| dc.description.abstract | Non-motorized trips, whether on foot or by bicycle, interact much more with the
urban space, in addition to representing a lower cost for users, for the environment and
for society. The emergence of the principles of Sustainable Urbanism validates the
concept of walkability and inserts it in discussions about mobility, planning and urban
design, and focuses on the conditions of urban space seen from the perspective of
pedestrians. The term walkability refers to the extent to which the characteristics of the
urban environment favor its use for walking. The methodologies for assessing
walkability appear in this context to help in several issues transversal to urban mobility,
with the purpose of investigating the effects of walking in the prevention of physical
and mental health, crime, air pollution, among other contemporary issues related to life
urban. The objective of this research is to analyze the walking conditions of spaces for
pedestrians to use in central areas of medium-sized cities, in order to understand the
physical and / or subjective aspects that promote or inhibit walking, analyzing the
characteristics of urban space in the central area of Petrolina city, from the proposition
and application of a qualitative method of assessing walkability. In order to test the
application of the index, a case study was carried out in a central area of the city of
Petrolina-PE. After applying the index and analyzing the technical data sheets, it was
possible to investigate the conditions of comfort, fluidity and safety of public spaces for
pedestrians, their deficiencies and potential, social and economic relations on the
street scale and offering to the municipal urban management subsidies for the
elaboration of the guidelines for the intervention project in the studied area information
that allows identifying which actions should be implemented in the short, medium and
long term to improve these spaces and their uses. | en |
