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This study presents an application that estimates all possible paths within an urban environment and proposes the optimal one according to objective criteria and individualized options. The application grounds its functionality on a Cellular Automaton (CA) that models the area of interest and provides the rule that activates the processing of input data. The model incorporates the term walkability as a discrete magnitude that integrates qualitative features of pedestrian mobility. The proposed application fosters sustainable forms of movement at a local level that undoubtedly improves the human physical status and upgrades civilian living conditions. In the context of this paper, we provide a thorough description of the operational principles of the model, and we test its validity by applying it in Xanthi, a medium size city located in northeastern Greece. Finally, we describe variants of the initial scenario to demonstrate the sensibility of the model in external assessments as well as its resilience in biasing manipulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper we present an urban design support tool centered on pedestrian accessibility and walkability of places. Differently from standard decision support systems developed for the purpose of evaluating given pre-defined urban projects and designs, we address the inverse problem of having the software system itself generate hypotheses of projects and designs, given some (user-provided) objectives and constraints. Taking as a starting point a model for evaluating walkability, we adapt the NSGA-II multi-objective genetic algorithm to produce the front of non-dominated design alternatives to satisfy certain predefined constraints. By way of example, we briefly present an application of the system to a real urban area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a methodology and a planning and design support software tool for evaluating walkability and pedestrian accessibility of places which are relevant for people’s capabilities, and thus an important component of quality of life in cities. A multicriteria evaluation model, at the core of the decision support system, is used to assign walkability scores to points in urban space. Walkability scores are obtained through algorithms which process spatial data and run the evaluation model in order to derive potential pedestrian routes along the street network, taking into account the quality of urban space on several attributes relevant for walkability. One of its notable characteristics is a certain reversal of perspective in evaluating walkability: the walkability score of a place does not reflect how that place isper sewalkable, but instead how and where to can one walk from there, that is to say, what is the walkability the place is endowed with. This evaluation incorporates three intertwined elements: the number of destinations/opportunities reachable by foot, their walking distances, and the quality of the paths to these destinations. In this article, we furthermore demonstrate possible uses of the support system by reporting and discussing the results of a case-study assessment of a project for the Lisbon’sSegunda Circular(Second Ring Road). The software tool is made freely available for download. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We present a survey of operational methods for walkability analysis and evaluation, which we hold show promise as decision-support tools for sustainability-oriented planning and urban design. An initial overview of the literature revealed a subdivision of walkability studies into three main lines of research: transport and land use, urban health, and livable cities. A further selection of articles from the Scopus and Web of Science databases focused on scientific papers that deal with walkability evaluation methods and their suitability as planning and decision-support tools. This led to the definition of a taxonomy to systematize and compare the methods with regard to factors of walkability, scale of analysis, attention on profiling, aggregation methods, spatialization and sources of data used for calibration and validation. The proposed systematization aspires to offer to non-specialist but competent urban analysts a guide and an orienteering, to help them integrate walkability analysis and evaluation into their research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]