HiWalk and HiBike – active mobility indices as tool to facilitate systemic traffic transition in cities

Achieving climate neutrality requires a socio-ecological transformation of the mobility sector. Consequently, urban traffic infrastructure must be redesigned to promote and support active mobility. By analysing multiple criteria extracted from open-access geodata via OSM (OpenStreetMap), we can assess the current state of the urban traffic infrastructure and evaluate the walkability and bikeability of streets and neighborhoods. HeiGIT’s walkability and bikeability indices – HiWalk and HiBike – provide traffic planners, decision-makers, NGOs, and the general public with quantitative insights into how well a city's traffic infrastructure supports active mobility.

In recent years, numerous walkability and bikeability indices have emerged, focusing primarily on accessibility metrics. However, these anlyses often assume that all streets are equally suitable for active mobility, overlooking the specific needs of groups such as the elderly, young children, people with disabilities, and risk-averse cyclists.

It is therefore essential to address two critical gaps: (a) providing detailed information on the suitability of urban environments for active mobility, and (b) ensuring that traffic infrastructure transformation is inclusive. To meet these needs, we collaborate with practitioners and NGOs to co-create street-level indices of walkability (HiWalk) and bikeability (HiBike). Our goal is to offer practical applications that go beyond general index values for cities or neighborhoods. By assessing bikeability and walkability at the street-level, we can better inform routing engines and support accessibility analyses of inclusive “15-minute cities“.

HiWalk and HiBike consist of indicators that assess the user-friendliness, attractiveness, and safety of paths and streets. They evaluate factors such as the presence of sidewalks and cycling lanes, surface smoothness, and surface material types. HiBike also incorporates information on street-side parking from OSM to identify streets where cyclists may be at risk of “dooring”. Both indices are entirely based on open data and can be adapted to various urban settings worldwide.

Since HiWalk and HiBike are still under development, our presentation will focus on the main challenges we have encountered, including (1) their application for cities with different cultural, socioeconomic, and environmental contexts, and (2) the variability in the quality and completeness of OSM data. These challenges underscore the benefits of our co-creation approach in enhancing the indices' usability and impact on policy.