Planning for walkability

Marc Lane and Sara Stace co-authored an article with Estelle Grech in the Planning Institute of Australia’s magazine New Planner. Here’s a summary:

Sydney is on the cusp of its most significant urban transformation in generations. New tools like the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy and transit-oriented developments (TODs) offer a golden opportunity to create liveable communities where walking is the most enjoyable way to get around.

Walkable communities will not happen through density alone. There is an urgent need for standardised evaluation at a neighbourhood scale to ensure that, as we transform these places, we embed a walkable urban form.

The Committee for Sydney, WalkSydney and Vivendi released Putting Our Best Foot Forward: A Checklist for Walkable Density, a diagnostic tool for assessing whether residential and mixed-use developments support walking.

The checklist is tailored for local and state governments, planners and developers to understand what makes places more walkable, and how to improve outcomes for the communities who live and work in them. It is particularly well suited to planning proposals, to evaluate whether the development is walkable at a neighbourhood scale.

With NSW aiming to build 377,000 homes under the national Housing Accord, new policies will enable higher-density development, mostly around public transport. This is promising, but without attention to maximising walkability, these developments may amplify past mistakes that have resulted in car dependency.

Done right, however, increasing density can deliver more walkable, liveable and loveable communities.

Checklist for Walkable Density

The checklist is a quick and practical tool that evaluates whether a development has the structural and spatial ingredients to support walking. It covers 25 factors across four themes:

• Land use: all mixed up: Most walking occurs when there is a nearby place to walk to. Nearby daily destinations like schools, parks and fresh food are essential.

• Streets: captivating and comfortable: The links between local places must be in place – footpaths, ramps and crossings. They must be safe from traffic and well lit.

• Network: making active and public transport the easiest choice: Longer trips to citywide destinations must be enabled by cycleways or frequent public transport within easy reach.

• Buildings: Walkable homes for everyone. Enabling flexible work from home, occasional car use without owning a car, and high-rise family living all increase walkability and liveability of our new neighbourhoods.

The Checklist for Walkable Density

The checklist is a quick and practical tool that evaluates whether a development has the structural and spatial ingredients to support walking. It covers four key themes:

All mixed up

Captivating and comfortable

Making active and public transport the easiest choice

Walkable homes for everyone

Walkability is structural, not cosmetic

The checklist draws on research ranging from the National Liveability Study to the Pedestrian and Walking System (PAWS) built by Vivendi Consulting. Vivendi’s analysis of 140 Greater Sydney centres confirms what urbanists have long known: walkability depends on getting the structural factors right – housing and job density, street permeability, and a mix of destinations account for 54 per cent of walking. That is, if there are 100 people walking around a neighbourhood, 54 can be explained by these structural factors.

Demographics explain a further 27 per cent of walking, while environmental factors like topography and weather account for just 1.4 per cent. The remaining 18 per cent are adaptable factors, such as street trees, public transport and traffic speed. Public transport is the most significant adaptable factor, so TODs are critical, however structural factors show that we need to do more than simply put houses near stations.

The tipping points

Vivendi’s analysis also revealed clear tipping points. If planners can ensure these criteria are met, walking increases significantly.

• Housing type: Where more than 30 per cent of houses are freestanding, walking levels plummet. To support walking, at least 70 per cent of homes should be semi-detached, duplexes, townhouses or apartments. This does not require high-rise, rather ‘gentle’ density such as low- to mid-rise buildings do just as well. Suburbs like Balmain, Dee Why, Bondi and Summer Hill already meet this threshold with mostly two to four storeys.

• Permeability: Street networks with many through-block links and intersections enable direct access. Long blocks, cul-de-sacs or barriers like highways and train lines are walkability killers. The tipping point is at around 45 intersections per square kilometre, or a maximum block length of 150 metres. In older suburbs with large blocks, introducing mid-block links, shared streets and pedestrian-priority crossings are essential.

• Land use mix: Density is only effective when paired with proximity to daily needs like supermarkets, primary schools and parks. Even dense areas like Kellyville and Bella Vista remain car dependent due to their homogenous residential nature and wide distribution of destinations, while suburbs like Ashfield, Rockdale and Kogarah thrive thanks to nearby shops, schools and parks. The Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy is a step in the right direction in recognising the importance of centres, as well as transport. Unsurprisingly, if you cannot walk to daily needs, you will need to drive.

Housing type impacts walkability

Where more than 30 per cent of houses are freestanding, walking levels plummet.

To support walking, at least 70 per cent of homes should be semi-detached, duplexes, townhouses or apartments.

This does not require high-rise, rather ‘gentle’ density such as low- to mid-rise buildings do just as well.

Suburbs like Balmain, Dee Why, Bondi and Summer Hill already meet this threshold with mostly two to four storeys.

What planners can do next

As Sydney’s planning system evolves, we need to use every tool to make the city more walkable. Here is how planners can take action:

1. Use the Walkability Checklist

2. Apply the tipping points outlined above

3. Advocate for cross-government action

4. Explore further on this website for deeper insights, examples and implementation advice.

The best test of our planning system is whether people thrive in the neighbourhoods we create. Walkability is more than a lifestyle choice. It supports public health, local economies, sustainability, equity and joy. We know precisely what works; we now need to apply it.

This article originally appeared in New Planner Journal – the journal of the New South Wales planning profession – published by the Planning Institute of Australia.