Evaluating the capability of walkability audit tools for assessing sidewalks

Aghaabbasi, Mahdi; Moeinaddini, Mehdi; Shah, Muhammad Zaly; Asadi-Shekari, Zohreh; Kermani, Mehdi Arjomand

doi:10.1016/j.scs.2017.12.001

Cited by 65 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…A walkability audit tool method was employed to collect the raw GIS data described in this article. In general, these tools are observational instruments and they are used to assess quantitatively and qualitatively deficiencies in the pedestrian environment and infrastructure [12] . Such an approach provides detailed data on microscale environmental factors that seemingly increase walking and physical activity behaviours [5] .…”

Section: Experimental Design Materials and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microscale walkability indicators for fifty-nine European central urban areas: An open-access tabular dataset and a geospatial web-based platform

et al. 2021

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A growing body of empirical findings suggests that more satisfactory, compact, and traversable built environments can positively influence active travel, physical activity, and the walking experience. To this end, planning for better and more walkable places has been identified as a hot topic in urban studies and public health research, since. However, European-level indicators assessing aspects of pedestrian-friendly urban environments are largely lacking. This article introduces spatial and tabular data files of 17 pre-processed and microscale walkability indicators. The dataset presents relevant to the pedestrian environment information for 59 central urban areas from 26 European countries and aims to support policy analysis and assessment related to healthy and low-carbon transportation systems as well as sustainable communities. Methodologically, we applied a virtual (i.e., Google Street View) street audit tool, block-by-block and on both sides of each street and crossing segment separately. To this end, we digitized in polyline features observations and evaluations for a total of 112.577 street- and/or crossing-segments. The data collection process was a demanding and challenging process, which lasted for 21 months and involved 46 trained observers. The data tables in this paper present processed data of each audited item topic as a total share of street segments or crossings length by city. More specifically, the data tables contain indicators that describe the following seventeen themes: percent of segments with predominant commercial or/and entertainment buildings (active uses), percent of segments with access to park/plaza, percent of segments with transit stop(s), percent of segments with available public seats, percent of segments according to their street lighting conditions, percent of segments with well-maintained buildings, percent of segments where graffiti is not present, percent of segments where a bike lane is present, percent of segments where a sidewalk is present, percent of segments with well-maintained sidewalks, percent of segments with sidewalk buffers, percent of segments according to shading levels, percent of segments with wider sidewalks, percent of segments according to the number of road traffic lanes, percent of crossings with a pedestrian walk signal, percent of crossings with curb(s) ramp and percent of crossings with a marked pedestrian crosswalk. Additionally, a dedicated web-GIS platform has been designed and developed to visualize and disseminate collected data in openly available density maps of high spatial resolution (50 m × 50 m). The above data can be utilized to both raise awareness of unsatisfactory pedestrian environments and appoint them as a key health and environmental issue, as well as to assist European policy-makers to apply urban mobility strategies and monitor progress in urban sustainability and public health goals.

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Section: Experimental Design Materials and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microscale walkability indicators for fifty-nine European central urban areas: An open-access tabular dataset and a geospatial web-based platform

et al. 2021

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“…Microscale walkability approaches at the level of streetscapes have also been developed for evaluating walkability [22,23,24]. Objective measures have been predominantly used in walkability research by developing walkability audits [25][26] and indexes [27,28,29] that evaluate and score the conditions provided to pedestrians. Such objective measures have been supported in Geographic Information Systems [30][31], multi-criteria analysis [25,32], virtual technologies [29,33], Web-based services, such as WalkScore, among others.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pedestrian facilities are infrastructure provided to enhance the pedestrian environment, to improve pedestrian mobility, safety, access, and comfort. For that reason, pedestrian facilities have been one of the most analysed factors, namely by considering the following criteria: the characteristics, maintenance and continuity of sidewalks [28], the presence of obstacles on sidewalks that creates discomfort and affects pedestrian safety [40]; slopes, as small positive increments in slopes decrease travel speeds and increase the energy and the effort required for walking [41][42]; the presence of trees and greenery that bring several environmental, safety and aesthetic benefits and encourage people to walk and the walking experience [25]; and street furniture that helps in creating a more pleasant and attractive walkable environment [43]. Finally, the characteristics of land use have been found to affect mode choice and walking [44].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Smart Pedestrian Network: An Integrated Conceptual Model for Improving Walkability

Fonseca

Ribeiro

Jabbari

et al. 2020

Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering

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Smart and sustainable mobility have recently emerged as a solution to the problems incurred by the intensive use of motorised transport modes. For many decades, cities have been planned based on the needs of vehicle traffic, neglecting basic human needs for active mobility and the adverse effects of motorised traffic on the natural environment. However, walking is an environmentally friendly transport mode and a healthy form of making physical activity. Thus, walking becomes an essential component of the transport and urban policies for achieving a more sustainable development process. This paper presents the research project Smart Pedestrian Network (SPN) that aims at promoting walkability as one of the critical dimensions of smart and sustainable mobility in cities. The paper analyses the various components linked to SPN that can make a pedestrian network "smart" and, therefore, a feasible alternative to motorised transport modes. Three integrated components are analysed: i) an urban planning component supported in a GIS-based multi-criteria model to assess the conditions provided to pedestrians and to support the adoption of planning policies; ii) a smartphone app for pedestrian navigation, displaying optional routes according to the pedestrian preferences and needs; and iii) a business component to estimate and disseminate the multiple benefits of walking as well as the market potential of SPN. By promoting an innovative linkage of these three components, SPN has a great potential for improving walkability and, therefore, for creating more sustainable and liveable urban spaces.

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“…More recent methods were put forward by Sousa et al (2017) and Corazza et al (2016). See also Aghaabbasi et al (2017) and references therein for other recent indicator proposals and Aghaabbasi et al (2018) for an evaluation of the capability of walkability audit tools to assess sidewalks. Performance indicators use different methodological approaches to yield a per-arc performance value for the pedestrian infrastructure considering different attributes such as e.g.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of pedestrian network friendliness maps

Sousa

Pais

Natividade-Jesus

et al. 2019

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Municipal E

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This article introduces the concept of pedestrian, or walking friendliness, and presents a methodology for obtaining maps thereof. Walking friendliness is a quality of walking indicator, defined for any given origin in a city, which combines accessibility measures, based on impedance between that origin and destinations, with performance scores for the pedestrian infrastructure linking those origins and destinations. The methodology uses geographic information systems to obtain walking friendliness values and represent them in a map. The approach is demonstrated through a case study for the city of Coimbra, Portugal, for which friendliness maps were derived. The procedure and maps that were produced can be scaled to any size of city.

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Evaluating the capability of walkability audit tools for assessing sidewalks

Cited by 65 publications

References 59 publications

Microscale walkability indicators for fifty-nine European central urban areas: An open-access tabular dataset and a geospatial web-based platform

Microscale walkability indicators for fifty-nine European central urban areas: An open-access tabular dataset and a geospatial web-based platform

Smart Pedestrian Network: An Integrated Conceptual Model for Improving Walkability

Design of pedestrian network friendliness maps

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