A practical participatory tool to get conversations started
Walk audits are one of the most accessible and useful tools for understanding how a street feels and functions from the perspective of people on foot. They allow participants to observe, discuss and record the quality of walking conditions in a structured way, while also creating a shared basis for advocacy, design proposals and policy recommendations.
At IFP, we use walk audits as a people-centred method to document everyday pedestrian realities that are often overlooked in conventional transport planning. They help reveal where walking is comfortable, inclusive and safe, and where barriers, danger or neglect continue to shape the experience of moving through public space.
Our Adult Walk Audit is designed to support local groups, campaigners, practitioners, municipalities and researchers who want to examine streets in a simple but systematic way, it was elaborated as part of our involvement in the Horizon Europe project REALLOCATE. The main focus of our Walk Audit is to get diverse people talking and show them where to look, considering a series of aspects that they might have never considered. It combines numerical scoring with observations so that both measurable patterns and lived experience can be captured.
What the audit looks at
The audit is organised around six key themes that influence walkability and pedestrian wellbeing.
Sidewalks This section looks at width, obstacles, condition and accessibility. It helps identify whether pavements are wide enough, continuous, well maintained and usable for people with wheelchairs, strollers and other mobility needs.
Crosswalks This section assesses crossings, visibility and accessibility. It is designed to show whether pedestrian crossings are located where people naturally want to cross, whether they are visible and signalled, and whether they include universal design elements.
Motorised vehicles This section examines speed, traffic, pollution and conflicts with pedestrians or cyclists. It makes visible how vehicle dominance affects walking conditions and how road danger is experienced at street level.
Environment This section considers comfort and joy, noise, cleanliness, and green spaces and shade. It helps move beyond a narrow safety lens and recognises that a good walking environment should also be pleasant, healthy and inviting.
Care and community This section focuses on benches, social interaction and spaces for playing. It reflects the idea that streets are not only corridors for movement, but also places of care, encounter, waiting, rest and everyday life.
Security This section looks at whether the area is mapped and signposted, whether there is a sense of being guarded or watched over, and whether it feels safe at night. Additional observations can also be made on lighting and hostile or exclusionary design features.
Why walk audits matter
Walk audits are valuable because they connect technical assessment with lived experience. They can be used to:
identify barriers to accessibility and inclusion
document unsafe or uncomfortable conditions for pedestrians
support local campaigning and evidence-based advocacy
inform neighbourhood plans, street redesign and mobility strategies
compare different areas within a city
create maps and visualisations of walking conditions
bring residents, professionals and decision-makers into direct dialogue around the street environment
They are particularly useful in contexts where pedestrian issues remain under-measured, underfunded or politically marginalised.
Who can use this tool
The walk audit can be used by a wide range of actors, including community groups, pedestrian advocates, disability organisations, schools, researchers, planners, consultants and public authorities. It can be applied in small local walks or in broader city-wide assessments.
Because the method is structured but flexible, it can be adapted to different urban contexts and combined with mapping, interviews, photography or other participatory tools.
A people-centred reading of the street
What makes this tool especially useful is that it does not reduce walking to movement alone. It recognises that streets must work not only for circulation, but also for care, sociability, play, comfort, accessibility and dignity. In that sense, the audit can support a broader understanding of public space as a common good.
Walk-along interviews are a qualitative, participatory research method in which a researcher accompanies a participant along a real-life walking route, engaging in conversation while moving through space. Unlike traditional interviews conducted in static settings, this method captures embodied, spatially situated knowledge, revealing how people actually experience streets, neighbourhoods and everyday mobility.
By situating dialogue within the act of walking, the method allows participants to reflect in real time on safety, accessibility, comfort, social dynamics and environmental conditions. It is particularly effective in uncovering experiences that remain invisible in conventional planning processes, including those of children, older adults, women, migrants and people with disabilities.
Why use walk-along interviews
Walk-along interviews shift urban analysis from planning about people to planning with people. They foreground lived experience as a form of expertise and challenge top-down decision-making traditions that have historically excluded diverse pedestrian perspectives.
This approach is especially relevant in contexts where formal data fails to capture everyday realities:
Informal pedestrian routes and adaptive behaviours often go undocumented in official datasets.
Walk-along interviews have been used to understand gendered perceptions of safety and fear in public space.
They reveal how pedestrians navigate complex, multi-use streets dominated by informal and motorised activity.
Within projects such as JUST STREETS, the method helps identify subtle barriers in otherwise “compliant” environments, such as discomfort, exclusion or perceived insecurity.
How the method works
The walk-along interview follows a simple but structured cycle:
Define purpose and participants: establish a clear research goal (e.g. safe routes to school, accessibility barriers, perceptions of safety) and identify whose voices are needed.
