With the goal of becoming one of the most functional cities in the world, the City of Helsinki made a commitment to improving walkability within its city centre through The Walkable Helsinki Program. As part of this imitative, the City set about planning an environment that would encourage residents to incorporate walking into their transportation habits.

To initiate a conversation with residents regarding this vision, the City opted to conduct a walkability survey using the Maptionnaire platform. Through this survey, residents were able to evaluate the current state of walkability in the city centre and suggest areas for improvement. The aim was to offer citizens an effortless means to actively participate in the early stages of the planning process.

The project was launch in 2018, beginning with a workshop that brought together architects, city planners, community engagement coordinators, and mobility researchers employed by the city, to collaboratively design the survey's content. The survey was designed to be accessible in three languages and was compatible with mobile devices.

The city's pre-existing plans for enriching the pedestrian experience were prominently displayed on the map as interactive elements. These elements contained pertinent information and solicited feedback about these plans.

After consolidating their varied inputs, the survey encompassed questions about daily pedestrian movements and areas where people sought improvements.

Participants were requested to illustrate their routine routes on a map. They also had the option to pinpoint areas along their routes that they found disagreeable, as well as noteworthy spots or places that compelled them to pause.

The survey results revealed the routes residents frequently take and their motivations behind them, along with the primary obstacles encountered on these daily journeys. By compiling this data in GIS format, urban planners were able to devise interventions that improved walkability in Helsinki's city centre.

The lead agency for the project is the City of Helsinki in partnership with Maptionnaire.

The walkability survey drew the attention of 1600 participants, who pinpointed over 8700 routes and locations on the city map. This exercise yielded valuable insights into the variety of pedestrian pathways and the rationale behind the selection of these routes by individuals. It was revealed that urban green spaces and seashores were very popular among the residents, whereas transit nodes were less favoured. This triggered the city planners to come up with strategies for improving the quality of daily walks and transit environments.

Of the total feedback received, 900 responses highlighted areas that required improvement according to the public. Most of these suggestions revolved around the need to reduce car traffic in the city centre and increase the safety of pedestrian crossings.

The survey results will serve as the foundation for Helsinki’s Walkability program.  Insights from the survey have also been used in a feasibility study for constructing an underground traffic diversion route and another considering the expansion of pedestrian zones in the city centre, as well as a visioning project for the future of the city centre.

 Additionally, the outcomes from the survey enabled the project team to discern the unique challenges and strengths inherent to Helsinki. Furthermore, the engagement of a wider audience not only provided varied insights but also effectively publicised the initiative.

Considering the need for substantial participation to ensure a representative sample in the walkability study, traditional workshops and face-to-face meetings wouldn't suffice. Therefore, the integration of Maptionnaire's digital platform for citizen engagement into the data collection and outreach efforts proved to be beneficial. This allowed planners to obtain a useful dataset from a wide-ranging audience. For those residents less adept at using digital tools, in-person engagement activities were also made available.

Improving walkability in the city centre  requires planners to comprehend the dynamics of people's movements and their motivations. Concurrently, the project team should amalgamate a diverse array of expertise including traffic and urban planners, researchers, GIS specialists, and specialists in citizen engagement.

To initiate the process, cities should actively involve their residents in order to grasp the unique challenges of the area, gauge local perspectives on walking, and identify the obstacles they face.

Employing a co-designed survey proved highly effective in swiftly gathering such information from a large and diverse population.

The mapping features also helped citizens to accurately illustratee their daily routes. The digital format of the survey extended its reach to many individuals who otherwise would not have participated in the public meetings and workshops that were concurrently held.

Importantly, the survey data was delivered in a GIS format, seamlessly integrating with other data resources utilized by city planners.