Walk21 Ireland: The Decade of Change - Steps to Deliver the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

OCTOBER 2023 Walk21 Ireland 2022 Conference Report Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 23 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 45 CONTENTS Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... Walk21 Foundation ............................................................................................................................... Conference Background .................................................................................................................... Walk21 Ireland Event Overview ......................................................................................................... Precursor Events – The Irish Story .................................................................................................. Funding Commitment ......................................................................................................................... The Handover ...................................................................................................................................... Conference Organisation .................................................................................................................. People................................................................................................................................................................. Steering Committee ............................................................................................................................ Delivery Team ....................................................................................................................................... Programme Committee and International Review Team ............................................................ Local Advisory Council ....................................................................................................................... Global and Local Challenges During Project Delivery................................................................. The Brand .............................................................................................................................................. Sponsorship and Ethical Considerations ....................................................................................... Communications .................................................................................................................................. The Grangegorman campus Venue ................................................................................................ Local Community and Campus Engagement ............................................................................... Health and Safety Assessment ......................................................................................................... Conference Merchandise and Sustainability Decisions ............................................................. Accessibility .......................................................................................................................................... Recognition of Learning .................................................................................................................... The Call for Contributions ................................................................................................................. Monitoring and Evaluation ................................................................................................................. The Conference Event .................................................................................................................................. Attendance ........................................................................................................................................... Youth Forum .......................................................................................................................................... Pre-conference Workshops .............................................................................................................. Opening Ceremony ............................................................................................................................. Plenary 1 - Global Perspectives, National Commitment, Local Action:................................... Plenary 2 - Walking as the foundation for healthy bodies, minds and streets ..................... Plenary 3 - Ensuring equity and access for everyone ................................................................ Plenary 4 - Building for Walking: hard yards or easy street? ..................................................... World Café - How can we make walking safer... to help deliver SDGs by 2030?................. Plenary 5 – Closing Plenary: Walking purposefully through the decade for change........... Walkshops ............................................................................................................................................. Parallel, Roundtable and Poster Sessions ...................................................................................... Social Events ........................................................................................................................................ National Events .................................................................................................................................... Post Conference Review and Reflections ............................................................................................. Communications .................................................................................................................................. Funding and Spend ............................................................................................................................. Conference Conclusions ................................................................................................................... Reflections from TU Dublin ................................................................................................................ Legacy Projects Update ..................................................................................................................... Appendix A – The Business Case for Walk21 Ireland .............................................................................. Appendix B – Committees and Partners ................................................................................................... Walk21 Steering Committee .............................................................................................................. Walk21 Advisory Committee .............................................................................................................. Walk21 Programme Committee ........................................................................................................ Walk21 International Review Committee ........................................................................................ Walk21 Ireland Delivery Team ............................................................................................................ Appendix C – Parallel Sessions, Walkshops, Roundtables and Posters ............................................. Parallel Sessions ................................................................................................................................... Walkshops ............................................................................................................................................. Roundtables .......................................................................................................................................... Posters ................................................................................................................................................... Appendix D: World Café Consolidation .................................................................................................... Safety ..................................................................................................................................................... Equity ...................................................................................................................................................... Gender ................................................................................................................................................... Appendix E: Conference Feedback ............................................................................................................ 