Built Environment Features and Pedestrian Accidents: An Italian Retrospective Study

Congiu, Tanja; Sotgiu, Giovanni; Castiglia, Paolo; Azara, Antonio; Piana, Andrea; Saderi, Laura; Dettori, Marco

doi:10.3390/su11041064

Cited by 52 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…of a buffer space between pedestrians and vehicular traffic, are clearly associated with an increased risk in pedestrian injury [13]. Usefulness is the second criterion in terms of priority.…”

Section: Final Micro Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Conversely, vehicular traffic, in addition to being one of the main pollution sources in our cities, represents one of the major risk factors for accidents involving various categories of users, including pedestrians [12,13]. It immediately appears clear that one of the reasons why citizens avoid walking routinely is given by the lack of security regarding their safety; accordingly, improving pedestrian safety in the urban environment could support a more active lifestyle, leading to a decrease in incidence and mortality associated with chronic disorders [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Walkable Environments and Healthy Urban Moves: Urban Context Features Assessment Framework Experienced in Milan

et al. 2019

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Recent studies in public health have focused on determining the influences of the built environment on the population’s physical and mental health status. In order to promote active transport and physical activity, considered favorable behavior for the prevention non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as obesity, it is necessary to reduce the negative effects of the built environment and develop positive ones, such as, for example, a walkable urban space. The aim of the research is to define a city’s walkability assessment framework capable of highlighting points of strength and weakness in its urban environment. All of the aspects that have a direct influence (evidence-based) on fostering the adoption of healthy lifestyles or promoting active transport as a strategy to increase the level of physical activity due to the existence of daily urban travel should be considered. After conducting a literature review aimed at identifying all of the existing assessment tools, 20 research studies were examined in detail. The new evaluation method arises from the comparison and critical selection of the various qualitative–quantitative indicators found, integrated into a multi-criteria analysis structure of dual-scale survey, with reference to walkability and paying attention to those indicators that have implications on health promotion. The new assessment framework, named Milano Walkability Measurement (MWM), is applicable in different urban contexts and was tested in two different areas of Milan. The Macro dimension (i.e., Density, Diversity, and Design criteria) refers to the urban scale and examines the city from a top view. It describes quantitatively the overall urban factors (urban area size equal to 1.5 Km2; typology of data: archival). The Micro dimension (i.e., Usefulness, Safeness, Comfort, and Aesthetics criteria) investigates the city at the street scale level. It describes qualitatively features of the outdoor spaces (road length of about 500/700 mt; typology of data: observational). Finally, the framework was weighted by comparison with a panel of experts. The expected results were reflected in the design recommendations based on the collected qualitative-quantitative data. The developed assessment method brings innovative criteria such as the multi-scaling assessment phase (Macro and Micro) and the ability to take into consideration aspects that according to the literature have relationships with health promotion linked to the improvement of a healthy lifestyle, related to daily active transportation choices. The design recommendations are useful both to policy-makers, to make evidence-based specific choices, and to designers, to understand what aspects of the urban environment must be improved or implemented in order to promote a walkable city.

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Section: Final Micro Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Walkable Environments and Healthy Urban Moves: Urban Context Features Assessment Framework Experienced in Milan

et al. 2019

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“…A multidisciplinary is required (architects, urban planners, sociologists, hygienists, psychologists, local authorities, etc.) to address the main public health issues related to environmental risks, including those associated with safety and hygiene of domestic houses [38][39][40][41][42][43].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Housing Demand in Urban Areas and Sanitary Requirements of Dwellings in Italy

Dettori

Altea

Fracasso

et al. 2020

Journal of Environmental and Public Health

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The phenomenon of urbanisation is becoming increasingly prevalent on a global level, and the health issues regarding the urban environment are of primary importance in public health. Accordingly, the present manuscript describes an analysis of the housing conditions of Italian urban areas, referring to the city of Sassari (Sardinia), Italy, focused on the dwelling structural and sanitary conditions issued by the Italian regulations. Data relating to the housing conditions of the population were acquired by the Local Hygiene and Public Health Service (SISP), in a period between 2012 and 2016. Qualitative variables were summarised with absolute and relative (percentages) frequencies, whereas quantitative variables with means and standard deviations depending on their parametric distribution. Statistical comparisons for qualitative and quantitative variables were performed with the χ2 test or Student’s t-test, respectively. A p value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Finally, the dwellings and the collected variables were georeferenced on a city map. During the 2012–2016 observation period, 363 certification requests were received from 193 (53.2%) foreign-born citizens and 170 (46.8%) Italians at the SISP offices. The main reasons relate to the request for a residency permit (46.6%) and to obtain a subsidy from the local government (32.8%). Overall, 15.4% of dwellings were found to be improper, while 35.3% and 22.0% were found to be unhygienic and uninhabitable, respectively. The foreigners’ homes were found to be suitable in 82.7% of cases; the housing of Italian citizens, on the contrary, was found to be suitable in 28% of the observations. The present study offers a cross section of the housing conditions of Italian urban areas, referring to the city of Sassari. To the authors’ best knowledge, this observation is the first one carried out in Sardinia and one of the first observations in Italy. It has emerged that “hygienically unsuitable” homes are those that, in most cases, are located in the city centre. Moreover, the Italian population is hit by a significant housing problem, due to overcrowding, uninhabitability, and unhygienic conditions. Overall, our findings suggest that it is necessary to develop a multidisciplinary approach to guarantee public health, with safe dwellings homes and the surrounding urban context alongside the development of social relations. Nevertheless, there is still little evidence available today on the population housing conditions, especially regarding the private indoor environment, and further research is needed to bridge this knowledge gap.

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“…As pedestrian infrastructure can reduce the risk of accidents involving pedestrians [52], further actions in this field have to be undertaken by stakeholders in Warsaw. Extension of low speed limit areas in the city, reduction of the carriageway widths or relocation of parking lots are exemplary modifications that are easy to implement and that can improve pedestrian and cyclist safety [53].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transport Accessibility of Warsaw: A Case Study

et al. 2019

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In this study, we detected which means of transportation is beneficial from a travel time perspective in specific districts of Warsaw, Poland. To achieve this goal, we proposed a framework to perform a spatial analysis to describe the as-is situation in the city (the state that the situation is in at the present time). The framework contains the following elements: attractiveness analysis, travel time and speed analysis, and potential accessibility analysis. The relationship between the averaged nominal travel speed and the number of residents was also investigated. We used data from a journey planner, as well as land use and population statistics, and employed descriptive analytics. The results are presented as maps of travel times, travel speed, and potential accessibility, as well as scatter plots of dependencies between travel speed and number of residents. Unfortunately, public transportation ranks behind car and bike transport in terms of travel time, speed, and potential accessibility. The largest positive influence on effectiveness of traveling by public transportation is the metro and railway system; also, bikes can perfectly complement the public transportation system. The obtained results can be used to indicate directions of changes in the transportation system of Warsaw.

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Built Environment Features and Pedestrian Accidents: An Italian Retrospective Study

Cited by 52 publications

References 63 publications

Walkable Environments and Healthy Urban Moves: Urban Context Features Assessment Framework Experienced in Milan

Walkable Environments and Healthy Urban Moves: Urban Context Features Assessment Framework Experienced in Milan

Housing Demand in Urban Areas and Sanitary Requirements of Dwellings in Italy

Transport Accessibility of Warsaw: A Case Study

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