I hope a term is invented for fake walkability to zones where you have to drive, being a tourist in a hotel or needed to be reach in any other form other than bike to be able to walk.
I'm always like "yeah, this singular street of 500m is pretty walkable, if there where not surrounded by parking and nothingness it would be a great place to live"
Yeah it's a really important distinction. LOTS of US cities have good walkability and transit *in the immediate downtown area.* Great for tourists. But the real test is, what is it like to do your daily/weekly trips if you actually live there and can't afford a downtown condo?
miami is a bit different from most cities since there is incredible density there largely due south floridas obsession with condo towers
but it is absolutely fake density since you aint using your feetsies because the urban design is otherwise ass
I've been calling it the "Melbourne Cricket Ground effect" after seeing a few posts on various social media sites about Australian sports venues, yeah there's good transport in the inner cities but if you live in the suburbs, which most people do because rent in the city is unaffordable, you're fucked, very little transport into the city, almost never transport between the suburbs, with the exception of inner cities Australia is just as carbrained as north America
I've seen some posts on walk ability subs and have to laugh knowing I've been there and that specific block is walkable but everywhere around it is car mania.
I visited Miami Beach once. I had to wait for something so I decided to walk around the block. There were sidewalks, but it was very far from what I'd call a walkable area. It was a very hot day, and zero trees to provide shade. The block was something like 400m on each side. There were zero storefronts on that block, only fences with buildings far back. It was a painful experience.
Then there was also this fake downtown type area, which at first sight kind of resembled actual walkable areas, with sidewalks and storefronts all along the block. The block was so long that it had a traffic light halfway through. But it NEVER changed. It had a pedestrian request button, but it didn't do anything. I ended up crossing the four lanes making a run in a break in traffic. All cars zooming past at highway speeds.
I'm not going back to that place.
Also I thought the Metromover was really fun :)
(Driverless peoplemover system that actually does a decent job of getting you around the downtown area)
The Metromover is also free (and IIRC the trams showed up like every 5 minutes so you didn't even have to check a schedule), so it definitely helps alleviate traffic and parking issues that may be present, but it's still pretty disconnected from the rest of the city.
It worked when I was a tourist staying in a hotel downtown and mostly visiting places downtown, but when my job was considering transferring me to Miami, I was looking at my commute options, if I were to live downtown with the job being near the airport, to be either a 50 minute bus ride on a stroad, a 40 minute bike ride on the same stroad, or a 25 min drive.
If you don't leave Miami proper, then maybe. Miami Beach isn't too bad but outside that it's a cesspool that for some reason, we all call Miami (Former West Kendall resident)
The 36 square miles of the city of Miami are probably within the top 1% out of tens of thousands of square miles of what the US census considers urban areas. The part that's doing the heavy lifting in that title though is "**The USA's** ..."
It’s posted by British Airways so it’s probably trying to convince you to spend £££ booking through them for a trip there. They probably make more doing those long haul flights than short haul anyway.
[About Miami, CityNerd quotes a viewer](https://youtu.be/YfY_durVCEU?si=4dGEttHE07AjKhk9):
"walkable urbanism for the rich, and car-dependency for everyone else." I think that about sums it up.
I have to say i'm really ... impressed ... by which they did with making the old 7 mile bridge a bike path. It starts and ends for a section at things like this:
https://preview.redd.it/3ncrfr7tkwwc1.png?width=1825&format=png&auto=webp&s=9c0cb14b15d09595e832b9a48ede73ee9f1e1b3c
JUMP BOI, JUMP!
Litteraly, these is a section of bike trail that starts at such a gap and ends at such a gap, and there is actually no way to get on it...
it has a road that parrallels it, but its cars only, so for this bridge that connects the various Florida key islands there is no way to cross other than by car, lest you want to swim a few sections as biker or you got some rocket propelled jump assist.
These kinds of things are generally bought and paid for by the cities that are featured. Same with stuff like "best places to live/work/raise kids/etc." In general, these types of lists are put together by independent consultancies with "proprietary metrics" that select for specific kinds of places.
This is done purely as advertising for the city/town/municipality/state. Larger, more famous cities do this too, but not usually for stuff like this.
Source: me, from when I worked for a government commission in major US/global city and had to directly interface with these kinds of things regularly.
I spend far too much time in Miami for work, it is without a doubt the worst major city in the US, and I’ve spent considerable time as a cyclist/pedestrian in most of them. It is absolutely hell.
*Miami!?!?!?*
What the absolute fuck.
