OPTIMIZING THE EXISTING WALKABILITY INDEX
Urban design plays a pivotal role in shaping the livability of a city, and walkability is a crucial aspect that directly impacts its residents’ quality of life. The City of Melbourne has developed a Walkability Index. This project aims at optimizing the existing framework by integrating key parameters related to green infrastructure, climate, mobility infrastructure, and more. Additionally, customizing the Walkability Index to cater to the unique needs of different age groups within Melbourne’s population can empower stakeholders such as citizens, urban planners, and public administration to make more informed decisions regarding urban design and policy implementation.
The existing Walkability Index takes into consideration three parameters: The Residential Density, the Street Connectivity, and the Land Use Mix. Although these are paramount indicators to asses the quality of streets in nighbourhoods, it might lead to an engineered approach of pedestrian mobility, as it leaves aside qualitative and sensorial aspects.
METHODOLOGY
To achieve this goal, a comprehensive methodology was employed, encompassing three key steps: Literature Review, User Definition, and Spatial Analysis.
Literature Review: In this phase, an extensive review of existing research, studies, and best practices related to walkability, green infrastructure, climate conditions, and mobility infrastructure was conducted.
User Definition: Understanding the diverse needs of different age groups is crucial for designing a walkable city. Melbourne’s population was divided into three distinct user groups: 0-15 years, 15-64 years, and 65+ years, with a specific focus on the first and latter as vulnerable groups.
Spatial Analysis: Spatial analysis techniques were employed to determine the most effective methods for analyzing and processing each parameter.
DEFINING NEW PARAMETERS AND AGE GROUPS
As already mentioned, the second step consisted on defining a new set of parameters, considered to be relevant to measure the quality of pedestrian mobility. On the other side, a mapping illustrating areas with highest density of population per age groups. While the group 16-64 yo is well spread across the City of Melbourne, the 0-15 yo and 65+ yo groups are concentrated towards the north-west and the south-east correspondingly.
SPATIAL ANALYSIS
Two approaches (Overlap and Proximity) are defined as per how the parameters are geo-processed. The different techniques allow to achieve more precise and comprehensive results according to the particularities.
After normalising each parameter, and applying the corresponding scores per age groups, we proceed with the creation of three walkability index maps, each tailored to one of the defined age groups. Surprisingly, the maps revealed that the walkability differences across age groups were not as pronounced as expected. However, the Central Business District (CBD) emerged as an area exhibiting consistently high walkability quality.
By weighting the relevant parameters in each index, these maps provide valuable insights for urban planners, citizens, and public administration. The visual representation helps identify areas that require improvements and enables stakeholders to prioritize resources accordingly.
AGE GROUP EVALUATION
According to ‘Victoria Walks’, only 1 out of 4 australian children aged 5-12 are getting enough physical activity.
An essential activity for the population of this age is the promotion of walking to schools, in constrast to being driven by car (nearly 75% of Melbourne primary school students). In order for the project to be more precise and tangible, the process follows by focusing on the potential of walkability to schools among the youngest age group.
The tool allows Schools, Administrations, and Families to evaluate and monitor the existing conditions of the communities around the selected school. From the acknowledgement of the demographics (Income, Population Density, Family Configuration, etc.), to the analysis of mobility infrastructure (signals, traffic lights, public transport), following with the definition and visualisation of shortest paths from origin to destination.
