Integrating Community Engagement and Wayfinding Principles into the Development of a Walkability Index for London

Measuring the walkability of urban environments through the analysis and evaluation of physical environmental characteristics has gained wide acceptance as a method for assessing the potential for physical activity and active transport to take place. This research enhances standard walkability models with fieldwork that actively engages with the community to understand the factors that shape everyday mobility and walking behaviours. Amongst several factors, public transport accessibility was added as a spatial variable that contributes to walkability, whilst walkable land uses were selected to be appropriate to the specific (UK) context. The model also incorporates an advanced method to evaluate the spatial structure of the street network instead of the standard approach of measuring intersection density. Here, space syntax network analysis methods are used, that examine the spatial relationship across the street network at a range of scales by looking at the geometric relationships between spaces. This method more closely accounts for spatial cognition and human wayfinding principles in the way that it uses the actual pedestrian routes taken through the urban environment as the basis for the evaluation of the street network. This method of assessing street network properties holds the potential for improving both walkability studies, and associated health research. It also aims to increase the awareness of the planning profession of the importance of the spatial arrangement and connectivity of the built environment in shaping walking behaviours, and enabling populations to live healthier lives through higher levels of active transport and physical activity.