6 6 6 8 10 14 14 14 16 18 18 19 22 24 26 26 27 28 30 31 32 34 34 36 38 40 40 42 46 50 52 54 56 60 62 68 70 72 74 75 78 78 82 84 88 90 92 96 96 97 98 98 99 100 100 116 118 119 124 124 125 126 128 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 67 Introduction This section will detail the background of the conference and how it came to Ireland. It will give context to the event as well as its position of influence on the global stage. Walk21 Foundation The Walk21 Foundation, known as Walk21, is a global organisation that supports every person’s right to walk in a safe, inclusive and welcoming environment by providing evidence, tools, training, and accreditation to a global network of concerned communities, politicians, academics, and practitioners. Their goal is to ensure that “walking is measured, valued and appropriately provided for so that everyone in the world can choose to walk and enjoy the experience”. Conference Background The Walk21 Conference, the global walking summit, started in 2000 with a conference in London at the end of a European LIFE¹-funded project. An international community was inspired to meet annually to discuss research, policy, practice, and innovation on walking and walkable communities and cities. It has taken place all over the world from Hong Kong to Bogota, and Rotterdam to Sydney. In 2022, for the first time, the international conference had a national focus rather than a city focus. The 22nd Walk21 conference, themed 'The Decade to Change', was hosted by Technological University Dublin in partnership with three government departments: The Department of Health, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media through their national agency Sport Ireland, and the Department of Transport. ¹Programme for Environment and Climate Action (LIFE) | European Commission (europa.eu) Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 89 Walk21 Ireland Event Overview The conference took place in multiple locations around Ireland over five days from 19-23 September 2022. The dates for the conference were chosen in line with European Mobility Week and National Walking Week, both of which lead into the Irish National Walking Day (Sunday, 25 September 2022). This day also kicked off the European Week of Sport. The conference highlighted and discussed current and new practices in policy making, urban planning, mobility and transport planning, as well as the impacts and benefits of walking on community, climate change, safety and health. The conference also involved an extensive social programme of activities for attending delegates including a welcome reception, a conference dinner and other networking opportunities. This gave delegates the chance to get to know each other or reconnect, and to discuss research, work and practices relevant to the themes of the conference. As the conference had not been held in person since 2019, social events were very well attended and enjoyed. The conference commenced on Monday 19 September between two locations in Dublin's City Centre. The Youth Forum took place at the EPIC Museum, CHQ Building, Dublin 1, along with the evening welcome reception and most of the pre-conference workshops. On the same day the THE PEP Consortium Meeting was held at TU Dublin. TU Dublin’s Grangegorman campus was the main location for the conference, with all plenary and parallel sessions held in the East Quad between Tuesday 20-22 September. This central location was also the starting point for ‘walkshops’ held around the City. Satellite events took place in Galway, Limerick, and Cork cities on Friday 23 September while TU Dublin hosted sessions several international delegations who combined their network meetings with the conference. The target groups for the conference were international and domestic communities of practice involved in walking and disciplines related to walking, including designers, policy makers, advocates or those promoting walking. Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 10 11 Precursor Events – The Irish Story Inspired by their participation at previous Walk21 Conferences, TU Dublin's Dr Lorraine D’Arcy, Health Service Executive's (HSE) Dr Michelle Hardie-Murphy, and Get Ireland Walking's Jason King and Dr Emer O’Leary, approached the Walk21 Foundation at the 2018 Bogotá conference to express an interest in bringing the Walk21 Conference to Ireland. The vision for the conference was for an interdisciplinary approach bringing transport, planning, health and physical activity promotion and other associated professions together to deliver on walking and walkability in Ireland. Figure 2: Key Walk21 Ireland Stakeholders pictured at the Get Ireland Walking Event in TU Dublin February 2020 ²Get-Ireland-Walking_Report_Connect-the-Dots.pdf (getirelandwalking.ie) Figure 1: Graphic representation of the discussions at the Get Ireland Walking Event On Friday 07 February 2020, a diverse group of 60 stakeholders joined the ‘Get Ireland Walking - Stakeholder Forum on All Purpose Walking in Ireland - Working Towards the Future’ event at TU Dublin. The day-long workshop had three strategic objectives: 1. To better connect the ecosystem seeking to encourage more walking in Ireland, whilst drawing out the supports and infrastructure needed to develop it. 2. To co-develop recommendations for a National Walking Strategy. 3. To agree a high-level action plan going forward to create a connection with Walk21 and the bid process. An Irish working group was formed in June 2019 after discussions with key stakeholders. The group had representation from a variety of governmental departments, state agencies, academia and advocacy groups. It was considered that an academic institution could provide a neutral space for the conference and it was agreed that TU Dublin would be the lead agency. This space ensured that no discipline area or group could be perceived to be more important than others. Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 12 13 Key recommendations made for the Walk21 Ireland conference planning included²: • Giving consideration to ensure the overall conference feels coherent. • Ensure that Walk21 is used as an opportunity to engage with critical issues today including emphasising the role of walking in addressing climate, sustainable development, and environmental transitions; walking as a tool to bridge Ireland’s urban - rural divide; and social prescribing and walking for better health and mental health outcomes. • There was a strong consensus from the conference working group that the event must achieve nationwide visibility and be potentially staged across multiple locations recognising that Ireland is “big enough to matter, and small enough to include everyone”. • Walk21 should be used as an opportunity to pilot something practical to inform and change the debate around walking. • Be an opportunity for learning, education and exchange and to showcase real-world case studies on topics that are useful to them and key stakeholder groups, such as planners, retailers, and the business community.. • Make walking a creative feature of the conference. • Use Walk21 as an opportunity to catalyse place-based and/or community-led innovation. • Using creative approaches to capture the main outputs of the conference. • Stakeholders outlined several areas they hoped Walk21 could create a lasting legacy for walking in Ireland. This spanned from Walk21 feeding into the development and launch of