Analyzing the Association Between Walkability and Regional Economic Vitality

Abstract

The role of walkability is increasing in the car-oriented United States as the lifestyles and demographics of Americans change. This dissertation contributes to the emerging research on the association between walkability and regional economic vitality. This research develops new location-specific walkability indices and uses a methodological approach that accounts for the endogeneity between walkability and economic vitality and corrects for spatial dependence. The findings of the dissertation indicate that walkability is associated with higher employment in cities in the U.S. and with lower housing vacancy rates in the census tracts in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.