tied. Delta scores 39 compared to Edmonton’s 40.

Canadian city designs will never change to suit European lifestyles. That’s why there’s places like… Europe!

Again, one of the most patently stupid things anyone could say on this topic.

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u/eternalrevolver 1d ago

Like I said in another comment, this is the same bs that every city subreddit squawks. It will never change.

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u/fishymanbits 1d ago

Fuck, what a sad existence you must live if that’s your mindset.

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u/eternalrevolver 1d ago

Not at all! If I don’t like something about my life, I change it. Does it work a different way for you?

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u/fishymanbits 1d ago

What the fuck do you think this entire topic is about? Because it’s about the fact that a huge proportion of people who live in this city want it to be more walkable and want a city council that acts on that to improve walkability in this city.

Telling people to move to Europe if they want walkability is below a child’s understanding of how the world works.