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Smart Pedestrian Network: An Integrated Conceptual Model for Improving Walkability

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Society with Future: Smart and Liveable Cities (SC4Life 2019)

Abstract

Smart and sustainable mobility have recently emerged as a solution to the problems incurred by the intensive use of motorised transport modes. For many decades, cities have been planned based on the needs of vehicle traffic, neglecting basic human needs for active mobility and the adverse effects of motorised traffic on the natural environment. However, walking is an environmentally friendly transport mode and a healthy form of making physical activity. Thus, walking becomes an essential component of the transport and urban policies for achieving a more sustainable development process. This paper presents the research project Smart Pedestrian Network (SPN) that aims at promoting walkability as one of the critical dimensions of smart and sustainable mobility in cities. The paper analyses the various components linked to SPN that can make a pedestrian network “smart” and, therefore, a feasible alternative to motorised transport modes. Three integrated components are analysed: (i) an urban planning component supported in a GIS-based multi-criteria model to assess the conditions provided to pedestrians and to support the adoption of planning policies; (ii) a smartphone app for pedestrian navigation, displaying optional routes according to the pedestrian preferences and needs; and (iii) a business component to estimate and disseminate the multiple benefits of walking as well as the market potential of SPN. By promoting an innovative linkage of these three components, SPN has a great potential for improving walkability and, therefore, for creating more sustainable and liveable urban spaces.

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Acknowledgments

FCT co-financing (ENSUF/0004/2016) - The authors gratefully acknowledge ERA-NET Cofund Smart Urban Futures for funding the research project SPN - Smart Pedestrian Net. The authors also acknowledge the national agencies for science, research and technology from Portugal, Italy, Austria and Cyprus for co-funding the project.

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https://jpi-urbaneurope.eu/project/smart-pedestrian-net.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Territory Environment and Construction (CTAC), University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal

    Fernando Fonseca, Paulo Ribeiro, Mona Jabbari & Rui Ramos

  2. Association for Sustainable Innovative Development in Economics, Environment and Society (ASIDEES), Vienna, Austria

    Elena Petrova

  3. European University Cyprus, E.U.C. Research Centre, Nicosia, Cyprus

    George Papageorgiou

  4. Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Elisa Conticelli & Simona Tondelli

Authors
  1. Fernando Fonseca
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  2. Paulo Ribeiro
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  3. Mona Jabbari
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  4. Elena Petrova
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  5. George Papageorgiou
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  6. Elisa Conticelli
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  7. Simona Tondelli
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  8. Rui Ramos
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fernando Fonseca .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Territory, Environment and Construction, CTAC, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal

    Paulo Pereira

  2. Communication and Society Research Centre, CECS, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Rita Ribeiro

  3. Landscape, Heritage and Territory Laboratory, Lab2PT, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal

    Ivo Oliveira

  4. Centro ALGORITMI, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Paulo Novais

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Fonseca, F. et al. (2020). Smart Pedestrian Network: An Integrated Conceptual Model for Improving Walkability. In: Pereira, P., Ribeiro, R., Oliveira, I., Novais, P. (eds) Society with Future: Smart and Liveable Cities. SC4Life 2019. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 318. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45293-3_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45293-3_10

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