By Jennifer Langston
P-I Reporter
Walkscore, a Seattle-based web site, has mapped and ranked the city's most walkable neighborhoods by identifying the closest grocery stores, restaurants, hardware stores, parks, libraries, movie theaters, and other amenities.
It does not account for other factors affecting walkability, such as hills, long blocks, bodies of water, pedestrian paths, or public transit.
When launched last year, the Web site was a novelty -- a fun way to feel smug about a neighborhood's high score or affronted that the site overlooked a favorite breakfast spot. But with growing interest in less car-dependent, more economical lifestyles, its developers are noticing more people using the scores to choose their next home or neighborhood.
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Rankings depend largely on neighborhood boundaries, and how many residential areas are lumped in with business districts. Compact neighborhoods with abundant businesses -- where people don't have to rely on automobiles to do errands or eat -- are increasingly seen as a way to combat climate change and oil dependence, and reduce obesity risks.
Read the full article here: Site Ranks Seattle Neighborhoods' Walkability