The Most Walkable Cities in the World
What makes a city truly walkable? It's more than just having attractions clustered closely together. A walkable city must have green spaces, facilities, and spaces for the community to gather all within a reasonable walking distance to residential areas. In a recent study, researchers from Sony Computer Science Laboratories set out to determine the most walkable cities in the world. Here’s what they found.
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The 20 Most Walkable Cities in the World
- Milan, Italy
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Turin, Italy
- Dublin, Ireland
- Lyon, France
- Munich, Germany
- Paris, France
- Marseille, France
- Genoa, Switzerland
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Berlin, Germany
- Vienna, Austria
- St. Petersburg, Russia
- Bilbao, Spain
- Bordeaux, France
- Minsk, Belarus
- Stuttgart, Germany
- Lille, France
- Barcelona, Spain
- Oslo, Norway
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The 10 Most Walkable Cities for Tourists
- Florence, Italy
- Venice, Italy
- Riga, Latvia
- Athens, Greece
- Hamburg, Germany
- Edinburgh, United Kingdom tied with Madrid, Spain and Porto, Portugal
- Tallinn, Estonia tied with Stockholm, Sweden
- Rome, Italy
- Washington, DC
- Chicago, Illinois tied with Sydney, Australia
Researchers analyzed over 10,000 cities, ranking them based on average walking distance to services and gathering spots like hospitals and restaurants. Milan, Italy, emerged as the world's most walkable city, thanks in part to its compact and pedestrian-friendly historic center. According to the study, 97.5% of Milan residents live within a fifteen-minute walk of the study-defined "key amenities."
The world’s top twenty most walkable cities are all in Europe, with only five non-European cities—located in Japan, Taiwan, and Nepal—cracking the top fifty. Vancouver, ranking fifty-third, is the first of just five North American cities on the list. Boston, ranked the most walkable city in the United States, comes in at number 70 on the global list.
The twenty most walkable cities in the world, according to the study, are:
While easy access to daily services is ideal for residents, it’s not always top-of-mind for short-term visitors. Bespoke travel tour company Tourlane released its own study, looking at the walking distance between the top five attractions in major cities around the world.
Italy continues to rank high, with Florence taking the number one spot, with its narrow stone lanes and picturesque piazzas guiding visitors from one iconic sight to the next—the Uffizi Gallery, Ponte Vecchio, Piazza della Signoria, Piazza del Duomo, and Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore are all within a 10-minute walk of each other. Unlike the study above, two North American cities rank within the top ten.
The top ten, featuring quite a few ties, are: