Knowledge Exchange, Spatial Analysis and Healthy Urban Environments: Integrating Walkability Models into Practice

The Knowledge Exchange, Spatial Analysis and Healthy Urban Environment (KESUE) project has extended previous work from a project that examined the health impacts of a regeneration scheme in Belfast (the Physical Activity in the Regeneration of Conswater, PARC project) in order to develop evidence and policy tools that link features of the built environment with physical activity in the cities of Belfast and Derry-Londonderry in Northern Ireland. It has used this data to help shape policy decisions in areas such as physical activity, park management, public transport and planning.
Working with a range of local partners who part-funded the project (City Councils in Belfast and Derry-Londonderry, Public Health Agency, Belfast Healthy Cities and Department of Regional Development), this project has mapped all the footpaths in the two cities (covering 37 per cent of the NI population) and employed this to develop evidence used in strategies related to healthy urban planning. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the footpath network has been used as a basis for a wide range of policy-relevant analyses including pedestrian accessibility to public facilities, site options for new infrastructure and assessing how vulnerable groups can access services such as pharmacies. Key outputs have been Accessibility Atlases and maps showing how walkability of the built environment varies across the two cities.
In addition to generating this useful data, the project included intense engagement with potential users of the research, which has led to its continued uptake in a number of policies and strategies, creating a virtuous circle of research, implementation and feedback.