Planning and developing the renovation and revitalization of historical city centres is a complex task,
which demands integration across various fields of design and knowledge. A key concern in the
renovation of city centres is the sustainability of the design solutions, and a central issue in this case
regards the minimization of road traffic in these core areas. In this context, the option for soft mobility
modes, such walking or cycling, is almost imperative nowadays. Thus, a walkable city centre
significantly improves sustainable mobility, contributing for the reductions in air and noise pollution and
greenhouse gas emissions, and also increasing the attraction as commercial, cultural and leisure
destination. To achieve this purpose, the permeability of the city centre should be worked, allowing the
pedestrians to move easily around the historical centre.
Promote a walkable city centre depends on how well the footpaths connections work and coexist
with the other soft mobility modes and public transport, giving pedestrians the better choice in how to
make their journeys. The geometrical design of the footpaths should also not be neglected, although in a
historical city centre such characteristics are strongly conditioned by the existing urban morphology. For
this reason, the assessment of those issues in a design phase is quite relevant for the perception of the
overall quality of the proposed solution for the footpaths and the pedestrian streets [1] [2].
The main goal of this work is to present a set of indicators which can assess the footpaths design in
the context of renovation of historical city centres. Four indicators were developed in order to evaluate the
geometrical design and the ease of use of the footpaths, and the connection with public transport. These
indicators were quantified and combined according to a combination procedure, resulting in a synthetic
score for the Assessment of Footpaths Design on Renovation of City Centres (AFD), which reflects the
quality of the proposed design solution.