Walking is something most of us do, no matter our age, income, background, or ethnicity. You would be forgiven for thinking that transport planners know all about it and have used that knowledge to sort our streets, so that they are accessible and pleasant for all those diverse users.
Surprisingly though, it is still not well understood how specific features of the built environment influence people’s perceptions and behaviours (such as for instance choosing or not to walk to a nearby destination).
This is a problem, because we want to move in a carbon-neutral way, yet our street environments might make walking feel unpleasant, dangerous, or even non-feasible for some. And without understanding what the issue is, there is a risk of “making nice places nicer” while failing to address what really matters.
Investigators from the Centre for Transport & Society (Project Lead Dr Tamara Bozovic and Dr Miriam Ricci) are part of an international team launching the project “Mobile digital technology as a tool to study walkability to advance theory, policy, and practice of walking for transport”.
The project is to investigate the associations between objective features and perceptions in three very different locations: Bristol, Auckland, and Buenos Aires, using an innovative walking app (Go Jauntly).
In each city, participants will be recruited through local organisations and invited to walk two pre-defined routes: a direct route and a tranquil and green route, both linking the same origin and destination. The app will provide participants information about their walk and prompt questions about the experience.
This pilot study is designed as a steppingstone towards a broader application which would enable comparisons across demographic groups (e.g., ages, or disability statuses) but also broaden the investigated urban contexts (including for instance Asian or North American cities).
The pilot is funded by the Volvo Research and Education Foundation and will run for one year. The team includes researchers from Auckland University of Technology (Professor Erica Hinckson), University of Auckland (Professor Melody Smith), and the National University of San Martin, Buenos Aires (Carla Galeota and Dr Lorena Vescalir), as well as two UK-based businesses: App creators Go Jauntly Ltd, developing the app, and Tranquil City, specialising in the provision and analysis of environmental data serving the app.
This blog post was written by Tamara Bozovic (Project Lead) and Miriam Ricci.
Tamara Bozovic is a transport engineer interested in ways transport systems can help cities become carbon-neutral, liveable, and inclusive, while protecting environmental and human health. After a 15-year practice on three continents, her PhD examined barriers to walking – perceived, measured, understood by professionals and described in technical documents – focusing on a car-centric city and interviewing disabled and non-disabled participants. Now as a research fellow at UWE, Tamara is in charge of gathering data and developing insights on ways urban interventions might support or promote sustainable travel.
Miriam Ricci is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Transport & Society at the University of the West of England, Bristol (UK). Her key research interest is sustainable and equitable urban mobility, with a focus on making walking and public transport more inclusive, attractive and accessible to all. She has extensive expertise in qualitative and participatory social research, applied to a diverse range of topics, such evaluation of sustainable mobility interventions, public engagement with transport innovations and the study of transport disadvantage and social exclusion.