• Christopher Leinberger is a George Washington University professor and a developer. He says he is not an advocate for building walkable urban-like areas, just someone who can see what the market puts in front of him.
• Leinberger uses the District of Columbia and its neighboring areas as his evidence. From 1992 to 2000 in and around D.C., 38% of new office space was built in these walkable places. From 2000 to the beginning of the recession in 2008, it was 49%. It is up to 59% since 2009, and apartments are swinging the same way.
• Developers who succeeded with malls and subdivisions think they know exactly what today's market wants – only more of the same – and are missing out, Leinberger argues.

From the article:

Not too long ago in Washington, D.C. – and still today in plenty of other cities – "walkable urbanism" was a niche real estate market. ...