Just for fun, I decided to check my distances against yours

Here are my walking distances:

• To the nearest convenience store: 1.13km
• To the nearest chain supermarket: 2.74km
• To the bus stop: 33.8km
• To the nearest park: 2.41km
• To the nearest *big* supermarket: 17.7km
• To the nearest library: 2.41km
• To the nearest train station: 24.14km
• Straight-line distance to Nashville’s “The Batman Building” (closest approximation to a large unique cityscape building): 67.76km

At this point I just want Japan to realize that not every American lives in walking distance of Los Angeles and NYC, and none of us live in walking distance of both at once.

Seriously, stop basing your marketing strategies around “Major US Cities Only!”

The nearest “Major US” City to me is like a day’s drive, and I mean literally you don’t stop driving for an entire day.

This is central Florida, on the east coast. The chain supermarket is Publix, the big supermarket is Walmart. Brightline is supposed to build a train station nearby, but they haven’t started yet.

To the nearest convenience store: 1.9 km
To the nearest chain supermarket: 5.7 km
To the bus stop: 3.8 km
To the nearest park: 1.1 km
To the nearest big supermarket: 12.1 km
To the nearest library: 7.3 km
To the nearest train station: 75.5 km

Straight-line distance to Big Ben: 6,967 km

Here are my walking distances in Seattle:

• Convenience store: 150m
• Chain supermarket: 30m
• Big supermarket: 1.6km
• Bus stop: 10m
• Park: 100m
• Library: 150m
• Train station: 2km

Straight-line distance to Space Needle: 4.3km

I live in DFW, a large amalgamation of two cities and a bunch if suburban sprawl in Texas.
I live in a neighborhood that is considered extremely walkable, as I am directly across the street from a university and less than a mile from city hall.

Here are my walking distances:

• To the nearest convenience store: 1.8km
• To the nearest chain supermarket: 4.3 km (They have a monopoly though, so unless you can afford whole foods, the closest good one is like 22.5 km)
• To the bus stop: Lol, we don’t have busses. A neighboring city does, so I guess 29 km?
• To the nearest park: Nearest park is 2.8km. Nearest public space is only 1.5km because I live right next to city hall.
• To the nearest big supermarket: 8.9 km to Walmart.
• To the nearest library: 1.5km, again, I live right next to city hall.
• To the nearest train station: 16km, unless you mean one for intercity travel. We don’t have one of those because Amtrak is slowly being killed.

Straight-line distance to Big Ben: we don’t have a Big Ben, but we killed JFK and that’s 34km away.

Bonus fun fact, I commute 42km each day. This is considered far by most people here, 32km would be much more reasonable.

I’ll just use the same criteria you gave as an example.

• To the nearest convenience store: 1.5mi (2.6km)
• To the nearest chain supermarket: 1.8mi (2.9km)
• To the bus stop: 0.5mi (800m)
• To the nearest park: 0.3mi (480m) - I’m lucky to have several parks in my neighborhood
• To the nearest big supermarket: 2.1mi (3.4km)
• To the nearest library: 2.2mi (3.5km)
• To the nearest train station: 5.1mi (8.2km)

Edit: I live in a mid-size city (300k) on the east coast.

Let’s start with infrastructure.

Buses/metro/any public transit, barriered or not, sparsely or rarely exist. Even painted bike paths/walking paths, these usually exist ONLY in dense or older urban areas. You have either 1-1.5m wide sidewalk elevated 10cm or nothing separating you on foot from car traffic.

So that 250m is often on the shoulder of car lanes.

Now let’s talk property liability. You are responsible for injuries others sustain while on your property unless you have clearly posted signage expressing they were not allowed on your property. Even then and at best you’ll have to disrupt 6mo of your life tied up in courts+fees. (No right to roam. You do get the “perk” of open manhunting season on trespassers)

So that shortcut through the neighborhood where your neighbor laid out gravel because they care about community? Nope, that’s cyclone fence or cinder block wall. That alley between flats? Gated off.

It’s not even scale that’s the problem. You ALWAYS have to go around the ENTIRE block. A 250m Crow flight can easily be and most often is 1+km by foot, and only ever with a curb as your protection from traffic. You can’t safely get to geographically nearby places without putting yourself in mortal danger.

Also note European road design limits traffic in residential areas where the US grid system means every road is a main road and wide enough to promote excessive speeding.

Source: anecdotal/American living in EU

I live in a suburb in the U.S.

• To the nearest convenience store: 322m
• To the nearest chain supermarket: 2.4km
• To the bus stop: 2.6km
• To the nearest park: 5.5km
• To the nearest big supermarket: 6.1km
• To the nearest library: 7.7km
• To the nearest train station: N/A

Notes:

• The “convenience store” in my example is a gas station, technically you can buy lottery tickets, candy, cigarettes, beer, and a few things like that - but very limited inventory, it’s mostly for people buying gas. It’s also very unusual to have a gas station like this located basically in a suburban area, most places you would have to go much further to find one.
• no sidewalks or safe passage, you walk on a dangerous road with ditches on either side to get to the convenience store.
• the only public transit is a bus, it is used only by poor people, and it doesn’t cover the west half of the city (for example I was unable to use public transit to go to school)

I have run to the park before despite being far away, but I think most people would (rightfully) think I was suicidal for doing so. A lot of the way to the park requires walking on dangerous streets where people drive fast around blind curves and where there is little to no shoulders to squeeze by if there are cars, most of the way has no sidewalks, and I have to cross busy roads where drivers are going 80+kmh.

