Understanding walking through lived experience
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
- Enabling intersectional analysis (gender, age, disability, migration)
- Supporting co-creation and participatory planning processes
- Producing actionable insights for street design and policy
Importantly, the method is low-cost and accessible, making it suitable for community organisations, advocacy groups and local authorities alike.
Applications in practice
Walk-along interviews can be applied across a wide range of contexts:
- School mobility planning: understanding children’s routes and risks
- Accessibility audits: identifying barriers for people with reduced mobility
- Public space design: capturing perceptions of comfort, safety and belonging
- Transport integration: analysing first/last-mile pedestrian experiences
- Neighbourhood regeneration: documenting local knowledge and everyday use
They are particularly valuable when combined with other tools such as walk audits, participatory mapping or digital data collection methods.