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.

We present a survey of operational methods for walkability analysis and evaluation, which we hold show promise as decision-support tools for sustainability-oriented planning and urban design. An initial overview of the literature revealed a subdivision of walkability studies into three main lines of research: transport and land use, urban health, and livable cities. A further selection of articles from the Scopus and Web of Science databases focused on scientific papers that deal with walkability evaluation methods and their suitability as planning and decision-support tools. This led to the definition of a taxonomy to systematize and compare the methods with regard to factors of walkability, scale of analysis, attention on profiling, aggregation methods, spatialization and sources of data used for calibration and validation. The proposed systematization aspires to offer to non-specialist but competent urban analysts a guide and an orienteering, to help them integrate walkability analysis and evaluation into their research and practice.

The urban environment plays an important role for the mental health of residents. Researchers mainly focus on residential neighbourhoods as exposure context, leaving aside the effects of non-residential environments. In order to consider the daily experience of urban spaces, a people-based approach focused on mobility paths is needed. Applying this approach, (1) this study investigated whether individuals' momentary mental well-being is related to the exposure to micro-urban spaces along the daily mobility paths within the two previous hours; (2) it explored whether these associations differ when environmental exposures are defined considering all location points or only outdoor location points; and (3) it examined the associations between the types of activity and mobility and momentary depressive symptomatology. Using a geographically-explicit ecological momentary assessment approach (GEMA), momentary depressive symptomatology of 216 older adults living in the Ile-de-France region was assessed using smartphone surveys, while participants were tracked with a GPS receiver and an accelerometer for seven days. Exposure to multiple elements of the streetscape was computed within a street network buffer of 25 m of each GPS point over the two hours prior to the questionnaire. Mobility and activity type were documented from a GPS-based mobility survey. We estimated Bayesian generalized mixed effect models with random effects at the individual and day levels and took into account time autocorrelation. We also estimated fixed effects. A better momentary mental wellbeing was observed when residents performed leisure activities or were involved in active mobility and when they were exposed to walkable areas (pedestrian dedicated paths, open spaces, parks and green areas), water elements, and commerce, leisure and cultural attractors over the previous two hours. These relationships were stronger when exposures were defined based only on outdoor location points rather than all location points, and when we considered within-individual differences compared to between-individual differences.

We propose a decision-aiding evaluation procedure (i) for classifying road crossings based on their impact on walkability and, subsequently, (ii) for prioritising street improvements, in urban-rural fringe areas. In the peripheral urban-rural fringes, pedestrian mobility is usually less developed and people generally depend more on cars for their everyday chores. Partly this is inevitable given the structural features and supply of services and activities in such areas, but part is due to a frequent neglect of pedestrian mobility in planning and urban design. Measures to improve this state of affairs can include the design of more pedestrian-friendly environments offering to potential users a greater level of security, comfort and convenience when walking to their designated destinations. Our evaluation procedure combines a walkability assessment methodology with the ELECTRE TRI rating procedure, in order to assist planners and decision makers in designing physical streets to enhance the continuity, safety and quality of pedestrian paths. Improving the walking accessibility in the fringe areas of towns is a way to reduce the physical and perceptual distance which separates these contexts from the rest of the city, thus leading to a progressive integration of urban functions.

Urban peripherality is a multidimensional phenomenon, requiring operational tools for analysis and policy design. In this paper, we explore if and how the concept of walkability can be employed as an indicator of peripherality. For this purpose, we employ the capability-wise walkability score (CAWS) to assess neighbourhoods of two case study cities to classify them into four classes (periphery, semi-periphery, semi-core, core). In comparing neighbourhoods on both walkability and a set of neighbourhood-level socioeconomic variables, we argue that walkability should be incorporated as part of a comprehensive framework for the analysis of processes of peripherilisation, since walkability should be seen as one relevant factor of urban capabilities, and hence the lack thereof fits into the definition of urban periphery.