Walking is a sustainable mode of transport and a healthy way of doing physical activity. Walkability is a concept that has gained enormous popularity in recent years due to its potential to promote more sustainable urban environments and healthy lifestyles. This paper provides a literature review to analyze the influence of built environment attributes on walkability. The Scopus and Web of Science databases were chosen to survey the peer-reviewed documents published up to June 2020. A total of 132 documents were selected by the search. The review of these 132 documents showed that various built environment attributes were differently analyzed and assessed. More specifically, the search identified 32 built environment attributes that were assessed by using 63 measures. Intersection density, residential density and land use mix were the most used attributes for assessing walkability, namely by using objective methods, such as ratios and spatial score tools. In turn, attributes related to streetscape design and security were much less adopted in walkability assessments. This paper provides additional insights into how built environment attributes influence walkability and identifies gaps and issues that should be analyzed in-depth in the future. The review could be helpful for researchers and urban planners in developing walkability studies and in defining policies to improve walkability.

No abstract

This paper describes a GIS-based integrated approach to assess a pedestrian network by combining multi-criteria and space syntax. The analysis combines pedestrian attributes with street connectivity and both factors were evaluated by a group of experts. The approach was adopted in the city of Oporto. Results show that the city centre offers various conditions; however, overall they are poor for pedestrians. Moreover, the streets which scored best are not integrated into the network. The described approach can potentially be replicated in other cities in terms of improving the walkability and promoting sustainable urban mobility.

Walking is a mode of transport that offers many environmental and health benefits. Utilitarian walking refers to walking trips undertaken to fulfil routine purposes. The aim of this paper is to examine the extent to which walking is used as a transport mode for short urban trips in the city centers of Bologna and Porto and the barriers preventing utilitarian walking. Based on a questionnaire (n = 1117) administered in the two cities, results indicated that 21% of the individuals travel by foot, while 47% combine walking with other modes. This means that 68% of the daily trips to these city centers involve walking activity. From the overall trips, 84% were made to reach work and school/university. Statistical tests showed that utilitarian walkers were more likely to be females (p < 0.001) and undergraduates (p < 0.001). People from Bologna were more likely to engage in utilitarian walking than people from Porto (p < 0.001). Travel distance and time were the main barriers preventing people from engaging in utilitarian walking. The findings described in this paper provide a better understanding of utilitarian walking in the central areas of both cities, which can guide policies to promote healthier lifestyles and sustainable mobility.

No abstract