An Indicator of Walkability for Urban Districts, Oriented Towards the MaaS Component, with Case Study of Naples

In recent years, public administrations, aiming to conserve natural resources and improve the quality of urban life, have accelerated the implementation of sustainable mobility policies. Local authorities have shifted, to some extent, from private vehicle and public transport towards modes of shared mobility, walking and cycling, for example by removing parking places and developing cycling routes. Two new topics have emerged in academic approaches to urban and territorial planning: i) the “x-minute city”, in which all persons could access all essential services on foot or by bike, in all urban districts; ii) Mobility as a Service (MaaS), in which individuals have access to integrated IT platforms for planning their transport solutions. Within this framework, a small nucleus of researchers have recently introduced the concept of Walkability as a Service (WaaS), again using IT platforms but now with greater attention to meeting transport needs through options of walking, simultaneously integrated with the promotion of attractiveness, equity and quality in urban and peri-urban environments. An essential aspect of the WaaS conception is that, if walking is to become the fastest and most effective way of moving through the city, then the urban environment must be developed in ways that make walking not only time-and cost-effcient, but also pleasant, safe and even enjoyable for the users. The research reported proposes a methodology for calculation of an Indicator of Walkability, which serves in assessing the propensity of the different districts of a city towards WaaS. The research is conducted in the framework of Italian participation in the Next Generation EU programme: in particular as part of the Spoke 8, National Centre for Urban Mobility project of the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience, promoting integrated and innovative mobility, including by pedestrian travel. The Indicator of Walkability is based on the socio-economic, mobility and urban context aspects that affect walkability at district level. The calculation of this index allows ranking of the districts, to support decision-makers in the identifcation of priority portions of urban territory for interventions that trigger virtuous WaaS processes.