Select the format: four main formats can be used depending on the objective:
Prepare and conduct the walk: use open-ended prompts, audio recording and optional GPS tracking to capture both narrative and spatial context.
Document and analyse: map routes, transcribe discussions if needed, and identify recurring themes such as safety, comfort, accessibility or social interaction.
What makes this tool powerful
Walk-along interviews generate a unique combination of narrative and spatial data. By linking what people say to where they say it, they provide a deeper understanding of how urban environments function in practice.
Key strengths include:
Capturing embodied and sensory experiences of walking
IFP develops and applies a diverse set of tools to better understand, evaluate and transform walking environments. These tools respond to a central challenge in urban mobility: while walking is the most universal mode of movement, it remains systematically under-measured, under-prioritised and insufficiently integrated into planning and decision-making processes. By combining technological innovation, behavioural insights and participatory methodologies, IFP’s tools aim to make pedestrian experiences visible, measurable and actionable.
Our approach is grounded in the recognition that no single method can capture the full complexity of walking. Quantitative data must be complemented by lived experience; technical diagnostics must be aligned with social realities; and planning processes must move beyond top-down models to include those who walk every day. The tools presented in this section are therefore designed not only to generate evidence, but also to support advocacy, co-creation and policy change across diverse urban contexts.
Technology, data production and visualisation: making the invisible visible
IFP’s technological tools focus on producing objective, high-resolution data on pedestrian environments. The SidewalkScanner, based on 3D LiDAR technology, enables detailed mapping of sidewalks and public space conditions, including width, surface quality, obstacles and accessibility barriers. By transforming complex spatial data into intuitive visualisations and measurable indicators, these tools support planners, researchers and advocates in identifying critical gaps and prioritising interventions. While at the same time we are developing software that can allow citizens to interact and imagine what their public space can look like.
Such approaches are increasingly relevant across different global contexts. They can support compliance with accessibility standards and retrofit strategies in historic urban fabrics. In rapidly urbanising regions, they offer a means to document informal or evolving pedestrian infrastructures that are often absent from official datasets. They can also mstrengthen evidence-based advocacy by civil society organisations working to address inequalities in public space provision.
Behavioural tools: reshaping street dynamics
Beyond infrastructure, IFP develops tools that address the behavioural and cultural dimensions of mobility. Initiatives such as Nudge30 explore how street design and subtle environmental cues can encourage safer driving speeds and more respectful interactions between road users. Rather than relying solely on enforcement, these approaches seek to embed safety and care into the everyday functioning of streets.
Behavioural tools are particularly important in contexts where formal regulation is weakly enforced or where rapid motorisation has outpaced institutional capacity. For example, interventions that promote lower speeds through design have shown relevance in cities in South-East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, where mixed traffic conditions require adaptable and context-sensitive solutions. At the same time, they are equally applicable in European and North American cities seeking to transition towards Vision Zero and road danger reduction frameworks.
Participatory tools: centring lived experience
IFP places strong emphasis on participatory methodologies that foreground the experiences and knowledge of pedestrians themselves. Tools such as walk audits, walk-along interviews and countermapping enable communities to articulate how they perceive and navigate their environments, highlighting issues that are often overlooked in conventional planning processes.
These approaches are essential for addressing inequalities in mobility and public space. In cities across the Global South, participatory mapping has been used to document gendered experiences of safety, accessibility barriers for persons with disabilities, and the everyday challenges faced by informal workers. In European contexts, walk audits and community-led assessments have supported neighbourhood-scale interventions and strengthened civic engagement in mobility planning. Across all settings, these tools contribute to more inclusive, democratic and contextually grounded decision-making.
From tools to transformation
Taken together, IFP’s tools form an integrated framework for advancing walking as a fundamental component of sustainable and just urban mobility systems. They are designed to be adaptable across different geographical, cultural and institutional contexts, and to support a wide range of actors, from local advocacy groups to municipal authorities and international organisations.
This section presents an overview of these tools, their applications and their potential to support change. By bridging data, design and participation, they aim to shift how walking is understood and prioritised, moving from a neglected mode to a central pillar of liveable, equitable and resilient cities.
Advancing pedestrian rights and people-centred mobility
IFP develops policy documents that articulate a clear vision for cities where walking is safe, accessible and recognised as a fundamental component of sustainable mobility systems. These documents bring together the experience of pedestrian organisations, researchers, practitioners and advocates from around the world.
Walking is the most universal form of mobility and the foundation of all transport systems. Yet in many cities pedestrians remain marginalised in policy frameworks, infrastructure investment and regulatory debates. IFP’s policy documents aim to address this imbalance by providing clear principles, strategic priorities and concrete recommendations that place people at the centre of urban mobility and public space.
