Pedestrian planning in city centers: a study of Guimarães and Braga

Abstract

People are walking in cities for different reasons. Some walkers walk for going to work, some are walking for shopping and some are for leisure during day and night hours. Medium sized cities like Braga and Guimarães in Portugal are depending on car for even shorter trips up to 2 kilometers. However, the walkways are allowing people to walk in convenient and safe way including late night environment. The pedestrians feel troublesome to walk on the footpaths because of illegal parking and discontinuation of walkways. Municipality transport plans and master plans do not incorporate pedestrians as a major component. But this egress mode of transportation is very important in medium sized city centers like Guimarães and Braga for the people to enjoy city centers’ activities.