Levelling-up walking as a mode of transport - a case for changing hierarchies

Walking has a key role in achieving the compact and 15-min city, improving public health, and reaching sustainability goals. However, whilst walking is placed at the top of the transport hierarchy in public documents throughout Scandinavia, in reality, walking as a mode of transport is consistently downplayed and hierarchically placed in the bottom of the transport hierarchy. Focus in the public and planning discourse is instead commonly on either motorised transport, public transport, or cycling, regardless of whether the focus is on city planning, logistics or safety. To better understand why this is the case – as well as attempting to suggest solutions to levelling-up walking as a mode of transport – academics, policymakers, and practitioners from across Scandinavia were strategically selected to contribute with their knowledge through focus groups and individual surveys during 2021 and 2023. In the analysis of the material, it became clear that walking was largely viewed in the parallel perspectives of two fields: planning and safety. These fields coexist as disparate and disconnected fields, basing their work on different methodologies and input data, resulting in an incoherent understanding of walking as a mode of transport. However, the analysis also enabled the development of a thematic model: realising walking as a mode of transport, illustrating an ideal construct in which planning and safety perspectives work coherently. The results suggest that there is a strong desire to level-up walking as a mode of transport and change the status and hierarchy in the transport system. However, to do so requires a more holistic and multi-disciplinary view. • Identifies key barriers to walking's status in the transport hierarchy • Proposes a conceptual model for realising walking as a transport mode • Reveals disconnect between risk-based and planning-based approaches • Highlights major gaps in qualitative data on pedestrian needs and motives • Emphasises the need for multi-disciplinary collaboration in walking policy