[wburg]

Not true. People want to walk in places that are interesting, safe and engaging--so much so that they will drive long distances to visit those places, walk around, and drive home. Walking around is exactly what people do when they go to a mall, or a theme park, or Denio's, or when they drive to Midtown for Second Saturday or the Sunday Farmer's Market or the Antique Faire or some other special event. They make a special effort to go to those places because people do want to walk around--they just want it to be fun.

People don't like to walk in places that are boring, dangerous and have nothing to do, which is why people don't walk much in modern suburban neighborhoods unless they absolutely have to, or they're doing it strictly for exercise value.

Neighborhoods that are more interesting and serve multiple uses, designed to accommodate the pedestrian and other forms of transportation, and have enough people living in them to support businesses interspersed throughout the neighborhood, become inherently "walkable" because walking becomes interesting. Living in such a neighborhood saves you the extra trouble and expense of driving there--and if the businesses in the neighborhood also offer things that are useful to residents, you can take care of most of life's needs while on foot, while also being entertained by the neighborhood.

Of course, you still might need a car sometimes. Walkable neighborhoods also have room for cars, they just don't have first priority.