The TUM and Politecnico di Milano teams, which research within EX-TRA focuses on walking and cycling accessibility in city districts, participated in an online workshop with members of the JPI Urban Europe WalkUrban project, coordinated by Dr Noriko Otsuka (ILS Research) and partnered by Comune di Genova, University of Gävle, University College London.
WalkUrban aims to better understand local accessibility and urban walkability, to free up the potential for walking as a sustainable and active transport mode in urban areas.
To achieve this goal, WalkUrban explores, through an interdisciplinary approach and in close collaboration with local stakeholders, the link between objective, subjective, and perceived walking accessibility to identify key drivers for and obstacles to walking with the ultimate aim of providing evidence for local solutions supporting walking.
WalkUrban project's testbed includes various urban neighbourhoods throughout Europe in the cities of Genoa, Dortmund, and Gothenburg.
The research focus of the WalkUrban project is thus akin to the activities of EX-TRA: both analyze with different methods and perspectives the role of active mobility in ensuring sustainable and inclusive forms of accessibility in urban neighbourhoods.
The online workshop between the two groups was an opportunity to present the content and progress of their respective research activities. The presentations were followed by a fruitful discussion concerning the research methodologies adopted, as well as the activities and results expected in the coming future.
The workshop was the first opportunity to establish a relationship that the two groups plan to pursue in the future through exchanges on walkability and accessibility research.