IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jotrge/v111y2023ics0966692323001175.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Global microscale walkability ratings and rankings: A novel composite indicator for 59 European city centres

Author

Listed:
  • Bartzokas-Tsiompras, Alexandros
  • Bakogiannis, Efthimios
  • Nikitas, Alexandros

Abstract

Several walkability studies have focused primarily on macro-level environmental factors. Nevertheless, previous research has shown that street-level design can also support walking. In this paper, we present a novel Microscale Walkability Index, ‘MWI’, that measures, ranks, and analyses the pedestrian-friendliness levels of 59 heterogeneous city centres in 26 European countries. We selected 26 case studies from European capitals and 33 city centres from metropolitan areas of regional or national importance and with >500.000 inhabitants. The conceptual framework is based on the Microscale Audit of Pedestrian Streetscapes tool, while the final scores were synthesised by aggregating three comparative benchmarking dimensions: sidewalk environment (SE), pedestrian crossings (PC), and streetscape level (SL). We used OECD's multivariate statistical analysis concept as well as an empirically aggregated indicator dataset that contained street inventories of city centres, combined with observations from Google Street View of a total of 112.000 segments/crossings and 17 urban design topics. Results showed that the five most pedestrian-friendly city centres are Barcelona, Bilbao, Oslo, Zurich, and Paris, whereas Bucharest, Athens, Sofia, Plovdiv, and Palermo are ranked last. Mann-Whitney tests showed significant differences in average microscale walkability rankings, when cities had higher GDP per capita, a higher proportion of walking/cycling and better sustainability performance. This study paves the way for future spatially dissagregated walkability approaches using multi-level models and recommends greater policy support for improving pedestrian facilities in less developed city centres in Southern/Eastern Europe.

