The innovation economy is a crucial industry type currently valued highly by cities worldwide. In the suburb of Hangzhou in coastal area of China, driven by the leading enterprise Alibaba Corporation, a cluster of technology and innovation companies has gradually emerged. Since 2011, the local government has planned this area (covering an area of approximately 113 square kilometers) as an innovation district and provided tax and policy support. This article focuses on walkability, which refers to measuring how friendly an area is for walking. Although this concept is adopted by academics, it has not been easy to implement in the real world. For innovation districts, walkability is crucial for fostering public space vitality and catering to the lifestyle of young talents. However, according to a large-scale behavioural survey organized by the authors in spring 2023, the proportion of pedestrians is not high. Under the dual influence of “super blocks in the suburb and segregation by river network”, the current walkability of Hangzhou Chengxi Sci-tech Corridor is relatively lower than that of other famous innovation districts in the western world. This study also evaluates the walkability and density of daily service in this area with a new tool NRA (based on Space Syntax theory). A downtown innovation districts in the same city is chosen as a benchmark for understanding the quantitative results. The research shows the potential of this new method for evaluating walkability. The visualization of quantitative data can help the decision-makers and designers to identify weak spots, and compare different scenarios of regeneration plans.