Abstract:
Walking has always been the most natural, the oldest, and the most essential form of transportation and is still major form of moving, hence, it plays a vital rule in urban transportation. In fact, walking is the most important tool for seeing, being seen, observing city wide daily and social activities, discovering the values and hidden attractions in urban environment, and therefore, feeling of liveliness and being needed amongst citizens. Throughout the last three decades, due to increasing urban problems such as; environmental pollution, traffic and transportation issues, lower pedestrians’ safety against moving vehicles, jeopardizing the spiritual existence of valuable historical sites, lower visual quality of urban environments, and less social interactions. Which has created a worldwide momentum against the moving vehicles domination and diminishing of the pedestrianism. Consequently, pedestrianism and its necessities, which were ignored and forgotten urban issues, once again became one of the fundamental concerns in planning and development in urban design. This movement is called "Pedestrianism Movement".In this research, after a discussion about the theory of pedestrianism and providing a literature review of the works done by theresearchers, the acceptance criteria and characterizations of a walkable environment and the major contributing factors in strengthening or weakening of the pedestrian system will be discussed. Finally, results of several case studies in potential streets in Tehran are presented and recommendations will be provided to create a walkable environment and to accomplish the pedestrianism objectives.
Machine summary:
In fact, walking is the most important tool for seeing, being seen, observing city wide daily and social activities, discovering the values and hidden attractions in urban environment, and therefore, feeling of liveliness and being needed amongst citizens.
Indicators of an Acceptable Urban Walkway and Its Improving Factors After researches done by the authors and their case studies, it was observed that in an acceptable urban walkway, the Table 1: Methods in Dealing with Vehicle and Urban Spaces in Different Times (Source: kashani joo, 2010, 27) Time Period 19 60 - 1 9 8 0 18 80 - 1 9 6 0 19 80 - 2 0 0 0 20 00 - 2 0 1 0 Meth od Vehicular ization An ticar Equilibriumization Active Calmness Urban Spaces Conditions Assigning special spaces to vehicles, urban patterns disconnect, no attention to pedestrians Eliminating vehicles from urban spaces, assigning separate spaces to pedestrians, expansion of walkways Adjusting vehicle movements, compatibility of vehicles and pedestrians, balancing traffic Using vehicles in a controlled way, combining vehicles and pedestrians movements giving priority to pedestrians, completely connecting walkways’ networks.
Table 4: Indicators of an Acceptable Urban Walkway and Its Improving Factors Elements Indicators Streets and City Blocks Patterns Accessibility Sequence Open Spaces Functionality and Density Space Characteristics Historical Buildings Natural Bedding Traffic Signs Public Art Public Arena Architecture Urban Landscape Traffic Signs Motion Facilities Descri ption The shorter the block length, the higher penetrability and more connections with other blocks Creating a legible and continuous network of arterial roads, public transportation routes, collector streets, and access streets.