Ask people what characteristic they most value in a city neighborhood and they’ll often answer “walkability” or “pedestrian-friendliness.” If walkability is what you’re seeking in a new neighborhood, you may already use WalkScore.com for an objective index of pedestrian-friendliness: walkable access to shops, restaurants, parks, pubs, and public transportation.

City dwellers have been known to indulge a presumption that suburban neighborhoods are hostile to pedestrians. That prejudice could be bolstered by driving north along Green Bay Road in Evanston and seeing scenes like the one above – the southeast façade of the Grand Bend at Green Bay development.

We checked the WalkScore for Grand Bend at Green Bay — located at 1228 Emerson St, surely not on the radar for many confirmed city amblers — against the score for Roscoe Village, considered by many young home shoppers to be one of Chicago’s most walkable neighborhoods. The results may surprise you.

The heart of Roscoe Village – Roscoe Street and Damen Avenue – had a “very walkable “WalkScore of 85 out of 100. Grand Bend had a WalkScore of 92 — a “walker’s paradise.”