a National Walking Strategy; That it places walking on the political agenda and in turn inform future policy; That the built environment / infrastructure for walking is vastly improved; That there is increased funding allocations and budgeting commitments for walking; Ireland recognised internationally as a walking country / destination. • Getting community engagement and involvement at the conference. To ensure good public engagement in developing and delivering the conference. ²Get-Ireland-Walking_Report_Connect-the-Dots.pdf (getirelandwalking.ie) Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 14 15 Funding Commitment Informed by the outcomes of the Get Ireland Walking event and initial conversations with the group of stakeholders brought together by the conference lead, a funding case was made by TU Dublin to government ministers which outlined the relevance of the conference to government policies (Appendix A). Three government departments, The Department of Health, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport through their national agency Sport Ireland, and the Department of Transport agreed to commit €250,000 each to the running of the conference. This amount was based on information shared with the team from the last European Walk21 conference in Rotterdam in 2018 and the VeloCity cycling conference held in Dublin in 2019. It was also acknowledged that TU Dublin’s inkind contributions of venues and staff time contributed a significant value to delivering the conference and minimising project costs. The Handover Walk21 Seoul was held virtually in May 2021 and TU Dublin President Prof. David FitzPatrick accepted the handover from the City of Seoul. He was presented with a pair of ornate traditional shoes and the blessing ‘may your path be lined with flowers’. As a nod to this gesture, the pathways outside the East Quad building on the TU Dublin Grangegorman campus were decorated with flowers for the Walk21 Ireland event. Conference Organisation Building upon the discussions at the Get Ireland Walking event in February 2020 and informed by Walk21’s experience from previous events, a partnership approach between TU Dublin and Walk21 International was taken for the delivery of the Walk21 Ireland conference. TU Dublin took on the role of lead local agency sponsor, and conference host. This involved being the key contact for the Walk21 team in Ireland and supporting the delivery of the event through collaboration with other agencies and to act as fund holder and administrator. Walk21 International’s role involved strategic input, programme management, oversight, monitoring and support from their team on all aspects of the event. Walk21 International also contracted a local conference coordinator to be responsible for the management and delivery of the event. The conference organisation structure was developed with five main pillars - the Steering Committee, the Delivery Team, the Programme Committee, the International Review Committee and the Local Advisory Council. Figure 3: TU Dublin receiving the conference handover from the City of Seoul Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 16 17 Department of Rural & Community Affairs Léon Fox Higher Executive Officer TU Dublin Jennifer Boyer Vice President for Sustainability Dr Jackie Bourke Urban Geographer University of Galway Prof. Kevin Leyden Professor of Political Science Department of Transport Derek O’Neill (RIP) National Roads, Greenways, and Active Travel Division Road Safety Authority Christine Hegarty Road Safety Education Manager Department of Transport Sarah Taylor National Roads, Greenways, and Active Travel Division Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Ian Smith Limerick Pedestrian Network Dr Madeleine Lyes Chair Department of Health Paul Brosnan Health & Wellbeing Programme TU Dublin Dr David Gaul Sports Management & Physical Activity Lecturer Health Services Executive Sarah O’Brien National Lead, Healthy Eating Active Living Programme Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport & Media James Lavelle Assistant Principal Officer People Irish Heart Foundation Christina Duff Schools Wellbeing (Physical Activity & Health Literacy) The Heritage Council Alison Harvey Planning Programmes/ Policy Manager TU Dublin Anne Campion Executive Assistant to the VP for Sustainability National Transport Authority Michael Ahern Head of Transport Development Dublin City Council Antonia Martin Active Travel Communication, Engagement & Promotion Manager Walk21 Jim Walker Director TU Dublin Dr Úna Beagon Head of Civil Engineering National Disability Authority Ruth C O’Reilly Senior Built Environment Design Advisor Department of Health Dr Fiona Mansergh Assistant Principal Officer Transport Infrastructure Ireland Rachel Cahill Director of Executive Office & Sustainability Lead Transport Infrastructure Ireland Kathleen Jacobi Sustainability Portfolio Co-Ordinator TU Dublin Dr Lorraine D’Arcy Sustainability Action Research & Innovation Lead TU Dublin David O’Connor Head of Environment & Planning Sport Ireland Ciara Munnelly Outdoor Recreation Manager Sport Ireland Louise Burke Director of Participation Department of Transport Deirdre Donohue National Roads, Greenways, and Active Travel Division Get Ireland Walking Jason King Programme Manager Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport Gabriel O’Gorman Health Services Executive Dr Michelle Hardie Murphy Senior Health Promotion & Improvement Officer Walk21 Bronwen Thornton CEO Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 30 31 Local Community and Campus Engagement The conference steering committee and local advisory group were very supportive of TU Dublin’s wish to engage staff, students and local community groups as much as possible with the event. This was done through a number of initiatives. The Walk21 Ireland Conference was launched on 28th April 2022 on the TU Dublin Grangegorman Campus. Minister of State for Public Health and Wellbeing, Frank Feighan T.D, joined with school children from the Dublin 7 Educate Together National Primary School, and TU Dublin staff and students, to launch the conference and take an enjoyable walk together around the campus. A video created from the launch can be viewed by clicking the image below. During the conference TU Dublin promoted our new campus which showcases best practice walkability and new state of the art performance spaces. Our student musicians performed at lunchtimes and the TU Dublin harp ensemble welcomed guests to the conference dinner. One of the lunchtime food trucks belongs to a TU Dublin culinary arts graduate and our sustainable transport and health researchers, students and staff volunteered their time helping at the conference. Lunchtime food on campus was set up with food trucks and a covered lunch space on campus to allow integration with campus life. In addition to the TU Dublin volunteers, opportunities to contribute and participate were given to local community and advocacy groups to volunteer at the conference in exchange for their conference registration. This was greatly appreciated by these groups who have limited funds available to them. Anyone who wished to volunteer within the TU Dublin community was asked to provide information, such as availability during the conference and contact details, via a Microsoft Form, which was then used to create a schedule for volunteer work throughout the week. This help was essential to support the conference and the organisers. Health and Safety Assessment A detailed risk assessment was compiled, with the guidance of TU Dublin’s Health and Safety team. This outlined any potential safety risks surrounding the conference, as well as the measures put in place to mitigate them. It involved considering all venues and events across the conference, both on and off the TU Dublin campus. Assembly points for emergencies were identified for each venue, as well as the location of defibrillators on the campus, and staff with first aid training. After some initial adjustments, the assessment was approved by the University’s Health and Safety, Estates, and