Over the last 25 years (as San Francisco and Austin have left urban planners scratching their heads), a small, Midwestern, little-thought-of city has quietly written a remarkable success story.

Omaha—home to one of the country's wealthiest citizens and a historic coffee pot water tower—has been experiencing a resurgence matched by few other cities in the country. At the heart of this revitalization is downtown Omaha, which has gradually evolved from a sleepy, sprawling area into a thriving civic and cultural highlight of the Midwest. The key to the city's urban reinvention? Creating a walkable and integrated downtown area.

Since implementing the Downtown Omaha 2030 plan, the area has experienced more population growth than it has in decades. According to Business Insider, it's now one of Best Places to Live in America with a high quality of life, plentiful jobs, and affordable housing. San Francisco, which ranks in the top 20 of the Best Places to Live in America, has a walkability score of 99 out of 100, according to WalkScore.

More communities and cities are promoting their WalkScore, which is becoming the best way to showcase urban appeal. Alternative forms of transportation, from mass transit to new bike lanes, are attracting younger buyers to dense, urban areas. But walkability isn't simply a millennial trend: Empty nesters are now flocking back to cities after fleeing to the suburbs throughout most of the late 20th century.

According to NAIOP, walkability is defined in a unique way. It doesn't mean that there are no cars. Instead, it's a healthy balance between walking, biking, driving, and other modes of transportation.

Walkability is also about more than just convenience—it's financially prudent. A recent study concluded that commercial office space in a walkable area fetches a 74% premium over its car-dependent neighbors. Communities in walkable areas also bounce back much quicker after a decline in home prices.

The problem? Demand, by far, outpaces supply. In the top 30 metro areas throughout the country, walkable areas make up less than one percent of available acreage. This makes most walkable cities unaffordable for the average family. The country's most walkable cities are also some of the country's most expensive: New York City, San Francisco, and Boston.

Urbanists have also discovered a surprising correlation between walkable areas and crime. With more people out-and-about, there are more potential witnesses. And those watchful eyes serve as natural deterrents for acts of property and violent crimes.

On top of curbing crime rates, there are other surprising positive effects of living in walkable neighborhoods. Remarkably, density (not demographics breakdown) is the strongest driving force behind an area's arts and culture scene. The more connected an area is, the more civic engagement groups and social movement organizations exist.

It's no secret that walking improves health, but a recent study concluded that the benefits are much greater than just better legs. The University of Kansas' Alzheimer's Disease Control discovered a strange correlation between those who have mild Alzheimer's disease and adults with cognitive impairment. Subjects who lived in areas with fewer turns on streets and paths—the hallmarks of sprawling neighborhoods—performed poorer on baseline cognition tests and experienced declines in attention and verbal memory. On the other hand, subjects who lived in highly connected areas with more turns performed better on cognitive tests and saw fewer declines in attention and verbal memory.

In other words, if you want to know how happy you're going to be in your new neighborhood, step into some comfortable shoes and get familiar with your streets and walkways.