Walking Audit or "Neighborhood Walk"

A Walking Audit is a technical term that could be more easily described as a Neighborhood Walk. A Walking Audit is the opportunity to gather a group of people and experience a community or neighborhood together. This simple activity is an opportunity to look and talk about our neighborhoods through a shared experience. A walking audit requires very little initial effort and is the next smallest step each of us can undertake in our community.

The benefits of conducting walking audits to gain a deeper understanding of community infrastructure and design. There is nothing more memorable and impactful than experiencing our communities with each other by foot. Something as simple as a walk allows us to have a conversation informed by the existing conditions and help to illustrate items like the  economic benefits of pedestrian-friendly designs to local officials. Walking audits also help reveal how urban design impacts daily life and community sustainability.

Strong Towns Members just like you are introducing Walking Audits as part of the community process. Jessica Ryals and Jessica Marcolini integrated walking audits into their curriculum at Florida Gulf Coast University, enabling students to critically evaluate urban environments and consider improvements. 

Learn more about how they are leveraging Walking Audits here: Seeing Your Community With New Eyes Through a "Walking Audit"

If you want to learn more about how to host your own walk, check out This Action Guide that  corresponds to the "How to Host a Neighborhood Walk" event on our Local-Motive tour. That event featured Jacob Unterreiner, leader of the Strong Towns Local Conversation group Charlotte Urbanists, alongside Strong Towns Community Builder John Pattison.

The free Action Guide is available to download from this post. 

You can also purchase the recording of this event or the full round-trip ticket for all 2023 Local-Motive events.

• Neighborhood Walk Action Guide.pdf500 KB