Neighborhoods’ Walkability for Elderly People: An Italian Experience

The scientific literature shows some attributes of neighborhood built environments that can contribute to promoting physical activity, thereby encouraging older adults to take outdoor walks. The aim of this study was to measure the walkability of 20 neighborhoods in five Italian cities using the Walking Suitability Index of the Territory (T-WSI) to evaluate their propensity to support walking for elderly people and to suggest some specific good practices to local authorities. Our investigation shows that although the neighborhoods present very different physical and morphological characteristics, most of their walkability levels are low. The overall T-WSI value is equal to 46.65/100, with a wide variability between districts (from 28.90/100 to 68.28/100). The calculation of the T-WSI shows that the problems and critical issues are similar between districts, independent of their sizes, and they refer mainly to the same categories and indicators. In general, the results relating to both the safety (e.g., protection from vehicles, road lighting, etc.) and urbanity (e.g., road equipment) of districts are very deficient.