Walkable cities: using the Smart Pedestrian Net Method for evaluating a pedestrian network in Guimarães, Portugal

Abstract

Evidence for the benefits of walking has attracted the attention of researchers and practitioners and encouraged them to develop healthier and more sustainable walkable cities. Many methods and approaches have been developed to measure walkability; namely, by using land use attributes. This paper examines the transferability of the Geographic Information System (GIS) based multi-criteria method developed in the Smart Pedestrian Net (SPN) research project to evaluate the level of walkability in a pedestrian network in Guimarães, Portugal. The method involves the assessment of 19 built environment and streetscape attributes, which were scored by a group of experts following the analytic hierarchy process. The method proved to be efficient in evaluating the pedestrian network and in mapping walkability in the study area. Around 65% of the street lengths scored above 0.60, indicating that the overall pedestrian conditions are favourable, with the best performance criteria being those related to accessibility and street connectivity. The method also allowed for the identification of different levels of walkability within the study area and the lack of a pedestrian network of highly scored streets. According to the results, the SPN method could be replicated in other cities to evaluate walkability and could be a useful planning tool to support policies towards developing more walkable cities.