Planning and Designing Walkable Cities: A Smart Approach

Walking may be considered one of the most sustainable and democratic ways of travelling within a city, thus providing benefits not only to pedestrians but also to the urban environment. Besides, walking is also one of the means of transport most likely subjected to factors outside an individual\u2019s control, like social or physical abilities to walk and the presence of comfortable and safe street infrastructures and services. Therefore, improving urban conditions provided to pedestrians has positive impacts on walkability. At the same time technological solutions and innovations have the power to encourage and support people to walk by overcoming immaterial barriers due to a lack of information or boring travel and they give to decision makers the possibility to gain data to understand how and where people travel. Merging these two dimensions into a unique approach can drastically improve accessibility, attractiveness, safety, comfort and security of urban spaces. In this context, this paper aims to draw a more multifaceted context for walkability, where new technologies assume a key role for introducing new approaches to pedestrian paths planning and design and thus for enhancing this mode of transport. Indeed, by combining more traditional spatial-based and perceptual analysis of the urban environment with technological applications and social media exploitation there will be room to better support the decision on and to enhance satisfaction of walking as well as to easier plan and design more walkable cities

Smart pedestrian network: an integrated conceptual model for improving walkability

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.FCT co-financing (ENSUF/0004/2016) - The authors gratefully acknowledge ERANET Cofund Smart Urban Futures for funding the research project SPN - Smart Pedestrian Net. The authors also acknowledge the national agencies for science, research and technology from Portugal, Italy, Austria and Cyprus for co-funding the project