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Benchmarking City Layouts—A Methodological Approach and an Accessibility Comparison between a Real City and the Garden City

Author

Listed:
  • João Monteiro

    (Research Centre for Territory, Transports and Environment (CITTA), 4200-465 Porto, Portugal)

  • Nuno Sousa

    (Institute for Systems Engineering and Computers of Coimbra (INESCC), 3030-290 Coimbra, Portugal
    Department of Sciences and Technology, Open University, 1269-001 Lisbon, Portugal)

  • Eduardo Natividade-Jesus

    (Institute for Systems Engineering and Computers of Coimbra (INESCC), 3030-290 Coimbra, Portugal
    Department of Civil Engineering, Coimbra Polytechnic—ISEC, 3030-199 Coimbra, Portugal)

  • João Coutinho-Rodrigues

    (Institute for Systems Engineering and Computers of Coimbra (INESCC), 3030-290 Coimbra, Portugal
    Department of Civil Engineering, University of Coimbra, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal)

Abstract

This article presents a comparative accessibility study between a real city and its redraft as a Garden City. The benchmarking methodology involves defining and evaluating a location-based accessibility indicator in a GIS environment for the city of Coimbra, Portugal, and for the same city laid out as a Garden City, with the same number of inhabitants, jobs, and similar number of urban facilities. The results are derived as maps and weighted average distances per inhabitant to the facilities and jobs, and show that, for the Garden City, average distances drop to around 500 m for urban facilities and 1500 m for the combination of facilities and jobs, making much of the city accessible by walking and practically the whole of it accessible by cycling, with positive impact on transport sustainability and accessibility equity. The methodology can be extended to other benchmarking indicators and city layouts, and the quantitative results it yields make a valuable contribution to the debate on the ideal layout of cities. Moreover, it gives directions on how to improve real cities to address current and future sustainability concerns.

Suggested Citation

  • João Monteiro & Nuno Sousa & Eduardo Natividade-Jesus & João Coutinho-Rodrigues, 2022. "Benchmarking City Layouts—A Methodological Approach and an Accessibility Comparison between a Real City and the Garden City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-17, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:5029-:d:799644
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