Sponsored by Sharp Health Plan

Walkability is something we feel more than measure. Yet, San Diegans want more walkability.

How do we get there? 

The Regional Walk Scorecard measures, for the first time, how San Diego's regional cities are doing to respond to the call for more walkable neighborhoods. There are many ways to measure walkability, and the Scorecard emphasizes two of these: current walking conditions and policies and plans to improve walkability in the future. 

The Best - National City, La Mesa, and Solana Beach -  illustrate how a multi-layered approach to creating walkable communities provides the greatest positive impact. Read more..

The Rest -  Scores were very close in many cases. But some cities in the middle of the pack and lower either had higher collision rates or scored lower on policies and implementation of street improvements that make walking safer and more convenient. Read more...

Scoring Framework

Three scoring categories were created and analyzed: Status of Walking Index, Policies and Implementation, and BestWALK Field Data. 

Status of Walking Index – This measure combines two indicators related to how walkable each city is currently: (a) the total percent of residents whose commute mode was either walking or transit in the years 2000 and 2010 according to Census data, and (b) the pedestrian collision rate calculated per population and per miles of street. In general, cities that ranked high in this category tend to be more compact, have a dense network of safe walking routes, and a variety of land uses near residential neighborhoods. Other cities that ranked high have generally fewer people walking and a resulting lower rate of pedestrian vehicle collisions.

Policies and Implementation – For this category, WalkSanDiego completed an analysis of the relative strength of local policies and related data in 12 policy areas we consider critical to enhancing walkability. Policies and implementation were intentionally combined to strike a balance between cities’ established big-picture goals and on-the-ground projects, recognizing that written policies are not always implemented and completed projects are not always initiated as a result of a policy.

BestWalk Field Data – For this category, WalkSanDiego developed a smart phone application (BestWALK) to allow residents across the region to collect and upload (“crowd source”) data regarding the walkability of streets and intersections through the completion of fact-based questions (“Is there a painted crosswalk?”) and perceptual questions (“Do you feel safe here?”). 

Approximately 1,500 intersection and street assessments were completed. Due to this relatively small sample size, and because the BestWALK app will be improved over time, the field data accounted for only 10% of the total Scorecard score.

Download the full report.