From City to Neighbourhood: The Role of Walkability Analysis in Enhancing Public Space Quality and Promoting Active Mobility

Walkability has emerged as a critical indicator for assessing urban sustainability and livability, given its positive impact on public health, environmental quality, social equity, and local economies. This paper presents a dual-scale geospatial approach for evaluating walkability, aimed at supporting evidence-based strategies for active mobility. Two methodologies were developed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). At the micro level, a street-segment analysis assessed the quality and inclusiveness of pedestrian infrastructure through structured urban audits and secondary geospatial datasets. At the meso level, walkable areas were delineated around residential addresses using network-based service area analysis, enabling a realistic estimation of pedestrian accessibility within a 10-min walking distance. The combination of primary data (e.g., field observations, participatory workshops) and secondary sources (e.g., OpenStreetMap, municipal datasets) allowed for a multidimensional assessment of walkability. The comparative analysis of the two approaches in the Bicocca district (Milan) highlights their complementarity: while the micro-scale method captures detailed local conditions and infrastructure quality, the meso-scale method reveals broader spatial patterns and inequalities in land use mix, access to services, public transport and green areas. The findings demonstrate how multi-scalar walkability assessments can inform both short-term tactical interventions and long-term urban planning policies aimed at creating safer, more inclusive, and more walkable cities.