Owning a car here is considered a part of being an adult, people without a car are seen as childish or immature, and usually suspected of being drunks who have lost their license due to DUIs or felons who cannot have a driving license and aren’t allowed to leave the state. It is assumed everyone drives everywhere, alternatives are unthinkable to most people here.

I live in rural Oklahoma…

Here are my walking distances: * To the nearest convenience store: 4.667km * To the nearest chain supermarket: 24.140km * To the bus stop: 27.358km * To the nearest park: 321.869m * To the nearest *big* supermarket: 33.7962km * To the nearest library: 32.1869km * To the nearest train station: 70.8111km

To the nearest convenience store: 2.3mi / 3.7 km

To the nearest chain supermarket: 9mi / 14km (not actually a chain store, it’s a small grocery in a small rural town)

To the bus stop: lol, I don’t think any of the cities near me bother with that, nor would they be useful to me

To the nearest park: 5mi / 8km (lake, about a 5 minute drive)

To the nearest big supermarket: 14mi / 22km

To the nearest library: 9mi / 14km

To the nearest train station: 51mi / 82km (and this station doesn’t service any location I couldn’t get to faster than driving, even across country. Because AMTRAK is shit. I know because I’ve done it before)

This is in central CA, not far at all from the Capitol, Sacramento. For being the 5th biggest economy in the world our capitol is pathetic

I can probably offer some insight, as my in-laws live in Wimbledon, some of my family live both near and far from DC/Baltimore, and I live in the Netherlands.

My London experience is on par to yours. Everything is walking distance and the things that aren’t are accessible by public transit fairly easily.

The Netherlands imo is even better planned and connected than the UK. The convenience store is around the corner from my townhouse. Two large chain supermarkets are just a 3 or 7 minute walk depending on which is preferred (the 7-min one is pricier but better selection) and there are more a few more minutes walking. The bus stop is 3 min away, train is a 10 minute walk. Parks and bike lanes all around.

DC is also very walkable and similar to London. Bike lanes. Everything is accessible and public transit is pretty good. Lots of convenience stores, small grocers, and even some larger chains. A few metro lines even go far out to the suburbs. I like the building height limit, which makes the city feel more open. Rock Creek Park is massive and you feel like you’re in the forest.

Once you get to the suburbs there may be a convenience store a 10-20 minute walk away, or a grocer if you’re lucky, but generally this is when you’ll be needing a car, as public transit becomes scant. Many Americans are walking averse; my husband and I are the odd couple that parks at the back of the lot when visiting Costco instead of spending half an hour hoping to get a spot by the doors. Most stores will be in plazas or strip malls.

My father lives out in the country. He loves having acres and acres of no one around. His house is an island. There’s one 7-11 in his tiny village. He’s lucky it’s a 5 minute walk from his house. If I want to get groceries when visiting, the nearest store is 8 miles away (a leisurely 4 hour walk; 10 minute drive). Oftentimes there are no sidewalks; mostly long stretches of road with big shoulders. I don’t think there’s public transit there; I’ve never seen a bus. There are farms everywhere so parks need to be driven to, however, they are pretty big with lots of room for activities.

It’s likely not too different from comparing London to Dartmoor. Much of it depends on where you are (population density). Some areas have great public transit and access to services, others don’t.

Living in a small town in central North Carolina (answering these questions in units of city blocks that are ~150 meters long or in statute miles:

To the nearest convenience store: 4 blocks

To the nearest chain supermarket: 2 miles

To the bus stop: ~35 miles (It’s a distance to the nearest town with a bus service)

To the nearest park: 8 or 9 blocks

To the nearest BIG supermarket: 2.5 miles. The “nearest chain supermarket” is a Food Lion; slightly farther down the road is a Wal-Mart and a Harris Teeter about the same distance away.

To the nearest library: 3 blocks

To the nearest train station: 4 blocks.

Straight-line distance to Big Ben: ~4000 miles. juuuust out of earshot. I don’t recommend walking.

Depends where you live.

In a city? 75% of everything I need is right across the street.

In a rural town? Before I moved to the city, I had to drive 30-45 miles away to do literally anything. There were busses, but they only came around once in the morning and once more in the evening. And they didn’t always go where you wanted directly, so you’d have to spend like an entire day just to get to a place.

Nearest big landmark everyone might recognize is the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. And thats 78 miles away in a straight line.

Edit: To put things in terms non-Americans may understand better - We tend to measure distances not in the unit of distance, but in the time it takes to get somewhere. Assuming there is no traffic, the Golden Gate Bridge would only be an hour away taking the freeway. But that’s never gonna happen; the traffic through the Altamonte Pass alone is gonna add 1-2 hours depending on the time of day.

I live on the edge of a small town. Google numbers:

• To the nearest convenience store: 4.7km, 1hr 4min walk
• To the nearest chain supermarket: 21km, 4hr 38min walk
• To the nearest bus stop: 18km, 4hr 7min walk
• To the nearest park: 3.4km, 47 minute walk
• To the nearest library: 4.7km, 1hr 3min walk
• To the nearest train station: 20km, 4hr 31 minute walk

Phoenix suburbs

We don’t really have public transportation at all

Nearest convenience store 1.5 miles

Nearest chain grocery store 4.2 miles

Nearest big grocery store (Costco)2.8 miles

Nearest library 1.9 miles

Nearest park 0.6 miles(there’s a playground closer but it’s tiny)

Straight line to big Ben 5285 miles