Suggested Citation

  • Bartzokas-Tsiompras, Alexandros & Bakogiannis, Efthimios & Nikitas, Alexandros, 2023. "Global microscale walkability ratings and rankings: A novel composite indicator for 59 European city centres," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:111:y:2023:i:c:s0966692323001175
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2023.103645
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692323001175
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2023.103645?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paolo Paruolo & Michaela Saisana & Andrea Saltelli, 2013. "Ratings and rankings: voodoo or science?," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 176(3), pages 609-634, June.
    2. Song, Yena & Preston, John & Ogilvie, David, 2017. "New walking and cycling infrastructure and modal shift in the UK: A quasi-experimental panel study," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 320-333.
    3. Andrea Rebecchi & Maddalena Buffoli & Marco Dettori & Letizia Appolloni & Antonio Azara & Paolo Castiglia & Daniela D’Alessandro & Stefano Capolongo, 2019. "Walkable Environments and Healthy Urban Moves: Urban Context Features Assessment Framework Experienced in Milan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-18, May.
    4. Bojing Liao & Pauline E. W. van den Berg & Pieter J. V. van Wesemael & Theo A. Arentze, 2020. "How Does Walkability Change Behavior? A Comparison between Different Age Groups in the Netherlands," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-14, January.
    5. Lyons, Glenn, 2020. "Walking as a service – Does it have legs?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 271-284.
    6. Fernando Alves & Sara Cruz & Anabela Ribeiro & Ana Bastos Silva & João Martins & Inês Cunha, 2020. "Walkability Index for Elderly Health: A Proposal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-27, September.
    7. Michele Acuto & Daniel Pejic & Jessie Briggs, 2021. "Taking City Rankings Seriously: Engaging with Benchmarking Practices in Global Urbanism," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 363-377, March.
    8. Ferrer, Sheila & Ruiz, Tomás, 2018. "The impact of the built environment on the decision to walk for short trips: Evidence from two Spanish cities," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 111-120.
    9. Marie Geraldine Herrmann-Lunecke & Rodrigo Mora & Lake Sagaris, 2020. "Persistence of walking in Chile: lessons for urban sustainability," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 135-159, March.
    10. Matthew Carmona, 2019. "Place value: place quality and its impact on health, social, economic and environmental outcomes," Journal of Urban Design, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 1-48, January.
    11. Miller, Harvey J. & Witlox, Frank & Tribby, Calvin P., 2013. "Developing context-sensitive livability indicators for transportation planning: a measurement framework," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 51-64.
    12. Jamey M. B. Volker & Susan Handy, 2021. "Economic impacts on local businesses of investments in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure: a review of the evidence," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(4), pages 401-431, July.
    13. Andrew Crooks & Linda See, 2022. "Leveraging Street Level Imagery for Urban Planning," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 49(3), pages 773-776, March.
    14. Liu, Shiqin & Higgs, Carl & Arundel, Jonathan & Boeing, Geoff & Cerdera, Nicholas & Moctezuma, David & Cerin, Ester & Adlakha, Deepti & Lowe, Melanie & Giles-Corti, Billie, 2021. "A Generalized Framework for Measuring Pedestrian Accessibility around the World Using Open Data," SocArXiv cua35, Center for Open Science.
    15. Yu Ye & Wei Zeng & Qiaomu Shen & Xiaohu Zhang & Yi Lu, 2019. "The visual quality of streets: A human-centred continuous measurement based on machine learning algorithms and street view images," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 46(8), pages 1439-1457, October.
    16. D'Orso, Gabriele & Migliore, Marco, 2020. "A GIS-based method for evaluating the walkability of a pedestrian environment and prioritised investments," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    17. Kim, Sohee & Woo, Ayoung, 2022. "Streetscape and business survival: Examining the impact of walkable environments on the survival of restaurant businesses in commercial areas based on street view images," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    18. Mark R. Stevens, 2017. "Response to Commentaries on “Does Compact Development Make People Drive Less?”," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 83(2), pages 151-158, April.
    19. Fernando Fonseca & Elisa Conticelli & George Papageorgiou & Paulo Ribeiro & Mona Jabbari & Simona Tondelli & Rui Ramos, 2021. "Levels and Characteristics of Utilitarian Walking in the Central Areas of the Cities of Bologna and Porto," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-22, March.
    20. Barbara B. Brown & Wyatt A. Jensen, 2020. "Dog Ownership and Walking: Perceived and Audited Walkability and Activity Correlates," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-14, February.
    21. Mark R. Stevens, 2017. "Does Compact Development Make People Drive Less?," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 83(1), pages 7-18, January.
    22. Gascon, Mireia & Marquet, Oriol & Gràcia-Lavedan, Esther & Ambròs, Albert & Götschi, Thomas & Nazelle, Audrey de & Panis, Luc Int & Gerike, Regine & Brand, Christian & Dons, Evi & Eriksson, Ulf & Iaco, 2020. "What explains public transport use? Evidence from seven European cities," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 362-374.
    23. Sungduck Lee & Emily Talen, 2014. "Measuring Walkability: A Note on Auditing Methods," Journal of Urban Design, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 368-388, May.
