The benefits of walkability: application and limits of the Walking Suitability Index of the Territory in L'Aquila
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1
Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila, Italy
2
Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Italy
Publication date: 2023-04-27
Popul. Med. 2023;5(Supplement):A204
ABSTRACT
Background: There is an interdependence between the favorable environment and the state of individual and collective well-being, also determined by physical activity, for this reason the new concept of city should provide places that encourage active mobility: "point models" can be used to assess whether a city facilitates it and compare zones or cities. The University of L'Aquila wants to evaluate and compare the walkability of areas in the city of L'Aquila. Methods: Applying the model on three areas of the city of L'Aquila, Pettino, Coppito, hospital area, and analyzing practicability, safety, urbanity and pleasantness, each category was divided into three indicators, which were assigned a numerical rating from very bad to very good: through the model formula, the Walking Suitability Index of the Territory (T-WSI) for each category and the Street Index-SI1 for each zone have been calculated. Results: The application of the algorithm allowed to obtain the following average values on base 100. Practicability Safety Urbanity Pleasantness SI1 34.2 43.9 5.1 81.7 41.2 COPPITO 46.3 15.5 15.5 83.5 40.3 PETTINO 56.68 64.46 15.5 83.7 55.4 HOSPITAL The data indicate in Coppito quantity and quality of pavements very bad in almost half of cases, the area of the hospital is on average safer than the other two but in a quarter of cases received a vote of 0. It is, however, the urbanity (breadth, furniture and activity in the streets) to be globally more lacking, while the pleasantness is the parameter where the three areas have higher scores, hosting green areas not approachable. Conclusions: The strong limit in the model method is represented by not having discriminated green areas usable by areas that are not, describing the suburbs as livable. Future project is to critically analyze the T-WSI considering urban maps that discriminate the different types of green areas.