Walkability item measurements Spanish cities

The public space in cities and towns, made up of lanes, squares and parks, is a continuous area that shapes a network that is the community’s responsibility.To a certain extent, it is the place where human beings are related, a shared place, and the social essence of cities. Among its most important missions, the public space is used to support different types of traffic, traditionally pedestrian and motor vehicle traffic, where moving around on bicycles and other vehicles of similar speed must be currently contemplated.The main reason to study the walkability in a city lies in the conflict that arises about the circulation of pedestrians with that of motor vehicles. Vehicle traffic requirements and circumstances have been well-studied. The number of vehicles that drive down streets, times waiting at traffic lights, the repercussion of paved roadway width and number of lanes, influence of speed, among others, all allow the traffic network to be assessed and measures to be taken to perfect its operation in those places that present deficiencies. Gener-ally speaking however, analysing a road system does not consider pedestrians. Urban designers work with certain design items at the most that work better or worse, but never stop to analyse the reasons why citizens choose to walk along some streets rather than others, even when pedestri-ans are the main users of urban areas.