Banca de DEFESA: ÉVIA PEREIRA DIAS

The influence of the built environment: walkability in the downtown of Patos, PB.

Walkability. Pedestrian. Urban infrastructure

Patos is a municipality located in the interior of Paraíba that has experienced population and automobiles development in recent years. This growth, together with the lack of urban planning geared towards people, led to negative results for the city, related to urban mobility and accessibility. Studies on walking is gaining more and more space. Several scholars discuss how some elements of the built environment positively or negatively influence movement via foot. Walkability is a conscious choice for locomotion on foot. This decision provides the user with social interactions and experience with the urban environment, two fundamental points for the construction of community ties. Therefore, the objective of this work is to comprehend how the components of the urban infrastructure of walkway influence the we transit on foot to the downtown of Patos – PB, validating the walkability, not its spatial cut, based on the methodology that seeks to understand these practical and subjective questions do urban space. Consequently, there is an intention to achieve a downtown walkability index, thus relating urban infrastructure to foot mobility. For this purpose, indicators and categories of walking have been established and applied to the sidewalks in the downtown of Patos, which have various uses of the soil. The results presents the indicators that we can positively influence people's transit on foot, hence helping the public authorities to improve their spaces and make them more walkable environments