How to identify a healthy walking path

What is it about?

Walking is one of the best ways to prevent such illnesses from occurring. In this study, an integration method is proposed to help people choose the most appropriate and healthiest walking paths in the city of Shiraz in Iran. The study directs its attention away from merely improving the path-finding method based on the shortest path, and instead analyzes parameters such as the existence of vegetation, reasonable temperatures and the presence of slopes, as well as the diversity of land uses found along road sections to find the optimum path.

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Why is it important?

This research study has the following aims: • To provide a street-level walkability measure based on certain health-related factors. • To tackle the lack of availability of data related to land use in the case study area by proposing an objective walkability indicator using GIS, remote sensing data and multi-criteria analysis, the latter including four simple criteria related to the characteristics of built environments, these being land use diversity, greenness levels, and temperature and slope levels alongside road sections. Each criterion is modeled at the street level, then aggregated in a compensatory multi-criteria analysis process. • To provide urban planners with a walkability measure/analysis tool suitable for defining the service areas for urban facilities, not only based on shortest paths but also on the healthiest walking paths available. These measures will help urban planners and residents determine the healthiest paths to use, and encourage citizens to walk for longer, once the physical condition of the relevant sidewalks has been improved.