[2020] Why so slow walking?

As mentioned before, this is on purpose. You are supposed to build roads, which you can do fairly fast with dirt roads or just cleaning the bushes out like Object said.

Originally posted by City Builder: Truly annoying. What if I don't want to spam road everywhere? It's your game and all and you dictate how to play it, but I for one hate spamming roads and trying to simply walk through short'ish grass at a fraction of the speed of bare ground.

I'm pretty sure that when I walk through the forest grounds near my home with weeds near waist high, it doesn't impair my walking speed at all.

Well, that's the point of the game. You can of course decide to not upgrade infrastructure for the sake of the planet - but you will have to live with the consequences. That's what Eco is about ...

He can possibly mod it, but there is no setting for it.