n. The area that a person can comfortably or conveniently cover on foot.
2008
In many parts of the country, walking has become as quaint a pastime as spinning yarn or playing the bagpipes. Between 1977 and 1995, the number of daily walking trips taken by adults declined by 40 percent — while more than a quarter of all car trips are now shorter than a mile. Those under-a-mile journeys fall into the zone that new urbanists call ''walkshed'': the area a person can reasonably cover on foot. People whose walksheds teem with shops and restaurants have more reason to walk than those whose don't.
2006
Could we make it without a car?
For thoughts on this, I called Alan Durning, a Seattle native and father of three who has been surviving without a family car since February. …
They bought a membership in a car-sharing service similar to the Twin Cities' HourCar and ZipCar. And then they concentrated most of their errands and outings within what Durning calls a "walkshed" — the 248 businesses, services and entertainments to be found within a one-mile radius of their home.
For thoughts on this, I called Alan Durning, a Seattle native and father of three who has been surviving without a family car since February. …
They bought a membership in a car-sharing service similar to the Twin Cities' HourCar and ZipCar. And then they concentrated most of their errands and outings within what Durning calls a "walkshed" — the 248 businesses, services and entertainments to be found within a one-mile radius of their home.
2006 (earliest)
A one-mile perimeter, therefore, defines this car-less family’s pedestrian travel zone — call it our "walkshed." Fortunately, because we chose to live in a compact community, our walkshed turns out to be well stocked.
The word walkshed is a kind of urban take on watershed (1803), the area of land that drains into a large water source, such as a river, lake, or ocean. The watershed uses the source as the starting point and extends to cover all the land that supplies that source with water. In a similar way, your walkshed begins at a particular point (such as your home or office) and extends to cover all the land that you can reasonably reach on foot.