Walking is a heavily underused transportation mode in United States desert cities, due to urban sprawl and its consequences, among others. Sprawl repair can help create more walkable cities, but the sole activity of infilling open spaces is not enough to ensure walkability in desert cities. Human scale urban design interventions are necessary to mitigate the impact of the desert heat on pedestrians and to create a truly walkable environment. In this research, academic literature is reviewed and case study cities from around the world are analysed, resulting in a toolkit of urban design guidelines that facilitate walkability in US desert cities. The guidelines are applied and tested on the context of Downtown Palm Springs, California. The result is a practical toolkit for urban designers that work on US desert cities and which can serve as a base for further research into walkability in extreme climates.
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