Strategic Objectives
Five interconnected objectives that turn Walking for Transport from an idea into a research and policy agenda.
01
Unwalkable
Cities
Section Title
The Lab moves beyond conventional metrics to reveal the structural, socioeconomic and environmental determinants that shape how different people walk, whether by necessity or by choice, establishing walking as a critical field of inquiry in its own right.
Focus:
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Lived experience
-
Informal infrastructure
-
Social determinants
Led by: Dr Maria Jose Nieto-Combariza
02
Climate
Resilience
The Lab positions walking infrastructure as a essential tool for climate adaptation. Walking infrastructure contributes to reducing carbon emissions but it primarily shows how protecting people who walk also strengthens the resilience of entire urban systems.
Focus:
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Heat stress mitigation
-
Flood resilience
-
Rotective infrastructure
Led by: Dr Thaisa Comelli
03
Caring
Cities
The Lab expands what a caring city looks like in practice, supporting the complex mobility patterns of caregivers and protecting people who walk from road, gender-based and crime-related risks, so that everyone can move safely and with dignity.
Focus:
-
Caregiving mobilities
-
Gender equity
-
Safety from violence
Led by: Dr Tanu Priya Uteng
04
Governance
The Lab advances governance strategies that move walking from a marginal concern to a core principle in decision-making, budgeting and regulation, working with the political realities that shape whether these changes actually take hold.
Focus:
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Political economy
-
Institutional capacity
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Cross-sector alignment
Led by: Dr Clemence Cavoli
Implementation
05
The Lab identifies and tests pathways for putting W4T into practice across full project lifecycles, from planning to long term maintenance, so that solutions are socially accepted, institutionally workable and genuinely sustained by local communities.
Focus:
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Social acceptance
-
Pilot testing
-
Maintenance strategies
-
unding and pathways to scale
Led by: Dr Natalia Villamizar-Duarte
