Making walking and wheeling more inclusive is the aim of the Walking for Everyone Guide. At 122 pages the online guide sets an ambitious and inclusive agenda for the future of walking across diverse communities. Community-led engagement is important to ensure changes meet the needs of residents. This is how you get local place-based needs met – there is no one-size-fits all.
Walking is often ignored in transport policy. Even when it is, the budget allocation takes it from the top of the hierarchy to the bottom. Consequently, basic elements like footpaths are not delivered. Despite almost every journey beginning and ending with walking and wheeling, streets are not inclusive.
Valuing and promoting lived experience enables transport planners to understand different experiences especially where they conflict. The Guide reminds us that solutions will sometimes require compromise, but marginalised groups should come first. After all, their needs will improve experiences for other walkers.
The Guide presents a framework of recommendations targeted national and local governments. There are three key themes:
- Improving governance, planning and decision making
- Creating better places for everyone to walk and wheel
- Supporting everyone to walk and wheel
Each of the themes is dealt with in detail. In Theme 2, Creating better places, they tackle road safety, air quality and physical severance by roads. In the UK, cars are allowed to partially park on the footpath in narrow streets, but Living Streets recommend this practice end. This is because it often limits the movement of people using assistive mobility devices.
Close the mobility gap
A key point in Theme 3 is to close the mobility gap by making walking and wheeling inclusive. This includes ensuring everyone who needs a mobility device can get one. These devices include assistance dogs, personal assistants and support workers as well as equipment.
The Guide is well presented with attractive photographs depicting a diverse population of pedestrians. It includes a socio-economic context and next steps which is a call to action for government, business and community sectors to work together. There is a useful list of reference documents at the end.
The title of the guide is Walking for everyone: Making walking wheeling more inclusive and was developed by Living Streets. Images are from the Guide.
Tools for Inclusion
Living Streets Scotland also has a useful Tools for Inclusion publication. This one is a guide on devising an Equality Impact Assessment at local government level. The report looks at the use of Equality Impact Assessment in delivering the obligations of the public sector to address the inclusion of people with disability. The findings of their study show there is still a long way to go. The report has several useful recommendations.
Infrastructure for everyone
Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) commissioned a project to map walking infrastructure for people with disability. The aim was to collect information to help planners create footpaths and crossings for everyone. “Walking” includes people using a mobility device such as a cane, frame or wheelchair.
The mapping project collected data from wheelchair users using technology to assess footpath surface, effort to push, barriers and kerb ramps. The technology also collected data on shade and signage.
“People with disability can be left stranded by a missing section of footpath or kerb ramps. Providing infrastructure suitable for people with disability means everyone benefits: people with prams, children, people with an injury, older people and anyone who wants to walk beside someone else comfortably.”
TMR’s Action Plan for Walking is part of their plan for walkable communities and places. Other parts of the Plan are Walking for Transport, and Greening Streets. Mapping the best routes for walking was another project. The aim was to identify the best routes for walking to and from important places such as public transport and shops.
As a result of these mapping exercises, TMR funded network walking plans for 11 places in south-east and northern Queensland. The plans include works programs that have actions to make the network a reality. These include building missing footpaths and convenient crossings.
There is more on planning walkable communities and places on the TMR website.
Images from TMR website
The 2 minute video below explains how the mapping technology works. Three key aspects were identified, effort, connectivity and the risk presented with the network.
Access and inclusion for transport in Queensland
Different government departments are responsible for different aspects of transport services and infrastructure. Consequently, not only do we “mind the gap” at the platform, we have to mind the gaps elsewhere in the system. And these gaps are sometimes just too wide for some people with disability. Queensland’s department of Transport and Main Roads seeks to overcome these gaps with their Access and Inclusion Strategy.
Queensland is a popular tourist destination and accessible tourism needs accessible travel to support this sector. Queensland is also hosting the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games and this has provided an extra reason to get things right.
The Access and Inclusion Strategy aims to create a single integrated network accessible to everyone. The Strategy was developed in consultation with customers, employees and partners, and it covers services, products, information and infrastructure.
The Accessibility and Inclusion Plan 2023-2024 supports the Accessibility and Inclusion Strategy. The Plan has 27 actions across three key pillars: strategy, culture and process.
The web pages for the Strategy and the Plan have a summary and links to alternative formats of the documents including Auslan and a narrated version. There are alternative language summaries and video transcripts as well.