Our policy work supports decision-makers, civil society organisations and practitioners in advancing safer streets, more equitable mobility systems and healthier urban environments.
IFP and IFP-research produce and curate research reports that strengthen the global evidence base on walking, pedestrian safety and inclusive urban design. Walking is the most universal mode of mobility, yet it remains systematically underrepresented in transport policy, infrastructure investment and research funding. Our reports aim to address this imbalance by providing rigorous analysis, comparative insight and practical recommendations that support safer, more equitable and climate-resilient urban environments.
What you will find in this section
This section gathers the policy and advocacy materials developed by IFP and its partners. These documents outline our positions on key issues affecting pedestrians and provide guidance for governments, practitioners and advocacy groups working to improve walking conditions.
They include:
Strategic policy frameworks defining priorities for pedestrian mobility
Position papers addressing emerging urban mobility debates
Declarations and manifestos developed with international partners
Policy recommendations for governments and public authorities
Advocacy resources and tools supporting pedestrian organisations and local initiatives.
Together, these documents translate research, practical experience and community knowledge into actionable recommendations that can inform legislation, planning frameworks and investment decisions.
Why pedestrian policy matters
Policies that prioritise walking deliver benefits that extend far beyond mobility. Well-designed pedestrian environments contribute to:
Reduced road traffic injuries and safer streets
Improved public health through everyday physical activity
Greater accessibility and social inclusion
Vibrant local economies and active public spaces
Lower emissions and improved air quality
Recognising walking within policy frameworks is therefore essential to addressing broader challenges related to climate change, public health, inclusivity, accessibility and urban liveability.
Evidence to advance pedestrian rights, best practice and people-centred cities
IFP and IFP-research produce and curate research reports that strengthen the global evidence base on walking, pedestrian safety and inclusive urban design. Walking is the most universal mode of mobility, yet it remains systematically underrepresented in transport policy, infrastructure investment and research funding. Our reports aim to address this imbalance by providing rigorous analysis, comparative insight and practical recommendations that support safer, more equitable and climate-resilient urban environments.
Why research on walking matters
Despite being the foundation of all mobility systems, walking remains one of the least studied and least funded areas of transport research. In many countries, pedestrian trips represent 30–60% of all daily journeys, yet walking infrastructure typically receives only a small fraction of transport budgets.
Research is therefore essential to:
Document the safety and health impacts of current transport systems
Quantify the economic, environmental and social benefits of walkable environments
Support evidence-based policy making at local, national and international levels
Challenge persistent biases that prioritise motorised transport over people-centred mobility.
While evidence from cities around the world already demonstrates that improving pedestrian conditions leads to measurable benefits: reductions in road traffic injuries, improvements in public health, stronger local economies and more resilient urban environments. More is needed to continue advancing a better understanding of walking realities and pedestrian rights.
Who These Reports Are For
The research collected here is designed to support a wide range of actors working towards more liveable cities:
Local and national governments developing mobility and urban planning strategies
Urban planners, engineers and designers responsible for street design
Researchers and academic institutions studying mobility, public health and urban systems
Civil society organisations and pedestrian advocacy groups
International organisations and development institutions working on sustainable mobility
Community groups and citizens seeking evidence to improve their neighbourhoods.
A Global Perspective on Walking
IFP’s research work reflects the experience of pedestrian advocates and experts from across all continents. Walking plays very different roles in different contexts: in some cities it is a chosen mode within multimodal transport systems, while in many others it remains the primary means of mobility for large parts of the population.
Understanding these diverse realities is essential. Research on walking must therefore draw lessons from a wide range of contexts—from rapidly growing cities in Africa and South Asia, to dense metropolitan regions in Europe and East Asia, to car-dependent urban areas in North America and Australia, and to cities in Latin America that have pioneered innovative pedestrian policies.
By bringing these experiences together, IFP seeks to build a more balanced and globally representative knowledge base on walking.
IFP is an UN-accredited NGO
The IFP is proud to participate in the United Nations ECE’s (WP1) the Global Forum for Road Traffic Safety, which serves as the entity within the United Nations dedicated to improving road safety. Its primary function is to serve as guardian for the United Nations legal instruments that harmonize traffic rules—such as the Convention on Road Traffic and Convention on Road Signs and Signals—and contribute to road safety by addressing the primary factors of road crashes.
Through our participation in WP1, IFP draws on our specialized background to elevate walking as a legitimate use of public space and to support and encourage people worldwide to choose to walk. From the discussions about the fundamentals, like road signs and signals, to discussions about policies that will shape how developing technology impacts how we get around, IFP advocates for the rights and needs of people walking.
To view the most recent versions of all road traffic agreements and conventions, visit this UNECE website.
