Dear colleagues in the VREF community, above you find the recording from our Research Forum 7 February. The Forum was arranged within our Walking as a Mode of Transport Program – and focus was on new planning strategies.

Successful pedestrian-friendly planning and design requires applying a wealth of approaches. This VREF Research Forum offers presentations and discussions of three projects dealing with various aspects of pedestrian planning, including assessment of conditions and challenges in various (non-)walkable contexts, the use of mobile digital design tools, as well as rethinking the use and design of urban roads to cater for walking.

Program

Moderator: Maja Karoline Rynning, The Institute of Transport Economics, Norway

Welcome and introduction: Henrik Nolmark, VREF director
Logistical host: Karin Henriksson, VREF Communications Officer

Presentations

Urban roads: enablers or barriers to walking?
Presenter: Prof. Karel Martens, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
Discussant: Dr Regina Amoako-Sakyi, University of Cape Coast, Ghana

Transforming the unwalkable city: knowledge, practices, and interventions 
Presenter: Dr Daniel Oviedo, The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, UCL, UK
Discussant: TBC

Mobile digital technology as a tool to study walkability to advance theory, policy, and practice of walking for transport  
Presenter: Dr Tamara Bozovic, University of West England, Bristol, UK
Discussant: Chebe Polycab, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Israel

Plenary Discussion

News and next steps in the Walking Program
David Lindelöw, Coordinator, VREF:s Walking as a Mode of Transport Program (Walking)