What is walkability? The urban DMA

• Published in: Urban studies (Edinburgh, Scotland) Vol. 57; no. 1; pp. 93 - 108
• Main Authors: Dovey, Kim, Pafka, Elek
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England Sage Publications, Ltd 01.01.2020; SAGE Publications; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Access; Climate change; Density; Destinations; Economic change; Economic conditions; Equality; Fairness; Health problems; Health services; Interdisciplinary aspects; Morphology; Productivity; Property; Public health; Social change; Social interactions; Urban areas; Urban planning; Walking; walkability; 功能组合; 渗透性; density; 步行性; permeability; functional mix; assemblage; 组合; 密度
• ISSN: 0042-0980; 1360-063X
• DOI: 10.1177/0042098018819727

The concept of urban ’walkability’ has come to occupy a key role at the nexus of a series of multi-disciplinary fields connecting urban design and planning to broader issues of public health, climate change, economic productivity and social equity. Yet the concept of walkability itself remains elusive – difficult to define or operationalise. Density, functional mix and access networks are wellrecognised as key factors: density concentrates more people and places within walkable distances; functional mix produces a greater range of walkable destinations; and access networks mediate flows of traffic between them. This complex synergy of density, mix and access – herein called the urban DMA – largely stems from the work of Jacobs. With an approach based in assemblage thinking we show that each of these factors is multiple and problematic to define or measure. Any reduction to a singular index of morphological properties can involve a misrecognition of how cities work. We argue that walkability is a complex and somewhat nebulous set of capacities embodied in any urban morphology, and that it should not be conflated with nor derived from actual levels of walking. 城市“步行性”的概念在一系列将城市设计和规划与公共卫生、气候变化、经济生产力和社会公平等更广泛问题相关联的多学科领域中发挥了关键作用。然而，步行性本身的概念仍然难以捉摸—难以定义或操作。密度、功能组合和进入网络被公认为关键因素：密度在可步行距离内集中更多的人和地方；功能组合产生更多的步行目的地；而进入网络则调度目的地之间的流量。这种密度、组合和进入的复杂协同作用（文中称为城市DMA）主要源于雅各布斯（Jacobs）的著作。基于组合思维方法，我们表明这些因素中的每一个都是多重的，并且难以定义或测量。一旦简化为单一的形态属性指标，就可能导致对城市运行的错误认识。我们认为，步行性是一种复杂的、有点模糊不清的能力集合，它体现在任何城市形态中，并且，它不应与实际的步行水平混淆或由实际的步行水平得出。