Walkable Urban Neighbourhoods - Freeing up Potential for Sustainable and Active Travel by Improving Walking and its Connections with Public Transport

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.