Insurance team. The events management company, Catapult, provided their own risk assessment in their event management plan, which detailed risks and mitigating measures related to their work, and their contactors’ work, around staging, installing set designs and the stretch tent used on the campus. Extra Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 32 33 overnight security professionals were brought in to secure the stretch tent on the TU Dublin campus at night, which was being used to provide a space for lunch during the day. Children who took part in the Youth Forum were required to provide consent for in order to attend and were supervised at all times by their teachers. Conference Merchandise and Sustainability Decisions All procurement and conference merchandise decisions were made with sustainability in mind. Local supplier Klee Paper provided sustainable branded items such as notebooks made from recycled paper, pens made from plants, and thermal steel mugs, all made in Europe with conference branding on them. Another local supplier, Tara Slevin Group, provided drinking bottles, BPA free and made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate, with conference branding on them, for members of the Youth Forum. Conference merchandise was kept to a minimum, with only item that were considered genuinely useful or helpful purchased, to avoid waste. Instead of giving each delegate a bag of merchandise it was offered at the registration desk if people wanted to avail of it. Lanyards were made with recycled cotton. Detailed conference programmes were not printed but instead a QR code was printed on the lanyard. For catering on campus, local procurement and sustainable options were a key consideration. Vegan options and dairy free milks were available at all lunch and coffee breaks. All plates and cutlery were compostable which also minimised waste management planning. All foods provided adhered to Healthy Campus guidance⁴ and Green-Campus⁵ principles. Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 34 35 Accessibility Consideration was given to accessibility by broadcasting the conference live, so that the event could be attended both online as well as in-person, allowing more people to take part in the conference. The sites of the conference talks and Youth Forum/Welcome Reception were also accessible by wheelchair, and a quiet room was provided in TU Dublin’s East Quad building if people needed somewhere to take a break from the activity of the conference or to breastfeed. The food provided included accommodations for those with intolerances and allergies. Recognition of Learning Continuous Professional Development (CDP) accreditation for the event was obtained from the following professional organisations: • Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland • Engineers Ireland • Transport Planning Society • Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) • Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists Figure 6: Professional CPD Accreditations for Walk21 Ireland ⁴https://hea.ie/policy/health-and-wellbeing-landing-page/healthy-campus-landing-page/healthy-campus-charterand-framework/ ⁵https://www.greencampusireland.org/about/ Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 36 37 The Call for Contributions Following a process of consultation with the conference committees and informed by the Get Ireland Walking 2020 event’s report, the overall conference theme of ‘The Decade to Change – Steps to Deliver the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ and sub-themes were agreed and circulated in the call for contributions. They were: 1. Evidence based walking actions TU Dublin is supporting the Government of Ireland by conducting research, collecting local data and providing expert training for staff to improve the effectiveness and impact of walking policy. Civil engineers, transport planners, architects and urban designers are in collaboration with academics. Contributions are invited that share relevant walking research, data collection and training system that are increasing knowledge, skills and building capacity for delivering actions for people walking. 2. Active places for people Streetscape improvements and networks of walking trails in both rural and urban areas are being developed by Sport Ireland to connect more people with quality infrastructure and support healthy lifestyles. Contributions are invited that demonstrate how places have been transformed to support and encourage more walking and the impact that has had on the quality of life all year round. 3. Targeting those that walk the most Encouraging more people to walk more often is a common goal. Understanding the different walking needs of women, children, the elderly, people on low incomes and those with disabilities in particular is helping the Government of Ireland to ensure their policy and investment decisions are inclusive and responsive. Results Contributions are invited that share how citizens have been engaged, different needs identified from different groups, and investments in walkability tailored in response. 4. The Decade for Change One of the first national campaigns – ‘Get Ireland Walking’ has, for several years, promoted and celebrated the positive outcomes of people walking. Increasingly walking is being valued and measured as integral to addressing the climate emergency and delivering the Sustainable Development Goal commitments. Contributions are invited that share how walking is being valued, invested in, and monitored, especially in relation to SDG’s. This could include examples of walking in road danger reduction plans, Nationally Determined Contributions, or more accessible public transport. Figure 7: The Call for Contributions Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 38 39 Monitoring and Evaluation A Walk21 Ireland evaluation survey was circulated to attendees after the event and 169 responses were received over 11 days from 27 September to 7 October 2022. The survey was sent to all who registered to attend in person or for the immersive virtual experience. Just over 80% of respondents attended the conference in person. Respondents are mainly from Europe and, probably unsurprisingly, almost one quarter are from Ireland. They represented all age groups with roughly 50% are under 44 years of age. Feedback from respondents was positive. Overall, delegates found the conference enjoyable, engaging and informative. Of the three organised social events, delegates reported having enjoyed them, especially non-Irish delegates. Respondents reported being extremely happy with networking opportunities at the conference with 60% scoring it 9 or 10 out of 10. Specific feedback on each session is described in Appendix E. Figure 8: How respondents attended the conference Figure 9: Where survey respondents were from Figure 10: Wordcloud of how respondents summarised the conference Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 40 41 The Conference Event This section contains an overview of the key events at the conference which ran from 19-23 September, 2002. Attendance The anticipated attendance for the conference was c. 650 in person attendees, with 70% coming from Ireland and 30% international (predominantly European and North American). Given the conference’s relevance to policy, practice and research the anticipated mix of professions is outlined in figure 16. The anticipated virtual attendance was c. 1,000 with 30% Irish virtual delegates and 70% International virtual delegates. The actual in person attendance for the event was 406 with 55.5% Irish delegates and 44.5% International delegates. Attendees and speakers came from 42 countries and from across all continents. Figure 11: The projected breakdown of conference attendees The virtual attendance was 791 person. Of these, 595 people or 75%, were via the Walk21 YouTube channel (free to access plenary sessions only) and the rest, 196 or 25%, were via the paid Hopin platform. Like the in-person attendees, the virtual attendance was representative of all continents. All parallel sessions, except for ‘walkshops’, were broadcast through virtual event platform, Hopin at a cost of €50 to the delegate. As well as this, all in-person registrants were given access to the Hopin platform as part of their ticket to enable greater access to content for those who could not attend all sessions in person. Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 42 43 Youth Forum From the start of the planning process for Walk21 Ireland there was a clear ambition to ensure that young people’s voices were clearly heard at the event. On Monday 19 September, at the EPIC Museum in Dublin, over 100 Irish youth between the ages of 10 and 18 participated in the Youth Forum on Walking sponsored by Dublin City Council. The forum was opened by Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy and facilitated by Dr Clíodhna Martin from the Marino Institute of Education and Dr Lorraine D’Arcy from TU Dublin with group moderators from the Walk21 Advisory Committee and TU Dublin staff and PhD researchers. Students from the Dublin 7 Educate Together National School presented the call to action to the opening conference plenary and amongst the many great suggestions the key actions included: • better, wider and more footpaths, • more shortcuts, • better lighting, • educating boys around women's safety fears and harassment, • more enforcement of traffic speeds, • parking on footpaths and design for safety, • finally, they want places to go and safe places to hang out. Figure 12: The Youth Forum at the EPIC Museum Figure 13: The Youth Forum Call-to-Action Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 44 45 Feedback from students/teachers who attended the Youth Forum: "On behalf of our school, TY teachers and students we would just like to extend our deepest appreciation in being invited to the Walk 21 conference with you in the Epic Museum. Our students were thrilled to be asked and really enjoyed their day with you - they loved participating and being part of a beautiful group set in a positive atmosphere. Lunch was delicious and incredibly kind of you.’ ‘Many thanks for thinking of us and allowing us to experience such a wonderful inclusive event." Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 Pre-Conference Workshops The pre-conference workshops also took place on Monday 19 September in a number of locations. The Measuring Walking: New smart tools and what can be done with good walking data workshop with Daniel Sauter of the Urban Mobility Research Group in Switzerland has been running at the Walk21 conference for many years and is always popular. This workshop took place in the TU Dublin’s School of Architecture, Building & Environment in Linen Hall, Dublin 1. The discussion centered around evidence-based walking actions: showcasing walking research, data collection, project evaluations and staff training system that are increasing knowledge, skills and building capacity for delivering actions for people walking. The Decade to Change was also discussed; celebrating national ambition for walking - exploring how walking is being valued, invested in and monitored, especially in relation to addressing the climate emergency and delivering on the UN SDGs. The workshop to Introduce the I-PARC evaluation toolkit to measure the impact of physical activity interventions was run by Dr. Enrique Garcia Sport Ireland, Prof. Niamh Murphy Waterford Institute of Technology, Prof. Marie Murphy Ulster University, Dr Joey Murphy University of Bristol, and Prof. Catherine Woods University of Limerick. This workshop took place at the Dogpatch Labs room in the CHQ Building. The workshop on Walking and the Law was presented by Kate Robertson from the World Health Organisation and Carly Gilbert-Patrick from the United National Environmental Programme (UNEP). This workshop took place in the Liffey Room at the EPIC Museum in the CHQ Building. The workshop on Using Bluetooth Low Energy to study pedestrian activity in outdoor public spaces by the TU Dublin tPOT research group changed its format from a practical interactive workshop to a discussion forum which has informed research projects and international collaborations since the event. This workshop took place in the Greenway Hub in TU Dublin’s Grangegorman campus. The Exploring shortcuts as a tool and strategy to promote everyday walking workshop was run by Dr Maja Karoline Rynning and Marianne Knapskog from the Institute of Transport Economics in Norway and Emmet O’Briain from TU Dublin. This workshop took place in the Annie Moore room at the EPIC Museum in the CHQ Building. The workshop on Active Travel Advocacy; Tales and Learning from the Front Lines was delivered by Anne Cronin from the Limerick Cycling Campaign and Dr Madeleine Lyes from the Limerick Pedestrian Network. The workshop was a knowledge sharing exercise allowing for networking and support within active travel advocacy in Ireland; and secondly, the cocreation of an informal guide to advocacy in the Irish active travel context, derived from workshopped materials. This afternoon workshop took place in the Annie Moore room at the EPIC Museum in the CHQ Building. 46 47 Figure 14: Prof. Marie Murphy from Ulster University presenting at the I-PARC Workshop Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 Workshop feedback: “The discussions were really interesting, the presentations also. It was a great way to start the conference.” “It was my first conference and everything was a highlight for me. I was impressed by the speakers. I really liked the workshops too.” Two invite-only workshops happened alongside the open registration workshops. The UN Environment programme and World Health Organisation (WHO) regional office for Europe's Transport, Health and Environment Pan-European Partnership on Active Mobility (THE PEP) held their first meetings as part of the Walk21 Ireland Conference. The partnership meeting was held before the other conference events so that participants could partake in and get inspired by the conference and the group reconvened on the Friday to discuss how the conference inspired them. The Assistant Secretary Department of Transport, Garret Doocey, welcomed the THE PEP Partnership on Active Mobility, and kickstarted the series of meetings which will provide space for reflection against the background of a national walking strategy and the pan-European Master Plan Walking. Their meetings took place in TU Dublin’s Greenway Hub on the Grangegorman campus. The second invite only workshop was run by the VREF Research Foundation to coincide with their funding call on Walking as a Mode of Transport (WALKING). The convened expert group worked on research themes for the funding call and to network and develop the community of learning for walking as a mode of transport. This workshop took place in the Dogpatch Labs in the CHQ Building. 48 49 Figure 15: Garret Doocey Assistant Secretary Department of Transport welcoming the THE PEP Partnership on Active Mobility Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 conference because of a response to a national emergency. The world café was reformatted to work in a number of breakout room in the East Quad in TU Dublin following some scenesetting presentations. Ministerial Address - Minister Frank Feighan - Minister of State for Public Health and the National Drugs Strategy Presentations: Pedestrian Safety: Angie Schmitt Gender and Public Space: Heather Allen Equity in the 'walk space': linking walkability with equity in informal settings: Prof. Adrian Davis World café and feedback session chaired by Holgar Dalkman, Sustain 2030 World Café - How can we Make Walking Safer and More Secure to Help Deliver SDG Commitments by 2030? Wednesday 21 September 2022 16:00-17:30pm, Room EQ-010, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus. A key aim of Walk21 Ireland was to encourage interdisciplinary interactions and to give Irish policymakers, practitioners, advocates and academics the opportunity to meet and learn from the international walking community. The intention of the world café at the conference was to bring delegates together to tease out interdisciplinary approaches