Walkability Indicators for Pedestrian-Friendly Design

This paper presents an analysis of walking indicators related to the structure of the road network, differentiated by measures of the quality, connectivity, and proximity of the road network. These measures were computed for various zones of the city of Rome and for the historical center of Lucca and Venice in Italy. The aims of the study were (a) to understand whether some measures were more suitable than others for describing the walkability (i.e., accessibility to walking) of an area, (b) to define the best single measure or the optimal combination of measures to describe the walkability of an area, (c) to define some benchmark values for the analyzed walkability measures, and (d) to obtain valuable guidelines to define a pedestrian-oriented road network. The results showed the importance of variables such as the number of nodes and the size of the blocks. Moreover, the results demonstrated that although single measures of connectivity were not self-explanatory for describing walkability, the combination of various measures could be more effective. Finally, the study derived the benchmark values of 3 to 6 nodes per hectare for the density of nodes, 0.5 to 0.9 hectare per block for the size of blocks, and 800 m for the maximum walking distance for a pedestrian-friendly, transit-oriented development.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.3141/2464-05
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9780309295567
• Authors:
  • Gori, Stefano
  • Nigro, Marialisa
  • Petrelli, Marco
• Publication Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 38–45
• Monograph Title: Pedestrians 2014
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
  • Issue Number: 2464
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Benchmarks; Central business districts; Guidelines; Network nodes; Pedestrians; Performance measurement; Urban design; Walkability; Walking
• Uncontrolled Terms: Pedestrian friendly communities; Road networks
• Geographic Terms: Lucca (Italy); Rome (Italy); Venice (Italy)
• Subject Areas: Design; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; I20: Design and Planning of Transport Infrastructure; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01515321
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 9780309295567
• Report/Paper Numbers: 14-2071
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 21 2014 3:18PM