Those who live in attractive areas for pedestrians with structures that favour pedestrian travel choose to walk in their daily lives, to the detriment of the use of other means of transport. The conclusion is a study by the Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (ISPUP), which highlights the importance of urban design to promote active transport and physical activity.
“We know that urban design can act as a barrier to physical activity, reinforcing sedentary behavior and dependence on the car. On the other hand, certain characteristics, such as the presence of leisure equipment, services and commerce within walking distance of the residence or the design of the streets, may motivate the practice of physical activity, more specifically active transportation”, explains Ana Isabel Ribeiro, responsible for the study, published in the “International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health”.
In this study, “we adapted an indicator developed in the United States (USA), called the walkability index, in order to see if those who live in more walkable areas walk more during their day to day journey”, says the researcher. It is an indicator that takes into account geographical accessibility to different equipment (namely commerce and services), connectivity of the streets and residential density.
The municipalities of Vila Nova de Gaia, Maia, Porto, Gondomar, Matosinhos and Valongo, which hold about 85% of the population of the Porto Metropolitan Area, corresponding to 1.1 million inhabitants, were included in the study.
The results show that those who live in more walkable areas are more likely to walk 80% on a day-to-day basis than those who live in less walkable areas.
“This is a strong and clear association, and reveals that in areas attractively designed for pedestrians, people tend to move more on foot to work and school. Walking is a simple, free, safe and appropriate form of physical activity for all ages.
As Portugal is one of the European countries with the highest proportion of people who do not practice any type of physical activity (about 70%), the creation of more walkable urban spaces could constitute an effective and sustainable way to promote the practice of physical activity in the Portuguese population“, she adds.
The research emphasizes that municipalities and urban planning authorities must rethink public spaces and find ways to organize the territory that shorten distances and bring together leisure equipment and housing services.
It is also important to emphasize that the creation of more walkable cities will have an impact on urban sustainability, “because it will have effects on environmental factors, such as air pollution and noise, since people minimize the use of motor vehicles, those responsible for the emission of pollutants and greenhouse gases”, concludes the researcher.
The work is entitled “Development of a Neighborhood Walkability Index for Porto Metropolitan Area. How Strongly Is Walkability Associated with Walking for Transport?”. The researcher Elaine Hoffimann also participared in the study.
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