to the grand challenges around walking; safety, security and sustainability. A review was undertaken of global documentation around safety, security, sustainability and gender and 159 actions were identified. Inspired by these actions, themes were set to inform the discussions, the outcomes of which will be brought forward to inform the international conversations around walking. It was intended that the world café event would be held in a large flat space in the National Sports Campus. Unfortunately, that space became unavailable to us shortly before the Figure 26: Heather Allen Playback: World Café can be viewed here. 62 63 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 The World Café tool is a format for hosting large group dialogue. Delegates sit at tables with flip chart paper and pens. After an introduction and scene setting the process begins with the first of three twenty-minute rounds of conversation at each table. At the end of the round, each group member moves to a new table. They may choose to leave one person as the “table host” for the next round, who welcomes the next group and updates them on what happened in the previous round. After the groups, individuals are invited to share insights with the large group. These results are reflected visually in the front of the room. The key outputs from the World Café exercise are listed in Appendix D under the headings of Safety, Equity and Gender. Within these there are 77 items which can be summerised as: • It is important to differentiate between the perception of safety and actual safety when making policy and design decisions. • The built environment should be designed with pedestrians in mind first, not last. • National legislation is needed that prioritised pedestrians and controls driver behaviours. • Enough data is not being collected and existing data is being ignored in conversations around road safety. • People working together is key to social equity and it is essential to include a bottom up approach, include all people and the outputs of these discussions be engrained in planning and design decisions. • Women of all ages must be included in planning and design of spaces and delivery of infrastructure. • We need societal change around considerations for gender in transport and greater inclusivity. Figure 27: World Café feedback session Holgar Dalkman, Angie Schmitt, Prof. Adrian Davis and Heather Allen, Figure 28: World Café discussions Figure 29: Jason King, Get Ireland Walking World Café group feedback 64 65 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 The Thursday event was poorly attended by Irish delegates which was disappointing as a key aim for this session was to give them the opportunity to engage in cross-disciplinary problem-based discussion with the international delegates. In hindsight, perhaps this was not stressed enough in the promotion of the event. Also, the change of venue and restructuring of the session to adapt to the new venue had mixed blessings. The logistics that were required to bring delegates to the Sports Campus may have resulted in even less delegates attending. There was a saving made in staging costs when the Thursday was moved to Grangegorman where the staging was already set up. In their 2022 end of year meeting, the Get Ireland Walking Steering Committee expressed an interest in re-convening the Irish delegates from across disciplines a year post the Walk21 Ireland conference to revisit the learnings and how these have informed their work. It is intended to use the outcomes from the World Café, the Youth Forum and other Walk21 Ireland outputs as the basis to structure the discussion topics for that event. Figure 30: Holgar Dalkman, Sustain 2030, opening the World Café 66 67 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 Plenary 5 - Closing Plenary: Walking Purposefully Through the Decade for Change Thursday 22 September 2022, 15:15-16:00pm, Room EQ-010, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus. Closing Plenary: Global Designing Cities Initiative: Skye Duncan, Conclusion: Jim Walker, Walk21 Handover: Prof. David FitzPatrick Skye Duncan delivered an impactful closing plenary with a call to action from a global agenda to local action where we inspire leaders, we inform practitioners and empower communities which strongly reflected the core aim of the Walk21 Ireland conference. Playback: Plenary 5 Recording Link. Figure 31: Skye Duncan, The Global Designing Cities Initiative 68 69 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 Jim Walker delivered his concluding remarks on the conference which will be reflected upon in the post conference review section of this report. The next host of the Walk21 Conference were announced as the City of Kigali and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Carley Gilbert-Patrick of UNEP delivered the acceptance and invitation to Kigali via a video link. Professor David FitzPatrick of TU Dublin presented the next hosts with a special centenary commemoration copy of the famous Irish book by Ulysses by James Joyce. The book is about a day in the life of a character Leopold Bloom and a day he spends walking the streets of Dublin. Walkshops Walkshops are a unique opportunity for applied learning and knowledge sharing. A diversity of topics were covered in these sessions that were well received by delegates. Feedback Like the workshops, walkshops were well received with the vast majority of people satisfied or very satisfied. Only three respondents were dissatisfied with their walkshop experience. The three most popular walkshops were: • Nightwalking in Temple Bar with Leni Schwendinger and The Temple Bar Company • Impact Storytelling & Youth Engagement with Pedestrian Dignity with Jonathon Stalls, Walking Artist • Outdoor navigation for people who are blind or vision impaired by Chantelle Smith of the National Council for the Blind Ireland “Walkshops - It puts theory into practice. Very much appreciated.” “The walkshop…was an amazing way to learn, meet and connect with people from other places.” “I attended "Impact storytelling and youth engagement " and "Walking the LIFELINE", both were excellent experiences.” “The walkshop led by Chantelle Smith was very useful to me as a designer and broadened my understanding of the challenges faced by people with a visual impairment.” Figure 32: Prof. FitzPatrick, TU Dublin, presenting Ulysses to Jim Walker as a handover gift to the Walk21 Kigali Figure 33: Outdoor Navigation for People who are Blind or Visually Impaired walkshop led by the NCBI. 70 71 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 Parallel, Roundtable and Poster Sessions In line with the aim and motivation for the conference the programme committee were particularly mindful of creating sessions that brought diverse disciplines together around key themes. The result of this is outlined in the full programme outlined in Appendix C where descriptions of the 29 sessions and 130+ contributions and weblinks to recordings can be found. Some of the topical discussion parallel sessions were hybrid to allow presenters contribute remotely and engage in discussion in the room. Questions could also be asked by remote delegates. A special thank you must be given to the session moderators and room assistants who volunteered to contribute in these roles. Posters were both displayed at the conference and available on the HopIn conference platform. Figure 34: Walk21 Ireland Walkshop schedule Figure 35: Roundtable session by the Global Street Design Initiative 72 73 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 Social Events A key part of a successful conference are the opportunities to socialise, network and to experience the host’s city and all that it has to offer. A number of social events were planned by the delivery team and there were also a number of impromptu informal social events organsied by the conference volunteers. The recently closed to traffic Capel Street became a key location for informal socializing with groups of delegates to be found frequenting the cafes and bars along the street most evenings post conference