Abstract
Walking is the healthiest, most natural, environmentally friendly, and egalitarian way of moving in space, and it plays an important role in urban life. Since walkability has become a key factor in New Urbanism, research on this issue has emphasized walkability analysis, examining the many global examples of urban spaces that reflect planning for walkability. However, the literature does not adequately cover the issue of walkability in hilly terrain. Previous studies have shown that walking on an incline may require more effort but can shorten the walking distance. When planning for hilly terrain, winding roads are used to reduce the incline. But winding routes lengthen the distance between junctions, reducing connectivity and walkability. A short distance between junctions creates connectivity in space, which is a key factor in walkability. The goal of this study is to examine whether and how digital planning practices can be implemented to promote walkability in a hilly neighborhood, despite the challenging physical circumstances. For this study, we invited students and professionals from various fields of urban design to participate in three planning workshops using the Geodesign platform. The findings indicate that walkability principles can be integrated into planning for hilly terrain, thus creating a walkable space in hilly areas. The study also found that Geodesign’s structured, methodical process of discussion and negotiation supported inclusion of topographical considerations for promoting walkability in the planning process.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Also, travel in Israel in 2016 rose by 4.4% compared to 2015 (Central Bureau for Statistics 2017).
References
Abley S, Turner S, Singh R (2011), Predicting walkability: IPENZ transportation. In: Group conference, March
Barton H, Grant M (2006) A health map for the local human habitat. J Royal Soc Promot Health 126(6).
Blecic I, Cecchini A, Trunfio GA (2015) Towards a design support system for urban walkability. Procedia Comput Sci 51:2157–2167
Bradshaw C (1993) Creating and using a rating system for neighborhood walkability: Towards an agenda for ‘‘local heroes.’’. In: 14th international pedestrian conference, vol 1, No 14, Boulder, Colorado, pp 1–10
Clifton KJ, Smith ADL, Rodriguez D (2007) The development and testing of an audit for the pedestrian environment. Landsc Urban Plan 80(1–2):95–110
Dovey K, Pafka E (2020) What is walkability? The urban DMA. Urban Stud 57(1):93–108
Efrat E (1993) British town planning perspectives of Jerusalem in transition. Plann Perspect 8(4):377–393
Ellis G, Hunter R, Tully MA, Donnelly M, Kelleher L, Kee F (2016) Connectivity and physical activity: using footpath networks to measure the walkability of built environments. Environ Plann B Plann Des 43(1):130–151
Ewing R, Cervero R (2010) Travel and the built environment: a meta-analysis. J Am Plann Assoc 76(3):265–294
Flint Ashery S, Steinlauf-Millo R (2021) Geodesign between IGC and geodesignhub: theory 82 and practice. In: Geertman SCM, Pettit C, Goodspeed R, Staffans A (eds) Urban informatics and future cities. Springer, The Urban Book Series. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76059-5
Flint Ashery S, Steinitz C (2022) Issue-based complexity: digitally supported negotiation in geodesign linking planning and implementation. Sustainability 14(15):9073
Fonseca F, Ribeiro PJ, Conticelli E, Jabbari M, Papageorgiou G, Tondelli S, Ramos RA (2021) Built environment attributes and their influence on walkability. Int J Sustain Transp 1–40
Frank LD, Sallis JF, Saelens BE, Leary L, Cain K, Conway TL, Hess PM (2010) The development of a walkability index: application to the neighborhood quality of life study. Br J Sports Med 44(13):924–933
Handy S, Cao X, Mokhtarian P (2005) Correlation or causality between the built environment and travel behavior? Evidence from Northern California. Transp Res Part d Transp Environ 10(6):427–444
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jerusalem_zoning_system_-_Charles_Robert_Ashbee_1922.png
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.580057/full
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/milan-announces-plan-to-permanently-reduce-car-use-after-lockdown/
Hunter LC, Hendrix EC, Dean JC (2010) The cost of walking downhill: is the preferred gait energetically optimal? J Biomech 43(10):1910–1915
Iravani H, Rao V (2020) The effects of New Urbanism on public health. J Urban Des 25(2):218–235
Leslie E, Coffee N, Frank L, Owen N, Bauman A, Hugo G (2007) Walkability of local communities: using geographic information systems to objectively assess relevant environmental attributes. Health Place 13(1):111–122
Lo RH (2009) Walkability: what is it? J Urban 2(2):145–166
Koohsari MJ, Sugiyama T, Hanibuchi T, Shibata A, Ishii K, Liao Y, Oka K (2018) Validity of Walk Score® as a measure of neighborhood walkability in Japan. Prev Med Rep 9:114–117
Krambeck HV (2006) The global walkability index, Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Meeder M, Aebi T, Weidmann U (2017) The influence of slope on walking activity and the pedestrian modal share. Transp Res Procedia 27:141–147
Mika Moran (2009) Planning for an active lifestyle for renewed urban health, Chapter 13
Newman P (2020) Cool planning: how urban planning can mainstream responses to climate change. Cities 103:102651
Park S (2008) Defining, measuring, and evaluating path walkability, and testing its impacts on transit users’ mode choice and walking distance to the station. University of California, Berkeley
Pivo G, Fisher JD (2011) The walkability premium in commercial real estate investments. Real Estate Econ 39(2):185–219
Pikora T, Giles-Corti B, Bull F, Jamrozik K, Donovan R (2003) Developing a framework for assessment of the environmental determinants of walking and cycling. Soc Sci Med 56(8):1693–1703
Public health England (2017) Spatial Planning for health: An evidence resource for planning and designing healthier places. PHE publications, June 2017
Shields R, Gomes da Silva EJ, Lima e Lima T, Osorio N (2021) Walkability: a review of trends. J Urbanism: Int Res Placemaking Urban Sustain 1–23
Singh R (2016) Factors affecting walkability of neighborhoods. Procedia Soc Behav Sci 216:643–654
Steinitz C (2023) A framework for geodesign: changing geography by design. Bar Ilan University (In Hebrew) ISBN: 978-965-226-639-2
Steinlauf-Millo R, Flint Ashery S, Tchetchik A (2021) Reducing gaps between planning and implementation: planning the Neve Sha'anan neighborhood with Geodesign. Tichnun 18(2):118–155
Sun G, Haining R, Lin H, Oreskovic NM, He J (2015) Comparing the perception with the reality of walking in a hilly environment: an accessibility method applied to a University campus in Hong Kong. Geospatial health
Talen E, Koschinsky J (2013) The walkable neighborhood: a literature review. Int J Sustain Land Use Urban Plann 1(1)
Wang H, Yang Y (2019) Neighbourhood walkability: a review and bibliometric analysis. Cities 93:43–61
Zadra JR, Proffitt DR (2016) Optic flow is calibrated to walking effort. Psychon Bull Rev 23(5):1491–1496
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Jano Reiss, M., Tchetchik, A. (2024). Facilitating Walkability in Hilly Terrain: Using the Geodesign Platform to Integrate Topographical Considerations into the Planning Process. In: Flint Ashery, S. (eds) Geodesigning Our Future. The Urban Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-52235-2_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-52235-2_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-52234-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-52235-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)