Abstract
The intent of this research is to determine what factors create walkable communities, and for the information learned to be a useful tool to promote community change with the goal of sustainable community design. One part of creating sustainable communities is knowledge on the degree of walkability because this community feature ties into so many other aspects of the health, social, and environmental concerns of a community. Increased awareness and investment in walkable communities promotes change that benefits individuals, communities, and society as a whole. This thesis demonstrates the importance of walkability in sustainable community design and how it can fit in with long range planning and policy directives supported at the national, state, and local level. Analysis of the association between home values in the Sacramento area and the degree of walkability of a home using Walk Score indicated limitations with the data set. Based on the limitations found during this research I propose an empirical measure of walkability that can be applied as a planning and development tool to create walkable communities. The goal is to further explore the link between residential land values and walkable communities.