If you’re struggling to walk more, know that it’s not necessarily a failure of willpower. Planners designed American cities not just to prioritize the car, but to impede the pedestrian — too few sidewalks, fat thoroughfares slicing up neighborhoods, sprawling parking lots instead of parks. Yet study after study outlines the abundant mental and physical health benefits of simply putting one foot in front of the other, especially for older adults and those with disabilities who can’t manage vigorous exercise like running. And that’s to say nothing of the climate benefits of walking more and driving less.

It’s reasonable to assume that if cities made themselves more walkable, with footbridges and safer sidewalks and intersections, that it would encourage people to stroll more. “We all have

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