"Walkable" is a very broad word and in different contexts can mean different things. Not very, "Pedestrian Friendly" I would say is a more fitting term. I can indeed "walk" 10 miles to work through just about anything. But if I had the choice of walking just one or two through the same "anything", I would choose the latter. That doesnt mean its a "pedestrian friendly" walk, nor does it imply that the area is "walkable or pedestrian friendly" in a good, urban way which encourages everyone to walk. Which is easy, efficient, convenient, and even somewhat pleasant.
If you have few or no sidewalks, wide roads, huge open spaces, etc, in an area where most of the jobs would be 4-10 miles away, versus an area which had,,,, few or no sidewalks, wide roads, huge open spaces, etc, and most of the jobs were only 1-3 miles away,,,, I would say the second area is an improvement.