I lived in the country most of my life and recently moved to a city. My city is far from walkable by any european sense of the term but I still manage the majority of my needs walking. I can't believe how much better it is. I really get to take in my community more by not zipping by it at 50km/h. Most of my walks I even have a short conversation with a stranger. I specifically try to avoid the larger roads because the car noise really does take away from this experience.