Cidade Alta e Alecrim: a caminhabilidade em bairros tradicionais da cidade do Natal/RN

Abstract

Walking is the most democratic, economical, egalitarian means of transport that can be carried out by everyone. But, contemporary cities were shaped and developed through planning characterized by urban expansion and the separation of functions, neglecting pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport users as protagonists of urban life, since a large part of the investments to enable the displacements of people in urban centers are used to condition the use of individual motorized transport. However, the discussion about mobility in cities has been a recurring theme in several studies and lately walkability has gained ground in this field of study, since several researchers have found evidence that the built environment can encourage or inhibit travel on foot. At that, the objective of this dissertation is to understand the factors present in the built environment that affect the dynamics of travel on foot, in two neighborhoods of the city of Natal/RN, namely Cidade Alta and Alecrim. For this, walkability indicators and indices and applied in different urban scales. In the construction of the result analysis, the indicators and analysis categories of this study were crossed, in addition to the use of other studies cited throughout this research, in order to achieve the objective of this dissertation. The results point out that in the neighborhoods, the mesoscale indicators are better related to walkability, that is, they tend to enhance trips on foot. However, the microscale indicators are possibly more associated with issues of people staying in these places. In addition, the results found in this dissertation partially refute the consulted literature, since the Alecrim region presented, compared to Cidade Alta, worse performances in the evaluation of most indicators, nevertheless, it is in Alecrim that verifies greater number of trips on foot. Such results can support public policies to make city spaces more walkable, in addition to the possibility of offering various benefits to the individual and society.