Defining Proximity-centred Accessibility

Accessibility is widely recognised as an important dimension of quality of life. Although it has long been recognised that accessibility conditions can be improved by both improvements of mobility and proximity conditions, in practice, many cities have centred their policy efforts on improving mobility conditions, offering more efficient transportation systems and higher travel speed. The proximity conditions for accessibility have had far less attention in the last decades. This is particularly concerning following the hypothesis of a negative feedback loop between local and regional accessibility put forth by previous research, the former essentially based on proximity while the latter is highly dependent on mobility. The idea that accessibility offered by proximity has been decreasing in our cities in response to the vast improvements of mobility conditions is alarming, particularly for the implications it generates to car dependency, sustainable development, and quality of life (to mention just a few). However, in recent years we have seen many movements, such as the 15-minutes city or the 20-minutes neighbourhood, in favour of higher proximity and less dependence of mobility for accessibility, particularly following the COVID pandemic. Although such movements have been present for some time, the pandemic gave theme particular strength, a probable reflection of the negative feedback referred to before. It is clear that further attention must be given to proximity-based accessibility. Research has, so far, contributed with a somewhat mix of approaches and a diversity of notions of proximity-centred accessibility. In this paper we seek to contribute to the conceptualization of proximity-centred Accessibility. We start by exploring different concepts currently in use in empirical research. In particular, we explore the size of the ‘local' dimension of accessibility analysis as well as the meaning and relevance of local accessibility in land use and transport policy. These issues are further explored through a survey collecting the opinion of accessibility experts and planning practitioner on the meaning of accessibility by proximity. Special attention is given to relevant opportunities at local scale as well as to reasonable travel distances/times to these opportunities at local scales. Surveying experts and practitioners allows for a comparison between theoretical and practical points of view. Our review of empirical research revealed that, despite of the grooving use of terms related to proximity-centred accessibility, these have scarcely been defined in the scientific literature. Available definitions mostly focus, either on active/sustainable transport, or specific neighbourhood amenities and proximity. Our expert and practitioner's survey revealed clear preferences among the variety of terms used in the literature (similar among expert and practitioners), as well as similar perceptions towards the relevance of certain opportunities at the neighbourhood scale. Based on these results, we propose a definition for proximity-centred accessibility, including its spatial scale and relevant opportunities