Browsing by Author "Räty, Satu"

A walkable city has such built environment that supports walking and encourages people to walk. We can generate lively, safe, sustainable and healthy cities by improving their walkability. The continuing urbanization worldwide and the need to arrange transportation in cities in a sustainable way emphasize the significance of walkability research. This master’s thesis delves into those components of the built environment that affect walkability in street space. The goal of this thesis is to uncover how the walkability of street space can be examined by utilizing novel spatial data sets of human scale. The spatial data sets selected for further examination are panoramic images with spatial information, represented by Google Street View, point cloud produced with mobile laser scanning and visually high-quality 3D city model (mesh). Each of these spatial data sets is examined from the point of view of how they are suited for assessing those components of the built environment that affect the walkability of street space. This thesis examines the walkability of streets in Helsinki city centre by utilizing Google Street View and Earth Pro in observing the streets. The data were collected in May-July of 2017 by observing those components of the street space’s built environment that affect walkability in each street segment. These observations were modified into a new spatial data set by adding geographic information in relation to each street. The added value of this thesis is that there previously exists no such spatial data set concerning the walkability of streets in Helsinki city centre. The results present a mapping of those built environment components that affect walkability in the Helsinki city centre streets. Additionally, the best 20 and the worst 20 streets concerning walkability in the study area are recognized and they are compared to the daily amount of pedestrians in those same streets. In summary, it can be stated that by improving the components of the built environment we can create more walkable streets in the Helsinki city centre, and these measures can affect the daily life of thousands of pedestrians. The streets of Helsinki city centre fare well with regards to enclosure and human scale but improvements can be made concerning transparency, complexity and imageability. The hierarchy of walking needs is fulfilled at least moderately in Helsinki city centre streets. Based on the results, it can also be stated that spatial data sets of human scale have potential in assessing walkability and the best end result is achieved by combining the results of different data sets. In the future, automated image content analysis brings new possibilities in producing spatial data sets concerning walkability with efficiency.