The conference, held annually, draws on the best new research, policy and projects from around the world regarding everyone’s right to walk in a safe, inclusive and welcoming environment. The event also invites speakers to share findings, experiences and successes.

This year, together with experts from across Africa and around the globe, we will share insights and expertise on how to develop and implement walking policies and programmes that deliver walkable communities and safer streets, broader community participation and enhance the value of walking. 

You can read our programme here.

Sponsorship Packages Walk21 Kigali

You have the opportunity to be part of this international event being held for the first time on the African continent. You can know more about our sponsor packages here.

The post All you need to know to join us in Walk21 Kigali appeared first on Walk21.

The series is organised by Dr Tamara Bozovic in partnership with Walk21 and a core coordinating team including Szening Ooi, Nancy Mitchelson, Louise Reardon, Josephine Roper, Belen Iturralde, Carlos Canas, and Alan Meharry.

We propose the need of a platform to share ideas and discuss a shared approach to measure and improve the quality of the walking environment. This shared approach will help enable walking to contribute to the “quantum leap in climate action”, to urgently improve the safety and user experience of those who already walk and reduce current inequities of access. 

We would like to invite you to a workshop series – “Stepping stones for better walking environments” – aimed at accelerating discussions and building knowledge of the quality of the walking environment.

The topics for the workshop series are: 

• Why improve walking environments?
  Building a shared understanding of the ways in which the quality of the street environment influences behaviours 
• Where to improve walking environments?
  Tools and best practice for measuring quality
  
• How to improve walking environments?
  Applying an evidence-based approach to policy and governance practices 

A short note will be shared after each workshop, and the outcome of the whole process is to be brought to the Walk21 conference (Kigali, October 2023) and disseminated as a short publication.

We hope to see you in the workshops! If you have any questions, please contact Dr Tamara Bozovic, tamara.bozovic@uwe.ac.uk.

Registrations

Attendance is free. Please indicate your interest below. 

The post Workshop Series: Stepping Stones for Better Walking Environments appeared first on Walk21.

The letter states:

Urban Mobility must change – substantively, and fast. The threats posed by the climate crisis call for immediate and concerted action at all levels of governance, while the green transition must not aggravate existing inequalities. Public transport and active mobility (walking and cycling) are the most sustainable, affordable, democratic, dependable, and resilient transport modes – and the most solid foundation on which to build. 

We have a choice – simply to perpetuate “business as usual”, but greener and technology-oriented, with the emphasis on decarbonisation; or a fundamental reprioritisation of our transport and mobility choices. As joint signatories of this open letter, in the middle of the important climate negotiations at COP26, we call upon the European Commission to produce an ambitious urban mobility framework (UMF) that will foster a sustainable and just mobility transition at the local level. We need a step change in our everyday activities if we are to deliver effective, fair and sustainable change. The Commission should adopt a holistic approach towards the challenges we must collectively face, and to not only focus on technological upgrade. Behavioural choices must be supported and encouraged by the provision of public transport and active mobility ecosystems. 

Any solution that falls short on implementing modal shift at the local level will take the current problems of social inequality, economic inefficiency, congestion, and local environmental detriment into the next decade. Priority must be given to a radically expanded and more attractive public transport offer and more opportunities for active mobility, which will enable a carbon-neutral society while also providing enhanced mobility for all, irrespective of income and ability; maximising efficiency of use of road and rail infrastructure; and reducing severance, congestion and air pollution. 

We call upon the European Commission to adopt an Urban Mobility framework that places accessible public transport at the forefront, enabling it to achieve its maximum potential, in particular to: 

1. Ensure that Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) accelerate the uptake of sustainable and collective mobility; 

2. Support sustainable mobility with appropriate funding opportunities; 

3. Create multimodal mobility on the ground and by harnessing the benefits of data. 

Please find our full statement here.

Tackling the environmental challenges, achieving renewed economic growth, and enhancing health and wellbeing must be linked with ensuring important societal objectives of affordable and accessible mobility, including for persons with disabilities. To realise these important goals, public transport and active mobility must be central to the future Urban Mobility Framework. 

While important climate discussions are being held at COP26, urban mobility must be part of the solution – and we expect the European Commission not to focus only on technological improvements, but to pave the way for a true mobility transformation at the local level. Walking, public transport and cycling are the most sustainable, affordable, democratic, dependable, and resilient transport modes, and should therefore be placed at the heart of the new EU Urban Mobility Framework.

The post Europe’s Urban Mobility Framework – Open Letter appeared first on Walk21.

The Alstom Foundation has kindly supported Walk21 with the ‘Every Step of the Way’ project, in response to concerns that women are choosing to walk less and use private vehicles more in the City, as highlighted in the report commissioned by Transport Infrastructure Ireland ‘Travelling in a Woman’s Shoes’. The Government are keen to ensure Dublin is a safe, inclusive and welcoming place for women to travel and it is hoped that the App will provide a simple way to both know what their concerns are and locate where they can be resolved.

