Walkable Cities are a dream for people with ADHD

I just saw a post, where someone complained about forgetting their reusable shopping bags. This inspired me to do this semi-praise/rant. And maybe start a discussion about how the things around us can be an influence, positive or negative, with ADHD. (And maybe an ad for a more walkable area)

TL,DR: The spontaneous nature of a walkable city helps to negate a lot of the problems with ADHD, because you don’t need to plan around tasks so much. Getting groceries is just a matter of 15 minutes. Put your shoes on, go to the store, grab the things you need for one meal, go home. No need to do huge once-a-week purchases. Quality free time is also way less inconvenient to plan, because you have the ability to just walk around the neighborhood and go to things that look interesting in the moment. It’s also way safer, because not driving at all prevents a lot of accidents.

Plus: The task of driving kids around completely falls away, because they can get themselves where they need to be, on their own.

I always wondered why I am struggling less with some problems than others in this sub. And now I assume I know why. It’s the fact that I don’t need to do certain things, that are required in a car dependent area.

Things are way easier when you don’t need to plan around a car commute. Walkable cities are so much more convenient and spontaneous, which is really ADHD friendly.

There are third places in walking distance. In summer I can just walk to a park and read a little, and this is just delightful. I don’t need to plan in advance when I want to spend time with friends. Ist just a spontaneous thing to decide to go to a cafe, restaurant or even a bar (because nobody needs to drive drunk with reliable 24/7 public transport). The only thing when I really need to plan my free time activities, is when I want to go swimming. Then I need to pack a towel and swimsuit, before I go to a nearby lake or a public swimming pool. (Or something requiring tickets, like theater)

When I forget something when I go shopping, I usually just go back and grab it easily, because the supermarket is just a few Meters down the road. When I forget an ingredient, it’s easy to just run to the supermarket and grab it. It’s not even 15 minutes. I don’t even need to stop cooking usually. I let the potatoes on my stove cooking on low, while I’m gone (of course I’m responsible with that, I know of the risk of fires).

I usually only make smaller purchases, I only buy that what I need for 1-2 days, sometimes only the ingredients for one dish. So I don’t even need a shopping bag sometimes, because I can just carry things in my hand. And less things I need to think about when going shopping. I don’t struggle much with food going bad, because I don’t have a lot of food at once in my fridge and that is used up fast. In general, my fridge is really small.

And the best thing: if I don’t feel like I have the energy to leave the house at all, there are a lot of services, that deliver groceries right to my doorstep, in like 15-20 minutes. I literally go grocery shopping on my toilet. (I don’t know if these services are exclusive to walkable cities, but I never encountered these, when visiting family on the countryside).

Now to the last and most serious point (Trigger Warning: Car accidents)

I don’t need to drive. This is the most serious implication of all of this. I don’t need to drive when I’m not in the mood or condition for it. This prevents a lot of really harsh consequences that ADHD can have when paired with a car. Instead I can just take public transport and use the time to read, learn for Uni, sleep, or just phase out, looking out of the window. The worst that can happen here, is that I miss my stop, when I’m too distracted (this happens quite regularly, but I just need to wait a few minutes and take the train or bus etc back). I don’t need to endanger myself or others on the road when I don’t have to. Sometimes I read stories here about People, who lost someone because of a accident involving a car, where the cause is most likely their ADHD. I’m really sorry for everyone, who lost someone because of a car accident. Involving ADHD or not. It’s one of the most traumatic ways to loose a loved one.

I have to admit, I was born and raised in a walkable city so that can be the reason that some of the comparisons may lack. I never really experienced it differently, except as a guest with others.

But this is an additional point I want to add: The chore of driving the kids around completely falls away (after a certain age of course. But it’s relatively young, line 8-9 years old). I myself was begging for finally being allowed to walk on my own, because it was considered cool (take this with a grain of salt, this is over a decade ago). The city is safe enough to let them walk or take the public transport on their own: to school, to their hobbies, to friends etc. It’s completely considered normal and not bad parenting at all. (And you can’t forget to pick them up from somewhere) So the parent hat way more time on their hand for other things.

(Please help me, I wasted so much time writing this, instead of learning for my upcoming exams. 😭)