CoolWalks for active mobility in urban street networks.

ABSTRACT: Walking is the most sustainable form of urban mobility, but is compromised by uncomfortable or unhealthy sun exposure, which is an increasing problem due to global warming. Shade from buildings can provide cooling and protection for pedestrians, but the extent of this potential benefit is unknown. Here we explore the potential for shaded walking, using building footprints and street networks from both synthetic and real cities. We introduce a route choice model with a sun avoidance parameter α and define the CoolWalkability metric to measure opportunities for walking in shade. We derive analytically that on a regular grid with constant building heights, CoolWalkability is independent of α, and that the grid provides no CoolWalkability benefit for shade-seeking individuals compared to the s

SUBMITTER: Wolf H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12038045 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature