Achieving People Friendly Accessibility. Key Concepts and a Case Study Overview

Abstract

The present paper stems from the evidence that one of the reasons of the “crisis” of today's cities probably depend on mobility issues. But what should be done to confront all the negative impacts of passenger transportation, without curbing mobility? Can Urban Engineering be applied to promote a friendlier mobility, that should be not only environment and climate friendly, but user friendly as well? And how? A "people friendly" accessibility approach is presented and conceived as a solution to better integrate land uses with the transport system, satisfying people's expectations (especially those of vulnerable users) to easily reach the opportunities they wish to engage with. The case study of Amsterdam, as walkable and cycle friendly city, is briefly presented and reveal good practices in the field of urban and mobility planning. Finally, an isochronical accessibility analysis of Amsterdam is applied: it represent catchment areas of railways stations and of supermarkets, and it highlights how much the structure of the city supports bicycle use.

Keywords

• Urban planning
• Friendly mobility, Accessibility
• Amsterdam