An energy-based pedestrian accessibility indicator

Conclusions: the methodology proposed here shows that for the hilly city of Coimbra, Portugal, centrality, more than relief, is the chief factor determining a location’s pedestrian accessibility. This methodology, based on classic definitions of accessibility as disutility and using on human effort (as measured by muscular energy spent to walk the streets network) as impedance, is general and can be applied to any city. Since human effort rises considerably with slope, it especially adequate to hilly cities.This article presents an approach to pedestrian accessibility based on human effort rather than distance. By measuring effort as the muscular energy required to traverse network arcs with slopes, it is possible to derive an accessibility indicator that takes relief into account. A case study in the city of Coimbra, Portugal, shows that while relief does have a considerable impact on the accessibility thus measured, that impact is global and not local. When accessibility to all types of opportunities are considered, the influence of relief ultimately dilutes due to the geographical scattering of those opportunities.