Becoming walkable: relational and contextual effects of enhanced walkability

Abstract

This study aims to understand how infill developments with walkable policies influence not only the walkability of the modified area but also the proximate urban spaces located in the context. The paper uses a mixed-methods and a relational approach to conduct comparative research in the form of pre- and post-construction analysis in a recently pedestrianised street to evaluate how enhanced walking in the pedestrianised corridor affected the walkability of its adjacent spaces. Results suggest that the enhanced walkability in the pedestrianised street increased the walkability of the adjacent spaces. Then, the study adopts a critical stance towards current approaches of understanding walkability and argues this finding corroborates the idea behind assemblage thinking in the walkability debate; that is, walkability is a capacity that may or may not be actualised. Here, seeing walkability in terms of a “becoming assemblage,” emphasises the role of assemblage thinking in grasping the dynamics of walkability.