    24. Dalla Chiara, Giacomo & Donnelly, Griffin & Gunes, Seyma & Goodchild, Anne, 2023. "How cargo cycle drivers use the urban transport infrastructure," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    25. Salvatore Greco & Alessio Ishizaka & Menelaos Tasiou & Gianpiero Torrisi, 2019. "On the Methodological Framework of Composite Indices: A Review of the Issues of Weighting, Aggregation, and Robustness," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(1), pages 61-94, January.
    26. Rahman, Ashikur, 2022. "A GIS-based, microscale walkability assessment integrating the local topography," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    27. Cain, Kelli L. & Millstein, Rachel A. & Sallis, James F. & Conway, Terry L. & Gavand, Kavita A. & Frank, Lawrence D. & Saelens, Brian E. & Geremia, Carrie M. & Chapman, James & Adams, Marc A. & Glanz,, 2014. "Contribution of streetscape audits to explanation of physical activity in four age groups based on the Microscale Audit of Pedestrian Streetscapes (MAPS)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 82-92.
    28. Aghaabbasi, Mahdi & Moeinaddini, Mehdi & Shah, Muahammad Zaly & Asadi-Shekari, Zohreh, 2018. "Addressing issues in the use of Google tools for assessing pedestrian built environments," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 185-198.
    29. Nikitas, Alexandros & Wang, Judith Y.T. & Knamiller, Cathy, 2019. "Exploring parental perceptions about school travel and walking school buses: A thematic analysis approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 468-487.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rabia Bovkir & Eda Ustaoglu & Arif Cagdas Aydinoglu, 2023. "Assessment of Urban Quality of Life Index at Local Scale with Different Weighting Approaches," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 165(2), pages 655-678, January.
    2. Maite Adames Torres & Hye Won Oh & Jeongwoo Lee, 2022. "The Built Environment and Children’s Active Commuting to School: A Case Study of San Pedro De Macoris, the Dominican Republic," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-19, September.
    3. Chetan Doddamani & M. Manoj, 2023. "Analysis of the influences of built environment measures on household car and motorcycle ownership decisions in Hubli-Dharwad cities," Transportation, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 205-243, February.
    4. Carozzi, Felipe & Roth, Sefi, 2023. "Dirty density: Air quality and the density of American cities," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    5. Mouratidis, Kostas & Ettema, Dick & Næss, Petter, 2019. "Urban form, travel behavior, and travel satisfaction," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 306-320.
    6. Greco, Salvatore & Ishizaka, Alessio & Tasiou, Menelaos & Torrisi, Gianpiero, 2018. "σ-µ efficiency analysis: A new methodology for evaluating units through composite indices," MPRA Paper 83569, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Khatab Alqararah, 2023. "Assessing the robustness of composite indicators: the case of the Global Innovation Index," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-22, December.
    8. Li, Xiaomeng & Neal, Zachary P., 2022. "Are larger cities more central in urban networks: A meta-analysis," OSF Preprints y3s69, Center for Open Science.
    9. Faizeh Hatami & Jean-Claude Thill, 2022. "Spatiotemporal Evaluation of the Built Environment’s Impact on Commuting Duration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-19, June.
    10. Ding, Chuan & Cao, Xinyu (Jason) & Næss, Petter, 2018. "Applying gradient boosting decision trees to examine non-linear effects of the built environment on driving distance in Oslo," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 107-117.
    11. Bindong Sun & Rui Guo & Chun Yin, 2023. "Inequity on suburban campuses: University students disadvantaged in self‐improvement travel," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 404-420, June.
    12. Bautista-Hernández, Dorian Antonio & Trejo Nieto, Alejandra, 2024. "Who uses transit in the journey to work? Multimodality, equity, and planning implications in México City," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    13. Chun Yin & Bindong Sun, 2020. "Does Compact Built Environment Help to Reduce Obesity? Influence of Population Density on Waist–Hip Ratio in Chinese Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-16, October.
    14. Gao, Jiong & Ma, Shoufeng & Zou, Hongyang & Du, Huibin, 2023. "How does population agglomeration influence the adoption of new energy vehicles? Evidence from 290 cities in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    15. Guan, Xiaodong & Wang, Donggen, 2019. "Influences of the built environment on travel: A household-based perspective," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 710-724.
    16. Nazari, Fatemeh & Mohammadian, Abolfazl (Kouros), 2023. "Modeling vehicle-miles of travel accounting for latent heterogeneity," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 45-53.
    17. Giuliano Resce & Fritz Schiltz, 2021. "Sustainable Development in Europe: A Multicriteria Decision Analysis," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(2), pages 509-529, June.
    18. Schmid, Basil & Becker, Felix & Axhausen, Kay W. & Widmer, Paul & Stein, Petra, 2023. "A simultaneous model of residential location, mobility tool ownership and mode choice using latent variables," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    19. Boeing, Geoff & Riggs, William, 2022. "Converting One-Way Streets to Two-Way Streets to Improve Transportation Network Efficiency and Reduce Vehicle Distance Traveled," SocArXiv fyhbc, Center for Open Science.
    20. Greco, Salvatore & Ishizaka, Alessio & Tasiou, Menelaos & Torrisi, Gianpiero, 2019. "Sigma-Mu efficiency analysis: A methodology for evaluating units through composite indicators," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 278(3), pages 942-960.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:111:y:2023:i:c:s0966692323001175. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-transport-geography .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.