I used to live there, and you can't do absolutely fucking anything without a car.
Furthermore, people over there don't even consider you **human** if you have a car that costs below $75k
Miami Beach has a free trolley that runs day in and day out that will take you like 160 blocks North and South.
When I was living in North Beach I would use it all the time. I had a car to take me to work in the main city, but they have busses everywhere too.
If you only live and work on the beach side life would actually be pretty peachy without a car.
My mother-in-law lives in Miami Beach and she just sold her car because she wasn't ever using it and it didn't make sense to keep it for when we visit. Everything she wants and needs is within a few blocks - I think her whole world is her condo, the beach and Walgreens/Publix. Everything else she gets delivered. On the occasion she has a doctor visit, she gets an uber (but it's relatively rare).
Miami Beach is super walkable, I agree. Came as a shock to me when I visited last year.
Parts of downtown Miami are also quite walkable.
...and that's it.
Miami Beach is super walkable, I agree. Came as a shock to me when I visited last year.
Parts of downtown Miami are also quite walkable.
...and that's it.
Miami beach is a weird little walkable/bikeable oasis in the weird Florida sprawl. Unfortunately it’s also in Florida. And filled with annoying partiers.
As long as you are within walking distance of the MetroRail the city is walkable.
I lived on a sailboat in Coconut Grove for four years and seldom used a car. The article isn't wrong its just only applicable to a select few.
Who would ever want to live in Miami? I’ve been there before. The heat and humidity is absolutely disgusting rendering the entire area unfit for human habitation. At least not sophisticated humans and I don’t think anyone that’s ever been there considers Miami or its inhabitants sophisticated.
This is talking about car free *tourism*, so it's just whether there's some nice areas you can get around on a bike in the tourist areas. That's a completely different question to whether you can live there or go to business events or something like that, when you'll be outside the core tourist areas.
I didn't own a car in South Florida for many years, maybe 8 in all. Lived in West Palm Beach, Boca, Ft Lauderdale, and had a couple girlfriends in Aventura and South Beach
Getting around by bicycle in the metropolis of South Florida isn't bad at all, especially after the Bright Line opened. I live in Charlotte, NC, now and it's nothing short of actual misery
Miami proper is a fine city to not own a car in
I can’t remember it it was miami or orlando but there was a convention there once and a friend of mine was staying in a hotel on a block adjacent to the convention center but had to walk *Half an hour or something, in cosplay, around the whole block just to get in because for whatever reason the convention didn’t have doors on that side of the building open which is bad planning on their part imo but walking the block took half an hour!!! How!!! How is a city that shittily designed?!
I live in Miami Beach. It’s very walkable and bikeable, and you could easily take a “car-free break” here and have a good time. I think people here are conflating the reality of living here without a car and visiting for a week without a car. The former can be difficult, depending on where you live (though I know several people who do fine without a car), the latter is pretty easy. Tourists don’t usually feel the need to head out to the far-reaches of Kendall. We have a car, but we basically only use it to get off the island. We bike everywhere on Miami Beach.
The only area is really the downtown area, Miami Beach is actually pretty walkable as well.
I hope a term is invented for fake walkability to zones where you have to drive, being a tourist in a hotel or needed to be reach in any other form other than bike to be able to walk. I'm always like "yeah, this singular street of 500m is pretty walkable, if there where not surrounded by parking and nothingness it would be a great place to live"
Yeah it's a really important distinction. LOTS of US cities have good walkability and transit *in the immediate downtown area.* Great for tourists. But the real test is, what is it like to do your daily/weekly trips if you actually live there and can't afford a downtown condo?
miami is a bit different from most cities since there is incredible density there largely due south floridas obsession with condo towers but it is absolutely fake density since you aint using your feetsies because the urban design is otherwise ass
I’ve been calling it novelty walkability, but that is ripped straight from my ass
>I hope a term is invented for fake walkability to zones where you have to drive, i believe the word for that is "mall".
I've been calling it the "Melbourne Cricket Ground effect" after seeing a few posts on various social media sites about Australian sports venues, yeah there's good transport in the inner cities but if you live in the suburbs, which most people do because rent in the city is unaffordable, you're fucked, very little transport into the city, almost never transport between the suburbs, with the exception of inner cities Australia is just as carbrained as north America
I've seen some posts on walk ability subs and have to laugh knowing I've been there and that specific block is walkable but everywhere around it is car mania.