events. On Monday evening the Welcome Reception in the EPIC Museum was well attended by conference delegates. On Tuesday and Wednesday morning TU Dublin Walking PhD Researcher, and avid runner, Emmet O’Briain organised group runs in the Phoenix Park close to Grangegorman. There were also walkers with the group. Tuesday evening there was a conference dinner in the Round Room in the Mansion House, the Lord Mayors Residence, where delegates were entertained by The TU Dublin Harp Ensemble and an Irish traditional music group. On Wednesday evening delegates were invited to join us at McGowans Pub in Phibsborough, close to the TU Dublin Grangegorman campus, for a céilí and some food and drinks. An authentic Irish pub experience. National Events Throughout the conference planning the importance that Walk21 Ireland be a national conference in so far that it was possible was integral in the event design. The conference week led into National Walking Day on Sunday 25 of September and delegates were informed from the very start of the conference communications that there would be a number of walking events held around the country and to factor this into their conference travel plans if they wished. On Friday 23 of September, which also happened to be Culture Night in Ireland, formal Walk21 Ireland associated events happened in Limerick, Cork and Dublin. In Cork, Cork Sports Partnership, Get Ireland Walking and Cork County Council came together to host a walk and talk to showcase projects in the city, a networking lunch and presentations from local and international contributors. The events ran from 10:30am for roughly five hours. In Limerick, the Limerick Pedestrian Network and Limerick Cycle Bus, supported by Limerick City and County Council Active Travel unit, presented a celebration of the Three Bridges Walk at the heart of Limerick City. Figure 37: Conference Dinner at the Round Room at the Mansion House Figure 36: Conference Welcome Reception at EPIC Museum 74 75 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 Among the Culture Night Events in Dublin the Grangegorman Development Agency ran a historical tour of the campus and Bohemians Football Club had an event to showcase their App guided walking tour of Dublin 7, The Bohemian Way. These events were highlighted to conference delegates. In Dublin, TU Dublin’s Dr Ken Boyle led a 2-hour long walk along the cliffs on Howth Head in Dublin. During the walk delegates met with representatives of the local authority, community groups and conservation ecologists in a discussion on the challenges of managing this resource. Figure 38: Attendees at Get Cork Walking's Walk21 Ireland satellite event Figure 39: Map of Limerick Pedestrian Network's Walk21 Ireland walking satellite event as part of Culture Night Figure 40: Grangegorman Histories Walking Tour of Grangegorman campus as part of Culture Night Figure 41: Howth Head Walk with Dr Ken Boyle 76 77 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 Post Conference Review and Reflections Communications Communications and public relations support during the conference was provided by a number of team working together. The TU Dublin Sustainability Media and Senior Events Coordinator Rebecca Flanagan joined TU Dublin just before the conference and worked with the TU Dublin Communications & Marketing team to promote the conference and the University through various media channels. TU Dublin also collaborated with the funding agencies and other organisational partners to amplify the message and visibility of the event. Ralf Tinga from Walk21 International coordinated their communications channels which had a wider international audience. Alice PR, an external public relations agency, was also contracted to look after the public relations for the conference from July to September 2022. Their main objectives included pitching speakers to environmental/infrastructure and planning/health and wellbeing media, producing social media graphics to promote the conference and attend Walk21 Ireland as required to manage photocall and media delegates. Alice PR reported that their campaign media reached over 3.5 million interactions from 12 online media pieces, 2 broadcasts and 22 print media articles. The coverage highlights included a feature piece in the Irish Times Weekend by Sylvia Thompson, and a piece in the Dublin Inquirer on whether Dubliners could do their ‘big shop’ on foot. Over the four days of the conference (when Alice PR were posting and managing Twitter content) the Walk21 Twitter generated 11,490 impressions and 2.7% engagement rate. Website The Walk21 Ireland website went live on Friday, 20 May 2022. Between then and October 2022 had 42k total views, 83k unique events with 4.1k new users and 1.5k returning visitors. Most visitors found the website directly, with social media accountable for the second highest percentage of visitors. The top three pages visited were the Home, Programme, and Registration pages respectively. Usage peaked in the lead up to and during the conference with a peak of 553 daily users on Tuesday, 20 September. The majority of visitors were based in the Republic of Ireland (2.5k or 61% of visitors). Figure 42: National press media coverage of Walk21 Ireland featured on the Irish Times, article by Sylvia Thompson Figure 43: Walk21 Ireland Website Users by Country 78 79 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 Communications conclusion In general, the conference delivery team were happy with the media coverage and social media interactions achieved. A key learning for the team was the importance of having preprepared content for the journalists. Some of our advisory team’s agencies/workplaces were excellent in sharing and amplifying content. Those with dedicated communications teams were particularly helpful. Youth participation was a key aim of the conference and the conference team were delighted to have RTÉ Ecolution podcast, an environmentally focused podcast for kids, come to the conference and interview participants at the youth forum. Listen to the feature on Episode: 58 – Stepping out for Walk21 Ireland. Social media Twitter was the main social platform used and a new @Walk21Ireland account was created. As the main social media platform used by Walk21, the organisation had 4,788 followers on Twitter before the conference. During the conference, both Twitter accounts were managed and updated consistently. The hashtag #walk21ireland had been in use by the team in advance of the conference and it's use was actively encouraged throughout the conference, for example by adding it with the account handle to the conference lanyard and in all tweets. Engagement with the Walk21 and Walk21 Twitter accounts is detailed below. Figure 44: Media interview, with Walk21 Rotterdam Lead 2019, José Besselink, City of Rotterdam Table 1: Key stakeholder and Walk21 social media engagement across main platforms 80 81 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 Walking is an activity that is available to all. Good design and provision for walking (walkability) serves those that wish to walk, run, push or roll. An increasing emphasis is being placed on the importance of research to understand the determinants of walking behaviour; what prevents people walking in their neighbourhood, the role of walking and nature for good physical and mental health, the role of neighbourhood in social connectedness and participation in civic society. The conference covers academic research but a greater emphasis is placed on showcasing real projects and programmes rolled out by local authorities and organisations all over the globe. Good walkability and liveability are central to the Irish Programme for Government as they: • contribute to a better quality of life for all • are key considerations for neighbourhood and regional planning within the National Development Plan (NDP). • are important for domestic and international tourism. • can reduce transport related carbon emissions and improve air quality. • walking is an equitable form of transport available to all at no cost. • allow greater appreciation