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Freeing up Potential for Sustainable and Active Travel by Improving Walking and its Connections with Public Transport.

Overview

The overall goal of WalkUrban is to come to a better understanding of local accessibility and urban walkability in order to free up the potential for walking. The project combines quantitative and qualitative methods through innovative analyses of objective, subjective and perceived walking accessibility as well as walking-related attitudes and travel satisfaction. It aims to identify key drivers for and obstacles to walking in different urban neighbourhoods. The research will be carried out in close collaboration with local stakeholders in three European cities (Genoa, Dortmund and Gothenburg). WalkUrban aims to improve data collection and analysis methods for exploring the links between objective, subjective and perceived accessibility. ICT-based tools will be adapted for the assessment of selected walking routes in relation to important amenities and public transport stops. Citizens and other stakeholder members can use the tools on hand-held devices like smartphones and can thus participate in the fieldwork by self-assessing the walkability of their neighbourhoods. The ultimate aim of the project is to identify local solutions for improving walkability alongside general recommendations in order to support walking as a zero-emission, sustainable and active transport mode in urban areas.

This project runs from June 2021 to May 2024.

People and collaborators

Dr Jonas De Vos (Lead PI), The Bartlett School of Planning
Send Jonas an email

Institut für Landes- und Stadtentwicklungsforschung (ILS)

University of Gävle

City of Genoa

Funders

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

Outputs

WalkUrban aims to target various types of user communities, such as end users, practitioners and policy makers, local governments and NGOs, and academics. The project will ensure sustainable impacts on these stakeholders at various levels in broader geographical settings:

• The participation of end users in research activities (e.g. citizen science data collection, walk-alongs, expert interviews with representatives of specific target groups) will facilitate knowledge transfer about key drivers of and obstacles to walking in their neighbourhoods.
• Research results will be discussed with user communities at stakeholder workshops, which will explore immediate solutions for stimulating people’s willingness to walk in the neighbourhoods studied.
• Tools and guidelines for citizen involvement in assessing walkability in neighbourhoods will be developed and modified in close cooperation primarily with local stakeholder, but experience during the fieldwork phase in all three cities will contribute to the final tools as well.
• The project partners will present research results and policy recommendations at local meetings targeted at stakeholders and the broader public. The findings will also be presented at international academic workshops and conferences with different disciplinary focuses.
• The European Green Deal (EC, 2019) called for a 90% reduction in transport emissions by 2050 to achieve climate neutrality. There is no doubt that walking will substantially contribute to the decarbonisation process concerning people’s daily mobility. This project will generate new knowledge on people’s walking habits and deep insights into comprehensive solutions for promoting walking in different urban neighbourhoods.

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Photo by Dr Jonas De Vos