Can I walk from here?

摘要

Whether you live in a small village, a market town, the suburbs, or the city, the extent to which you can walk to the local school, shop, or indeed the pub can, and does, impact on your social and economic wellbeing.What if everything you need in life could be found within a 20-minute (or even ten-minute) walk? This concept is often promoted as a '20-Minute Neighbourhood'.In the past, the 20-Minute Neighbourhood has been more of an urban ambition than a lived reality, but the way we have been required to live our lives for the last 15 months has accentuated our awareness of just how important our local areas, and the services they provide, are to our health and wellbeing; as well as to the economic prosperity of an area.While we have been working from home, we have probably rediscovered the corner shop, or even our local high street, with its electrician, grocer, butcher, or local leisure centre, and we have learned to live 'within' our neighbourhood.The notion that people can have a well-connected and walkable place in which to live, supporting lifestyle choices to stay local while still allowing them to access daily needs, is a simple one - and one which we can all relate to. But it is not so simple to deliver.