Assessing and improving the walkability of Caribbean SIDS: a case study

Abstract

ABSTRACT The high incidence of crime, gender-based violence, and flood disasters in the urban and suburban landscape, coupled with limited land and minimal urban planning budgets in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have created an environment with inadequate implementation of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG). Given these shortcomings, this study analyzed walkability in a Caribbean SIDS environment in order to improve the human- and spatial environment-centric urban space embodied in many of the UNSDG. A questionnaire qualitatively assessed five components of walkability: security from criminal activity, protection from moving vehicles, thermal comfort, a physical walkable infrastructure, and accessibility for the differently abled persons. Of these five walkability criteria, respondents rated security from criminal activity, and accessibility for the differently abled as the least satisfactory. Through this walkability assessment, this research identified a gap between walkability principles applied globally in walkability studies and their feasibility in SIDS.