With over 70,000 participants responding to the survey over six months, the Walkable Cities Barometer has just released its results to find out how pedestrians are faring in urban spaces. The questionnaire covers over 4,600 municipalities in France, many of them in the Île-de-France region. And even if we suspected it, the results are clear: there's a lot to be done to improve conditions for pedestrians in our Île-de-France towns and cities.
In Paris, it's no longer a secret that pedestrian comfort is less than optimal in terms of safety, space on sidewalks, for example, or the passage of bike lanes over them: in fact, the capital scored a meagre 6.5/20 in this Walkable Cities Barometer, whereas in 2021, the overall rating was 8.1/20. In a city where 99% of survey respondents walk in urbanized areas, it's hard to imagine a more representative picture of the issues that punctuate the daily lives of walkers in the capital.
The frequency of conflicts between pedestrians and users of scooters, skateboards or bicycles is the biggest black spot to work on. In fact, more than half of those surveyed felt that getting around on foot in Paris was downright unpleasant, and that it was far from easy; so much so that they felt unsafe walking! As a result, many Parisians would like to see pedestrian access made easier around stations and public transport stops, and bicycles and scooters separated from pedestrian walkways.
The barometer rates each city on a scale from 0 to 20 (out of 20) and classifies them in various categories: from A +, for cities where it's good to walk, to G, for cities where major efforts need to be made on pedestrian infrastructures. Paris gets a low F, while other Ile-de-France cities shine in the rankings.
In the rest of theÎle-de-France region, Magny-les-Hameaux retains its title as the region's most walkable town, being the only one classified in category A + , with an average score of 14.59/20. In Essonne, the town of Vauhallan was also commended, along with Sceaux in Hauts-de-Seine, Versailles in Yvelines andAsnières-sur-Seine in 92.
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