During last decades, urban growth has shown a dispersion of the urban area towards the periphery and a separation of urban functions into specific use zones (housing, employment and shopping). This development pattern drives apart destinations one from the other and leads to greater car use at the expense of more sustainable means of transport, especially walking. Thus, urban planning is at the core of any action aiming at the promotion of pedestrians since it establishes distances between places. Taking measures on roads in favour of pedestrians is not sufficient when commuting distances become too long. Yet many obstacles are in the way of a reorientation of urban development towards a compact and polyvalent town model. Such a reorientation asks for the introduction of a global strategy, calling for a lot of instruments and measures in transportation and urban planning. For the covering abstract see ITRD E118896.
Samenvatting