A city can be measured in kilometers of roads, subway lines and skyscrapers. But there is another way to understand it: by walking through it.
Walk a few blocks in Beijing and the city begins to reveal itself differently. Buildings that seem distant from a car become part of the streetscape. Parks become shortcuts. A neighborhood that might look like a collection of apartment blocks becomes a network of restaurants, small shops, public spaces and everyday encounters.
Walking slows the city down enough to notice it.
And increasingly, cities around the world are paying attention to what happens when people are encouraged to move this way.
For Beijing, the question is not simply whether people can walk from one place to another. It is whether the city can make walking convenient, comfortable and appealing enough that people choose it as part of everyday life.
That distinction matters. A sidewalk alone does not make a city walkable.