Walkonomics is a mobile app that believes in improving walkability and the enjoyment of the walking experience in cities around the world. Over half the world’s population currently lives in cities and by 2050 this will rise to 70%. Getting people these large number of urban dwellers to walk isn’t just the only feasible way to avoid impossible traffic, but also provides health benefits such as reducing obesity and air pollution. Walkonomics wants to give people the best tools so they will want to walk as much as possible.
Most navigation apps only focus on providing users the fastest route to their destination, which can often lead them along busy highways and car routes, which can lead to a not very enjoyable walking experience. Walkonomics on the other hand focuses on showing users a route that is beautiful, tree-filled, safe and fast. Walkonomics takes into account several factors when determining how “walkable” a street is, such as road safety, how easy crosswalks are, how large and high quality sidewalks are, how hilly an area is, what the crime rate is, how and relaxing the neighborhoods are, and how beautiful decorated the surroundings are with trees, shrubs and flowerbeds.
The American Geographical Society reached out to Walkonomics for further information on their vision and background, and co-founder Adam Davies was kind enough to provide us with the following insights:
“Our aim is to help create walkable cities, neighbourhoods and streets. Walkonomics began as a crowdsourcing app that enabled local government to map and rate the walkability of every street in their city and also to engage with citizens and understand what they thought of a cities walkability. We have recently pivoted to include pedestrian navigation in our iPhone and Android app. As you know the app can find the most tree-filled and beautiful route, rather than just the fastest. We are currently live in 7 cities: New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Central London, Paris, Buenos Aires and Glasgow. Research shows that walking in tree-filled streets and parks can reduce feelings of stress and increase happiness levels and so we believe the app can not only help reduce CO2 and ease congestion, but also improve peoples mood and make their commute more enjoyable.
Improving lifestyle in cities and giving people incentives to be green is crucial in our urbanized world. Walkonomics’s work to cater towards walkable city life is a commendable step towards green urbanism. The American Geographical Society’s Fall Symposium focuses on exploring our future in an urbanized world. Read more here!
Written by: Christopher Ewell, AGS on July 16, 2015