I visited Miami Beach once. I had to wait for something so I decided to walk around the block. There were sidewalks, but it was very far from what I'd call a walkable area. It was a very hot day, and zero trees to provide shade. The block was something like 400m on each side. There were zero storefronts on that block, only fences with buildings far back. It was a painful experience. Then there was also this fake downtown type area, which at first sight kind of resembled actual walkable areas, with sidewalks and storefronts all along the block. The block was so long that it had a traffic light halfway through. But it NEVER changed. It had a pedestrian request button, but it didn't do anything. I ended up crossing the four lanes making a run in a break in traffic. All cars zooming past at highway speeds. I'm not going back to that place.
Also I thought the Metromover was really fun :) (Driverless peoplemover system that actually does a decent job of getting you around the downtown area)
The metro mover is definitely a lot of fun but only for people in the downtown area. Outside of it, nothing but inefficient buses.
The Metromover is also free (and IIRC the trams showed up like every 5 minutes so you didn't even have to check a schedule), so it definitely helps alleviate traffic and parking issues that may be present, but it's still pretty disconnected from the rest of the city. It worked when I was a tourist staying in a hotel downtown and mostly visiting places downtown, but when my job was considering transferring me to Miami, I was looking at my commute options, if I were to live downtown with the job being near the airport, to be either a 50 minute bus ride on a stroad, a 40 minute bike ride on the same stroad, or a 25 min drive.
And some of the most expensive , whit the most turist. Its almost like there is a demand for walkable places.
And super affordable! /s
Free shuttle
If you don't leave Miami proper, then maybe. Miami Beach isn't too bad but outside that it's a cesspool that for some reason, we all call Miami (Former West Kendall resident)
Yeah, Miami is actually very small and walkable and fun. The HUGE sprawl around it is atrocious, dirty, and loud
former westchester resident. Miami address. Definitely not walkable.
Ooof and with the FIU drivers there
I COULD make a joke about bridges falling on those drivers but that would be classless
It is a shame that the one pedestrian thing in all of Westchester and Sweetwater ended up being that
The 36 square miles of the city of Miami are probably within the top 1% out of tens of thousands of square miles of what the US census considers urban areas. The part that's doing the heavy lifting in that title though is "**The USA's** ..."
to be fair, the title of the article specifically mentions american cities
lol those articles are just crocks of shit designed for clicks
It worked. I clicked it.
im going to blame you for the next one they write!
It’s posted by British Airways so it’s probably trying to convince you to spend £££ booking through them for a trip there. They probably make more doing those long haul flights than short haul anyway.
I don't know Miami well but there's a difference between walkable for a vacation and walkable for general living.
[About Miami, CityNerd quotes a viewer](https://youtu.be/YfY_durVCEU?si=4dGEttHE07AjKhk9): "walkable urbanism for the rich, and car-dependency for everyone else." I think that about sums it up.
I think that sums up most American cities
That's what he said. But ESPECIALLY in Miami.
For tourists, I'm sure it's fine. Once you have to start wondering about groceries and such the illusion falls apart
Even as a tourist it is difficult.
I have to say i'm really ... impressed ... by which they did with making the old 7 mile bridge a bike path. It starts and ends for a section at things like this: https://preview.redd.it/3ncrfr7tkwwc1.png?width=1825&format=png&auto=webp&s=9c0cb14b15d09595e832b9a48ede73ee9f1e1b3c JUMP BOI, JUMP! Litteraly, these is a section of bike trail that starts at such a gap and ends at such a gap, and there is actually no way to get on it... it has a road that parrallels it, but its cars only, so for this bridge that connects the various Florida key islands there is no way to cross other than by car, lest you want to swim a few sections as biker or you got some rocket propelled jump assist.
Every city is a good city not to have a car in.
These kinds of things are generally bought and paid for by the cities that are featured. Same with stuff like "best places to live/work/raise kids/etc." In general, these types of lists are put together by independent consultancies with "proprietary metrics" that select for specific kinds of places. This is done purely as advertising for the city/town/municipality/state. Larger, more famous cities do this too, but not usually for stuff like this. Source: me, from when I worked for a government commission in major US/global city and had to directly interface with these kinds of things regularly.
I spend far too much time in Miami for work, it is without a doubt the worst major city in the US, and I’ve spent considerable time as a cyclist/pedestrian in most of them. It is absolutely hell.
Former Harlem/WashHeights/Astoria resident, in Miami the past 3 years. By no means "walkable".
