The town where everyone walks to school

Governing - In 1969, half of American schoolchildren walked or rode their bikes to school. Just 13 percent of kids walked or biked to school in 2009.

But there’s one Ohio community that has steadfastly resisted that change. In the town of Lakewood, almost everyone still walks to school. That’s because Lakewood doesn’t have any school buses—and it never has.

There are a few reasons why Lakewood may be the nation’s unofficial walk-to-school capital. Density, for one. The town was incorporated in 1910 as an inner-ring streetcar suburb of Cleveland. Lakewood grew up with walkable, densely populated neighborhoods. Today the city of 52,000 has 9,000 residents per square mile, which, according to city planner Bryce Sylvester, makes it the most densely populated place between Chicago and New York City.

As Lakewood grew, the city opted against setting up a school bus system, focusing instead on building schools to fit within the community. Most of the schools are multistory buildings on relatively small lots, making them easier to incorporate into residential neighborhoods. As the facilities aged over the years, officials chose to restore and upgrade the existing structures, rather than build sprawling new single-story campuses.

As a result, most everybody walks to school. “That’s just normal here,” says schools spokeswoman Christine Gordillo. As an upshot, kids in Lakewood naturally get more exercise.