Digital Data in Support of Innovation for Urban Practice: Women-Inclusive Walkable Cities–Naples, a Case Study

Urban planning is increasingly focused on solutions for sustainable urban mobility, including the achievement of “walkability”, i.e. friendliness to walking, in criteria such as availability of nearby services, street connectivity, and comfort of public spaces. Although city administrations in some countries, partially as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic, have adopted short or long-term plans for reassignment of vehicular space in favour of cyclist and pedestrian infrastructures, traditional approaches to urban planning, tend to overlook urban users in terms of their individual characteristics, which can significantly impact their perceptions of level of walkability for public spaces. Women in particular face harassment, aggression and other safety concerns that can inhibit their mobility in public spaces, especially at night. Despite robust research on other aspects of walkability in cities, there is a lack of knowledge at the intersection between mobility and gender. Addressing the need for further investment in qualitative, and particularly in quantitative analysis, the current contributions proposes and reports on the use of GIS-based methodology, with data collected directly from women in urban contexts, and other open-access location-based data, producing analyses that can support decision-makers concerning policy for walkability in urban environments. In particular, the contribution summarizes the first product of a new, replicable methodology, focused on urban planning and gender inclusion, applied to the city of Naples, Italy.