Towards a movement-friendly city: lessons from activity scans of five neighbourhoods in Antwerp, Belgium

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the results of a research project in Antwerp, Belgium, aimed at developing a spatial analysis approach (‘activity scan’) assessing how the urban fabric on a neighbourhood scale can encourage physical activity and active transport. By outlining a set of recurring spatial challenges and describing the developed innovative toolkit, the research responds to the necessity for design-oriented insights on how to promote active travel and instigate concrete interventions. By critically analysing this co-creative research trajectory, this article emphasizes the need for an interdisciplinary dialogue on what contributes to a movement-friendly urban environment.

KEYWORDS:

• Active mobility
• active travel
• healthy city
• physical activity
• urban design
• neighbourhood planning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).