Walkable cities for all: enhancing citizens’ rights, health, and climate adaptations

Abstract

The positive impacts of walkable cities have always been the focus of researchers. This article analyzes the impacts of walkable cities in the three areas of citizenship rights, health, and climate adaptation by presenting a cross-regional comparison from four case studies in Amman, Turin, Mahabad, and Sawbridgeworth. The main goal is to understand the impact of walkable cities from the perspective of users. Therefore, we applied a two-step qualitative method by adopting field observation and photography and analyzing users’ interviews using NVivo. The results expose notable differences in walkability among the investigated cities. Amman and Sawbridgeworth especially show the highest mean intensities for community involvement and health benefits, thereby implying effective urban development strategies supporting social contact and active living. Mahabad gets worse scores in safety and accessibility than Turin, hence it emphasises places where urban design could obstruct pedestrian experiences and walkability. Furthermore noted in the study are high standard deviations in Amman, Sawbridgeworth, and Turin, suggesting that various urban design features in these sites influence the participant experiences. Important information acquired from this study is the need of customised urban design in improving walkability and handling safety and accessibility in urban planning and design.

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