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Comfort and Time-Based Walkability Index Design: A GIS-Based Proposal

Author

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  • Tarek Al Shammas

    (Department of Geology, Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of Alcalá, Calle Colegios 2, Alcalá de Henares, 28801 Madrid, Spain)

  • Francisco Escobar

    (Department of Geology, Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of Alcalá, Calle Colegios 2, Alcalá de Henares, 28801 Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

Encouraging people to walk as a means of transport throughout their daily lives has obvious benefits for the environment, the economy, and personal health. Specific features of the built environment have a significant influence on encouraging or discouraging walking. By identifying and quantifying these features we can design Walkability Indices (WI). The WI in the literature do not take factors related to comfort such as noise pollution and shade/sun conditions into account. Given the importance of these factors in walking, we decided to include them in our design of a new geographic information system (GIS)-based WI. The relative weight of each factor was determined by consulting experts. The proposed WI, computed for the entire city of Madrid, Spain, uses sections of the sidewalk as the spatial unit. The properties of this WI (based on secondary sources, spatially detailed, dynamic, weighted, and including comfort-related factors) fill a gap in previous WI proposals.

Suggested Citation

  • Tarek Al Shammas & Francisco Escobar, 2019. "Comfort and Time-Based Walkability Index Design: A GIS-Based Proposal," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-22, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:16:p:2850-:d:256293
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Rahman, Ashikur, 2022. "A GIS-based, microscale walkability assessment integrating the local topography," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    2. Alessandro Venerandi & Hal Mellen & Ombretta Romice & Sergio Porta, 2024. "Walkability Indices—The State of the Art and Future Directions: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-24, August.
    3. Fernando Fonseca & Escolástica Fernandes & Rui Ramos, 2022. "Walkable Cities: Using the Smart Pedestrian Net Method for Evaluating a Pedestrian Network in Guimarães, Portugal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-23, August.
    4. Jin Zuo & Tong Mu & Tian-Yi Xiao & Jian-Cheng Luo, 2021. "Evaluation of Walking Comfort in Children’s School Travel at Street Scale: A Case Study in Tianjin (China)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-21, September.
    5. Fernando Fonseca & George Papageorgiou & Simona Tondelli & Paulo Ribeiro & Elisa Conticelli & Mona Jabbari & Rui Ramos, 2022. "Perceived Walkability and Respective Urban Determinants: Insights from Bologna and Porto," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-19, July.
    6. Javier Velázquez & Javier Infante & Inmaculada Gómez & Ana Hernando & Derya Gülçin & Fernando Herráez & Víctor Rincón & Rui Alexandre Castanho, 2023. "Walkability under Climate Pressure: Application to Three UNESCO World Heritage Cities in Central Spain," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-28, April.

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