This research examines women’s everyday walking experiences in the city of Santiago, Chile. It was developed from a feminist and phenomenological perspective taking ‘the route as a line’, empirically addressing the Chilean case with data gathered from 16 women through field-diaries and shared walks. By considering walking as a lived experience, the research explores the shape and configuration of different walking lines focusing on rhythm, gender-social interactions, and the built environment.

This dissertation investigates social implications of built environment interventions (BEI) related to bicycle urbanism from a Spatial Justice (Soja, 2010) perspective. By combining urban spatial theory and mobilities research, the novel theoretical framework Mobility Space helps to analyse spatial, experiential and discursive aspects of urban mobility priorities concomitantly and is thus an adequate analytical tool to uncover how recently proliferating cycling strategies impact society through an alteration of urban space. A qualitative and multi-method research design combines descriptive mapping, virtual site observation and semi-structured interviews to apply Mobility Space to the controversial Mini-Holland programme in Waltham Forest, London. Examining in detail the Walthamstow Village scheme, the research finds three patterns by which BEI related to bicycle urbanism re-organize movement, re-allocate space and re-design public realm to prioritize active travel and dwelling while discouraging car use. Those spatial alterations shift the political organization of space which in turn affects the Right to the City (Lefebvre et al., 1996) – an expression of Spatial Justice – as it enables a greater diversity of people to use urban space (right to appropriation) and makes them conscious how the space they inhabit is discursively produced and the outcome of contentious decision-making processes (right to participation). This research is relevant for urban professionals as environmental as well as pandemic-related urban mobility challenges necessitate a transformation of urban space to accommodate cycling, but negative outcomes for social equity, as resulting from car-urbanism, need to be avoided.

Despite increasing interest in health and wellbeing in transport policy, there is no policy monitoring tools to measure the effects of street projects on the mental wellbeing of those who walk. After establishing the two types of wellbeing (subjective and eudaimonic), a review of the literature suggested four main ways streetscape environments can affect wellbeing: traffic domination, safety, pollution and street greenery. These were combined with urban design and journey satisfaction approaches to create 16 streetscape factors which were integrated into a theoretical framework conceptualising how streetscape experience influences wellbeing. Given its progressive Healthy Streets Approach to streetscape projects, London was the case study location chosen to test the framework. A comparative approach was taken, comparing wellbeing associated with streetscape factors at Archway, where a Healthy Streets project has been completed, and Stoke Newington where a project is planned. The results found that whilst there is broad agreement with the most and least important streetscape factors, there were differences in the exact ranking which comes out more significantly when these importance ratings were used together with actual experience to plot ‘disgruntlement’. Although no relationship was found with eudaimonic wellbeing, subjective wellbeing was positively related to journey experience with the subjective wellbeing element positive deactivation-negative deactivation most influenced by journey experience in both locations. The most significant journey experience factor was found to be ‘Easy to cross’. No mediating relationship was found with socio-demographic factors or visit frequency. The overall comparison of wellbeing between the two locations found a statistically significant relationship for positive deactivation-negative deactivation and a moderately significant for experience. Thus, it appears streetscape experience has a measurable impact on wellbeing so policymakers should turn their attention to including wellbeing in project appraisal.

The aim of this research is to identify the impact of personal safety perceptions on individuals’ travel behaviour and attitudes when walking in London, with a specific focus on walking trips between an individual’s home/end destination and public transport stops (First and Last Mile Travel). The research will seek to understand the extent to which individuals are concerned for their personal safety during these trips, what factors impact this concern, how they alter their travel behaviour to overcome this, and how they their concerns can best be overcome. In addition, this research will discuss ‘who’ is most impacted and concerned for their safety, by analysing a set of sociodemographic data also collected as part of this study.

Walking is a heavily underused transportation mode in United States desert cities, due to urban sprawl and its consequences, among others. Sprawl repair can help create more walkable cities, but the sole activity of infilling open spaces is not enough to ensure walkability in desert cities. Human scale urban design interventions are necessary to mitigate the impact of the desert heat on pedestrians and to create a truly walkable environment. In this research, academic literature is reviewed and case study cities from around the world are analysed, resulting in a toolkit of urban design guidelines that facilitate walkability in US desert cities. The guidelines are applied and tested on the context of Downtown Palm Springs, California. The result is a practical toolkit for urban designers that work on US desert cities and which can serve as a base for further research into walkability in extreme climates.