Walkability expert, Dr Lorraine D’Arcy, who teaches sustainable transport planning at TU Dublin, has been advising on the development of the app, which was also been informed by the learnings of the prototype ‘STRIDE tool‘ (supported by GIZ and first used in Lagos, Nigeria in 2018 – resulting in a new sidewalk being built to benefit thousands of school children and hospital visitors on Lagos Island); and the analogue ‘lollipop tool’ (supported by Alstom Foundation and FundaPeaton to help children in Medellin, Colombia – resulting in a transformation of their neighbourhood and reducing road crashes by 22% in the first 6 months).

The technical build of the Walkability App, which is free for any citizen to use, has been co-ordinated by Stefan Steiniger, a sustainable urban mobility expert from CEDEUS in Chile, supported by designer Luis Molina and and coders Monse Fernandez Martinez and Paula Nieto. They have been helped along the way by walkability experts from 21 countries who have kindly been trialing the app and giving feedback on its applicability internationally. Special thanks to Carlos Canas Sanz (Spain), Lucia Brisudova (Czech Republic), Richard Vinc (Indonesia), Monica Olyslagers (IRAP), Zhuangyuan Fan (China), Maja Rynning (Norway), Patricia Mariano (The Philippines) and Paschalin Basil (Kenya).

Next step for the ‘Every Step of the Way’ Dublin project will be coordinating the data collection by engaging, we hope, at least 500 women to share their opinions on local walkability in the project area. (Thanks Lidia and Tristan for helping us get started yesterday in College Green, Dublin). The technical team is also busy building the desk-top site so that the data can be visualised and analysed in the new year.

The Walkability.App is available in the App Store for Android phones and will soon be in the IOS for Apple phones too. Get in touch if you have any feedback on the app, to help us continue to improve it, or if would like to give citizens the opportunity to report on their neighbourhood walkability so that investment decisions return the best measurable benefits.

The post Women start reporting on Dublin’s Walkability appeared first on Walk21.

The event started with a supportive welcome by The Mayor, Zdeněk Hřib who shared the relevance of his healthcare background, and support for citizens who walk. Speakers then included Professor Carlos Moreno, famous for his work supporting Paris to be a 15 minute city; Petra Jens, the Vienna Walking Commissioner; and Karolina Klimova, from the Prague Transport Department. Further experts from the Czech Republic supported the event with presentations concerning walking and health, climate, economy, children, proximity and public space design.

The conference drew attention to the fact that people who walk well usually live well and brings cities and their inhabitants many advantages. As Petra Syrová, chairwoman of the organisation Pesky Mesterm (‘On foot through the city’) said:

“Walking is the most natural movement of every person, and each of us is a pedestrian during the day. At the conference, we looked at it as something more than just movement. Walking also plays a role in transport in the city, and so we looked at it this way, as a solution to many current problems – warming cities due to climate change, lack of daily natural movement, polluted air, congestion of cities with excessive car traffic and parked cars, social isolation .” 

Walk21 suggested some next steps for the City, to ensure the development of effective policy is implemented to benefit all the cities citizens. Targeting more support for women walking in the city; investing in the walkability of residential neighbourhoods in the cities periphery; and, creatively reallocating space from parked vehicles to enhance communities quality of life were all discussed. We look forward to supporting the City and the Pesky Mesterm organisation to fulfil their ambition to ensure walking is the first choice for all short distance trips and an. enjoyable one

The post Improving Walkability in Prague appeared first on Walk21.

Tirana is the capital of Albania and is already a much-walked city but it’s walkability is under threat, with one forecast predicting that the amount people walk could reduce by as much as 50% in the next decade without proactive action.

In our first meeting, we were delighted to walk with Anuela Ristani, Deputy Mayor for Sustainable Development and International Relations at City of Tirana, and see the actions already underway to transform public spaces. A workshop was organised by Christian Mettke and Martin Shaefer from GIZ engaging representatives from several departments as well as local campaigners QM and Professor Egin Zeka from Epoka University.

Walk21 proposed 4 quick actions to support the ambition to be a more walkable city which include: setting up a multi-disciplinary Walking Task Force; improving safety at road crossings; enhancing the quality of the 65 minutes that most people walk every-day with a network of more trees, seats and space to walk; and designating school streets as part of the city’s commitment to being the European Youth Capital next year.

The Walk21 proposals borrow from other cities successful approaches when faced with similar issues and are judged to be appetising to citizens, scalable to local vision and budget and deliverable within 2 years.

The local team, which includes Ariela Hajdarmataj and Gledisa Golikja (who recently studied Tirana’s Walkability as part of her Masters in Architecture) are collating existing data and soon hope to collect the opinions of citizens, using Walk21’s new Walkability.App.

We are grateful to The Mayor, Municipality staff, the citizens of Tirana and GIZ for the opportunity to walk the city and explore the potential to make it more walkable. We look forward to supporting the programme delivery in the coming months.

The post Making Tirana the most walkable city appeared first on Walk21.