WestJet's up! magazine announces the most walkable cities in Canada for 2010

Magazine highlights the country's best places to explore by foot

CALGARY, May 10 /CNW/ - Canada's 10 best walking cities for 2010 have just been compiled by up! magazine in conjunction with an esteemed judging panel that includes city luminaries like author Chris Turner, Jane's Walk's Jane Farrow and urban guru Gil Penalosa. For a second year in a row, judges have researched and assembled the only index of its kind in Canada: the best places to walk in the nation. A complete ranking and analysis have been published in the May 2010 issue of up! magazine, WestJet Airlines' in-flight publication, complete with each city's initiatives toward making their streets a pleasure to stroll.

Canada's Most Walkable Cities are chosen based on the experience they provide for the pedestrian, ranging from climate to parkland. The index will be published again next May and annually thereafter to celebrate spring and getting outdoors, along with Canada's Jane's Walk initiatives (in honour of the late urbanist Jane Jacobs), and many pedestrian-friendly events across the country. Canada's Most Walkable Cities index recognizes, celebrates and critiques how Canadian cities facilitate the most basic travel of all: the one that starts with our own two feet. Please visit www.upmagazine.com for the full story.

    
    The 10 most walkable cities in Canada in order are:

    1.  Vancouver
    2.  Victoria
    3.  Montréal
    4.  Toronto
    5.  Halifax
    6.  Quebec City
    7.  Ottawa
    8.  Calgary
    9.  St. John's
    10. Winnipeg
    

"The world's favourite cities are places best discovered on foot," says Tom Gierasimczuk, editor of up! magazine. "By geography or government policy, these towns coddle the pedestrian, whether it's with a mild climate, car-free days or plenty of urban paths that inspire citizens to stroll in comfort and numbers. This is our second annual celebration of the best places to hoof it in the nation, and in these 10 places that get it, buck-a-litre gas prices don't matter and the urban grid becomes a playground when explored slowly with your own two feet."

up! magazine, WestJet Airlines' in-flight publication, celebrates the joy of travel and discovery, and the pursuit of value on the road. With a focus on destinations in North America and the Caribbean, up! lauds little-known travel gems and explores well-trodden routes with a fresh perspective. Our storytellers are award-winning journalists and photographers fluent in the destinations they cover, with the same wanderlust shared by our curious readers.

About RedPoint Media Group

RedPoint Media Group Inc. is one of Western Canada's largest magazine publishers, producing 13 consumer and corporate titles. In addition to producing such well-known and award-winning titles as WestJet's up! magazine and Avenue magazine in both Calgary and Edmonton, RedPoint also publishes Wine Access magazine and is the official magazine publisher for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Alberta Ballet and Calgary Opera.

About WestJet

WestJet is Canada's preferred airline, offering scheduled service throughout its 68-city North American and Caribbean network. Inducted into Canada's Most Admired Corporate Cultures Hall of Fame and named one of Canada's best employers, WestJet pioneered low-cost flying in Canada. WestJet offers increased legroom, leather seats and live seatback television provided by Bell TV on its modern fleet of 88 Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft. With future confirmed deliveries for an additional 47 aircraft through 2016, WestJet strives to be one of the five most successful international airlines in the world.

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For further information: interviews and/or copies of up! magazine, contact: Aleisha Vermeulen, Director, Marketing & Communications, RedPoint Media Group Inc., [phone], [email protected]