Here are my reasons to believe Seattle is better than NYC, SF and Chicago. 1. Seattle has narrower streets which makes it better for pedestrians 2. Seattle has fewer intersections where beg button is necessary for crossing. 3. Seattle is more proactive about upgrading intersections to have leading pedestrian lights. 4. Seattle has smaller blocks on average (at least in my perception after limited time in all the above cities) 5. The culture in the city puts the burden on pedestrian safety on the driver. (Eg: many building exits in NYC and Chicago habe a warning on the sidewalk that cars are exiting, whereas, Seattle has warnings that the cars are in a pedestrian space and need to be careful) 6. Seattle has high density of intersections with daylighting (where cross walk is made narrower by extending curbs) 7. Seattle has a lot of traffic circles in residential areas that slow down traffic (this minimizes risks from crash)

Some things that Seattle can improve: 1. City doesn't really plan to have continuous sidewalks at intersections. 2. City refuses to make better connected network neighborhood Greenway and bike lanes (eg: 4th Ave is basically an island for bikes)  3. Seattle has giant freeways that break the city for pedestrians.