A walkable neighborhood is a safe neighborhood. The actions we take to make vehicles and roads safer also protect pedestrians. To understand where we are at the moment, in December 2023, TRANS-SAFE, Walk21, and Zambia Road Safety conducted a walkability study in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia.
The study was driven by the use of a Walkability app as a survey tool. Over 1,100 people were interviewed in the span of five days, giving us a snapshot of what life is like as a pedestrian across various parts of the city. Participants named the five most relevant environmental factors to their experience:
Pedestrian crossings
Path quality and space
Traffic speed
Lighting, seating, or ramps
Personal security
Not every area of Lusaka gave pedestrians the same experience. Some areas had good walkability, whereas many others prompted negative walkability experiences, notably around the railway station. This variety of experience highlights that the need to conduct specific interventions in each area.
Notably, children and older people shared more negative experiences that teenagers and adults, in particular when it comes to crossings, traffic speed, and driver behavior.
As a recommendation, all data collected in the project were georeferenced and mapped across Lusaka to identity clusters of positive and negative experiences, while locating the most relevant environmental determinants that influenced such experiences.
Leveraging the data is crucial to informing actions and prioritizing efforts. The results of the study can also guide the type of interventions that are needed to improve these areas. Other cities across Africa can learn from Lusaka's experience of using the walkability app as a foundation to inspire more targeted road safety improvements.
Comments