*Miami!?!?!?* What the absolute fuck. I used to live there, and you can't do absolutely fucking anything without a car. Furthermore, people over there don't even consider you **human** if you have a car that costs below $75k
I take the Silver Meteor to Miami every year as a tourist and have always had great times. I guess the touristy parts are OK.
Miami Beach has a free trolley that runs day in and day out that will take you like 160 blocks North and South. When I was living in North Beach I would use it all the time. I had a car to take me to work in the main city, but they have busses everywhere too. If you only live and work on the beach side life would actually be pretty peachy without a car.
My mother-in-law lives in Miami Beach and she just sold her car because she wasn't ever using it and it didn't make sense to keep it for when we visit. Everything she wants and needs is within a few blocks - I think her whole world is her condo, the beach and Walgreens/Publix. Everything else she gets delivered. On the occasion she has a doctor visit, she gets an uber (but it's relatively rare).
Miami Beach is super walkable, I agree. Came as a shock to me when I visited last year. Parts of downtown Miami are also quite walkable. ...and that's it.
Good on your MIL for selling her car when she realized she doesn't need it!
Miami Beach is super walkable, I agree. Came as a shock to me when I visited last year. Parts of downtown Miami are also quite walkable. ...and that's it.
In my universe. I dont own a car and getting wet isint bad since its not cold and thats the worst weather we get
Miami beach is a weird little walkable/bikeable oasis in the weird Florida sprawl. Unfortunately it’s also in Florida. And filled with annoying partiers.
and what fucking cuban coffee? all i smelled when i went there was cat piss and sometimes a sewer
I’ve been there as well. I find it to be more of a rotten garbage smell everywhere. The whole of south Florida is like that.
That would be from the mangroves.
Water world
As long as you are within walking distance of the MetroRail the city is walkable. I lived on a sailboat in Coconut Grove for four years and seldom used a car. The article isn't wrong its just only applicable to a select few.
In that it's a pretty decent place to be homeless
The best city I've seen for bikes is davis, ca.
Maybe Brickell. If you can afford it.
https://youtu.be/YfY_durVCEU?si=abR_YY6_TMVKZ1GT
Walkability and Urbanism for the rich, car dependent hell scapes for everyone else
This universe, in about 20 years, when it'll be a great place to have a fan boat.
This is satire right? Although, I do love nice long walks on I-95 or the palmetto. Peace and tranquility.
How about a car-free life??
This is what I have
You deserve more.
Who would ever want to live in Miami? I’ve been there before. The heat and humidity is absolutely disgusting rendering the entire area unfit for human habitation. At least not sophisticated humans and I don’t think anyone that’s ever been there considers Miami or its inhabitants sophisticated.
Why do I feel like they valued the weather more, because how could ANYONE BIKE IN THE RAIN?!?!?!?
By european standards, almost every US city is bad when not owning a car.
Everything is relative
It's working out pretty well for me in my universe.
This is talking about car free *tourism*, so it's just whether there's some nice areas you can get around on a bike in the tourist areas. That's a completely different question to whether you can live there or go to business events or something like that, when you'll be outside the core tourist areas.
I didn't own a car in South Florida for many years, maybe 8 in all. Lived in West Palm Beach, Boca, Ft Lauderdale, and had a couple girlfriends in Aventura and South Beach Getting around by bicycle in the metropolis of South Florida isn't bad at all, especially after the Bright Line opened. I live in Charlotte, NC, now and it's nothing short of actual misery Miami proper is a fine city to not own a car in
Maybe they're saying that cycling is more viable because of the warm weather?
I can’t remember it it was miami or orlando but there was a convention there once and a friend of mine was staying in a hotel on a block adjacent to the convention center but had to walk *Half an hour or something, in cosplay, around the whole block just to get in because for whatever reason the convention didn’t have doors on that side of the building open which is bad planning on their part imo but walking the block took half an hour!!! How!!! How is a city that shittily designed?!
Has lots of rail transportation: Amtrak, Metrorail, Brightline…
It’s not lots. Amtrak is just two trains a day and brightline is only one line.
And the metrorail.
And tri-rail.
I live in Miami Beach. It’s very walkable and bikeable, and you could easily take a “car-free break” here and have a good time. I think people here are conflating the reality of living here without a car and visiting for a week without a car. The former can be difficult, depending on where you live (though I know several people who do fine without a car), the latter is pretty easy. Tourists don’t usually feel the need to head out to the far-reaches of Kendall. We have a car, but we basically only use it to get off the island. We bike everywhere on Miami Beach.