Evaluating walkability: a capability-wise planning and design support system

Abstract

We present a methodology and a planning and design support software tool for evaluating walkability and pedestrian accessibility of places which are relevant for people’s capabilities, and thus an important component of quality of life in cities. A multicriteria evaluation model, at the core of the decision support system, is used to assign walkability scores to points in urban space. Walkability scores are obtained through algorithms which process spatial data and run the evaluation model in order to derive potential pedestrian routes along the street network, taking into account the quality of urban space on several attributes relevant for walkability. One of its notable characteristics is a certain reversal of perspective in evaluating walkability: the walkability score of a place does not reflect how that place is per se walkable, but instead how and where to can one walk from there, that is to say, what is the walkability the place is endowed with. This evaluation incorporates three intertwined elements: the number of destinations/opportunities reachable by foot, their walking distances, and the quality of the paths to these destinations. In this article, we furthermore demonstrate possible uses of the support system by reporting and discussing the results of a case-study assessment of a project for the Lisbon’s Segunda Circular (Second Ring Road). The software tool is made freely available for download

Using Citizen-Provided Information to Build Purposeful Knowledge for Planning: Principles, Requirements, and Three Examples

“…Without presenting here the details of the formal evaluation model used by Walkability Explorer (for that see Blečić et al 2015a), it is useful to outline some of its peculiarities. The WE software uses a multi-criteria assessment model to assign a walkability score to all points in the city.…”

Coupling Surveys with GPS Tracking to Explore Tourists’ Spatio-Temporal Behaviour

“…Tourism policies are foremost territorial policies, so such information, if wisely used, may become of particular relevance when investigating the relationship between tourists' behaviour, their individual characteristics and interests [3], and spatial distribution and accessibility of urban and territorial attractors and activities [4]. It may, for instance, serve to better understand preferences and choices of different populations of tourists, in order to put in place policies for tourism deseasoning; or to more efficiently coordinate activities, attractions and transportation services; or to build tourist fidelity.…”

A Spatial Distribution Equilibrium Evaluation of Health Service Resources at Community Grid Scale in Yichang, China

“…Cervero and Duncan used household activity data of San Francisco, combined with built environment factor scores with control variables (such as steep terrains), to study the links between urban environments and non-motorized travel [36]. Blecic et al proposed a methodology and a planning and design support tool named Walkability Explorer, to evaluate the pedestrian accessibility of places that are related to people's capabilities, taking into account the quality of urban space on several attributes relevant for accessibility [37]. Due to income, age or physical condition, many people are unable to drive or use vehicles.…”