You can probably guess the most walkable city in the world…

A new global survey has crowned Abu Dhabi as the most walkable city in the world. Any surprises there? The capital as been voted by residents as the most the pedestrian-friendly city in world, as rated by an impressive 91 per cent of locals.

Abu Dhabi has always been the more walkability-friendly city, with long stretches of flats and plenty of areas with pavements, sidewalks, underpasses and junctions for the dwellers to make their way about, especially in the city centre.

The 8km-long stretch of the Corniche, overlooking the Arabian Gulf all the way to Al Lulu Island, is probably the highlight of this system, complete with shaded children’s play areas, picnic spots, restaurants and a stunning view of pristine cerulean waters.

Lauded for exceptional city planning, Downtown Abu Dhabi presents as a tightly-knit grid – a design sketched out by the late Dr Abdulrahman Makhlouf, the Egyptian urban planner who brought His Highness Sheikh Zayed’s vision for a modern capital to life, back in the early days.

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According to an in-depth report done on Dr Makhlouf by The National, he charted the capital’s grid system, drawing from perhaps the most popular grid in the world – Manhattan – while sitting on the floor with the country’s Founding Father at Qasr Al Bahr, the Sea Palace.

Recommended to Sheikh Zayed as an expert, even mentioned by the United Nations, Dr Makhlouf was the successor of Katsuhiko Takahashi, from Japan, who was the first city planner and whose plan Dr Makhlouf supported. The plan was all straight lines – it just made sense.

As such, the final design, which we see even today, was a linear one – Airport Road was the central spine, out of which the upper part of the island towards the Corniche grew into a wider grid. Criss-cross, straight roads, parallel to each other, designed to get from Point A to Point B in the fastest, most efficient way possible.

Around the world…

Abu Dhabi took the cake, but we do have the rest of the list. Boston came in second place, with 89 per cent of locals rating it positively. positively rating the city’s walkability. Brighton came in third place, with 88 per cent rating, followed by New York at 87 per cent and Bilbao at 86 per cent.

Find the full list here:

  1. Abu Dhabi, UAE – 91 per cent
  2. Boston, US –  89 per cent
  3. Brighton, UK – 88 per cent
  4. New York, US – 87 per cent
  5. Bilbao, Spain – 86 per cent
  6. Chicago, US – 86 per cent
  7. Edinburgh, UK – 85 per cent
  8. Marrakech, Morocco – 85 per cent
  9. San Francisco, US – 83 per cent
  10. Cardiff, UK – 82 per cent
  11. Shanghai, China – 82 per cent
  12. Hong Kong, Hong Kong – 82 per cent
  13. Paris, France – 82 per cent
  14. Oslo, Norway – 81 per cent
  15. Stockholm, Sweden – 81 per cent
  16. Singapore, Singapore – 80 per cent
  17. Melbourne, Australia – 80 per cent
  18. London, UK – 79 per cent
  19. Lyon, France – 79 per cent
  20. Washington DC US – 79 per cent

Images: Unsplash