The thread about urbanizing the sun belts got me thinking. "Have these people been to places like Phoenix in the summer?"

I spent most of my life in NYC and moved to the SE about 15 years ago. Yes density can be improved. Yes sprawl kind of exponentially increases tax expenses on a per capita basis. Yes car slavery sucks for humans and the environment.

But the sad truth is there are just some places where walkability isnt physiologically feasible. I feel like a lot of urban centers are places where humans naturally migrated to/settled to just based on livability. Places like Dallas, Phoenix etc would be completely uninhabitable without A/C and some kind of sheltered means of transportation.

Hell my family is from a tropical country about 600 miles from the equator. Yea that climate is hot year round, but it's still way more livable and walkable than a lot of the sun belt.

Plus its worth considering that a) most of the new building over the last decade has been in the sunbelt, b) a lot of that building has been higher density stuff like multifamily and condos, and c) all new construction within a region increases density. It might not be the tree lined protected bike paths that get idolized here but to some extent its urbanism that fits the constraints of each individual city. I think its really worth considering meeting each place where its at vs trying to push a cookie cutter ideal.

Local climates aren't considered enough for walkability IMO