Quote Originally Posted by iheartthed View Post
Lighting and crime doesn't negate that an area is physically walkable. If that were the case then New York wasn't walkable in the 70s and 80s.
I wasn't around in that time period, but I really do think Detroit is on another level than NYC back then.

Non-yuppie Detroit is very, very difficult to traverse from a pedestrian's perspective, IMO. I have tried, as I enjoy urban exploration, but there are too many wild dog packs and potential human confrontations, and just horribly crappy sidewalks, crossings and lighting. You always have to have your guard up.

NYC, even in its worst years, was always pedestrian and transit oriented, so I think the pedestrian realm, perhaps by default, was not quite as daunting. Most people walked, because that's how you get around. In Detroit, most have a car, and a pedestrian is kind of a sitting duck.