of our natural and built heritage and biodiversity. • contribute to greater wellbeing and has a role in preventative medicine. • contribute to urban regeneration and makes urban centres more attractive for living and commerce. • provide opportunities for rural development and community participation projects. • are social provision, especially offering opportunities for community interactions and activity for those marginalised in society • lead to safer communities with greater social connectiveness. • afford greater physical access to education and more attentive students from active commuting. • are global topics of relevance for all climates, cultures and communities where we can learn from each other. • are topics of relevance for a number of state departments, agencies and sections within our local authorities creating greater opportunities for collaborative interdisciplinary projects. The event is relevant to the implementation of the following National Policies and Strategies (amongst others): • Climate Action Plan • National Planning Framework • Our Rural Future • Healthy Ireland Framework • Sustainability Mobility Policy (upcoming) • National Sports Policy 2018 - 2027 • Rural Regeneration Development Fund • The Greenways Strategy • Building Momentum - Local Authority Action Plan • Cultural Capital Programme • People, Place and Policy - Growing Tourism to 2025 • Community Enhancement Programme • National Economic Recovery Plan • Sharing the Vision: A Mental Health Policy for Everyone • Get Ireland Walking Strategy & Action Plan 2017-2020 • National Physical Activity Plan • Obesity Policy and Action Plan • Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) • National Spatial Strategy • National Development Plan 2018-2027 • Project Ireland 2040 94 95 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 Appendix B – Committees and Partners Walk21 Steering Committee Members: TU Dublin Jennifer Boyer - Vice President for Sustainability (Chair) Dr Lorraine D’Arcy - Sustainability Action Research & Innovation Lead, Conference Lead Walk21 Ireland 2022 Walk21 Bronwen ThorntonCEO Jim Walker - Founder Department of Health Dr Fiona Mansergh - Health and Wellbeing Programme Paul Brosnan - Health and Wellbeing Programme Department of Transport Derek O’Neill - National Roads, Greenways, and Active Travel Division (RIP) Deirdre Donohoe - National Roads, Greenways, and Active Travel Division (November 2021 to September 2022) Sarah Taylor - National Roads, Greenways, and Active Travel Division (October 2021 and September 2022 to October 2022) Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media James Lavelle - Sports Policy and National Campus Division Ian Smith - Sports Policy and National Campus Division Gabriel O’Gorman – Sports Policy and National Campus Division (October 2021 to June 2022) Sport Ireland Louise Burke - Director, Participation (April 2022 to October 2022) Dates of meetings held: 1. 14 October 2021 2. 03 November 2021 and addendum of 23 November 2021 3. 01 February 2022 4. 01 March 2022 5. 05 April 2022 6. 28 April 2022 7. 07 June 2022 8. 05 July 2022 9. 02 August 2022 10. 06 September 2022 11. 25 October 2022 Walk21 Advisory Committee Michael Ahearn – National Transport Authority Dr Jackie Bourke – Urban Geographer Rachel Cahill – Transport Infrastructure Ireland Christina Duff – Irish Heart Foundation Leon Fox – Department of Rural and Community Affairs Dr Michelle Hardie Murphy – Health Services Executive Alison Harvey – Heritage Council Christine Hegarty – Road Safety Authority Kathleen Jacobi – Transport Infrastructure Ireland Jason King – Get Ireland Walking Prof. Kevin Leyden – NUI Galway Madeleine Lyes – Irish Pedestrian Network Antonia Martin – Dublin City Council Ciara Munnelly – Sport Ireland Sarah O’Brien – Health Services Executive Ruth C O’Reilly – National Disability Authority Dr Lorraine D’Arcy (Chair) – TU Dublin 96 97 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 Walk21 Programme Committee Dr Úna Beagon – TU Dublin Dr Lorraine D’Arcy – TU Dublin Dr David Gaul – TU Dublin Jason King – Get Ireland Walking David O’Connor – TU Dublin Bronwen Thornton – Walk21 Jim Walker – Walk21 Walk21 International Review Committee Prof. Aoife Ahern – University College Dublin Paschalin Basil – University of Nairobi Dr Damon Berry – TU Dublin Dr William Bird – Intelligent Health Sarah Bowman – Trinity College Dublin Dr Ken Boyle – TU Dublin Dr Tamara Bozovic – Auckland University of Technology Robert Burns – Fingal County Council Dr Marica Cassarino – University College Cork Benny Cullen – Sport Ireland Robyn Davies – Transport & Main Roads, Queensland Dr Sabrina Dekker – Dublin City Council Ailish Drake – Irish Pedestrian Network Prof. Stefan Fina – RWTH Aachen University Shreya Gadepalli – Urban Works Initiative Carly Gilbert-Park – United Nations Dr Michelle Hardie Murphy – Health Services Executive Mary Harkin – Age and Opportunity Dr Helge Hillnuter – Norwegian University of Science and Technology Dr Mike Hynes – National University of Ireland, Galway Dr Paul Kelly – Edinburgh University Patrick Kinyanjui – Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety Kate Kraft – Placemakers Guild Prof. Kevin Leyden – National University of Ireland, Galway Dr David Lindelow – Sweco Natalia Llera – Partnership for Healthy Cities Michael Mac Aree – National Transport Authority Dr Tadhg MacIntyre – Maynooth University Dr Suzanne Meade – Transport Infrastructure Ireland Dr Alan Mee – University College Dublin Dr Janis Morrissey – Irish Heart Foundation Hannah Oblund – World Resources Institute Dr Kate Pangbourne – Leeds University Daria Raspopina – Centre for Urban Projects Shtab Maja José Rojo – Empresa Municipal de Transportes de Madrid Leticia Sabino – SampaPé Dr Stefan Steiniger – CEDEUS Chile Karen van der Spek – Municipality of Rotterdam Prof. Catherine Woods – University of Limerick Walk21 Ireland Delivery Team Jennifer Boyer – TU Dublin Anne Campion – TU Dublin Clare Connell Dr Lorraine D’Arcy – TU Dublin (Conference Chair) Rebecca Flanagan – TU Dublin Ailish Lally – Walk21 (Conference Coordinator) Éadaoin Ryan – TU Dublin Bronwen Thornton – Walk21 Ralf Tinga – Walk21 Jim Walker – Walk21 98 99 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 Appendix C – Parallel Sessions, Walkshops, Roundtables and Posters Parallel Sessions Tuesday 20 September 2022 Session 1/1: National and Regional Policymaking 11am to 12:30pm, Room EQ002, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: How can national strategies support local walking? This session will explore the methods and tools for their development and share insights from implementation and increasing the profile of walking at all levels of government. Characteristics of walking strategies - their usefulness and effect Marianne Knapskog - Institute of Transport Economics, Norway Austrian Federal Masterplan for Walking Robert Thaler - Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, Austria National Walking Strategies Paulo Cambra - U-Shift - Técnico Lisboa, University of Lisbon Queensland steps up: Escalating the profile of walking at the state level Robyn Davies - Department of Transport and Main Roads, Australia The Irish Physical Activity Research Collaboration (I-PARC): all-island collaborative action for physical activity promotion and knowledge translation Prof. Catherine Woods - University of Limerick, Ireland Session 1/2: Creating Places for Children and Young People 11am to 12:30pm, Room EQ-116, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: To create life-long walking habits it is essential that children feel safe and comfortable on our streets. In this session we learn from case studies and academic projects what we can do to create more child-friendly communities. Walkability for Children in Bologna: An Urban Informatics Approach Dr Andrea Gorrini - Fondazione Transform Transport ETS, Italy Lessons learned from the Streets for Kids projects Anna Siprikova - Global Designing Cities Initiative, United States How to support walking - a child's perspective Chiara Hanrahan - An Taisce, Ireland Develop child-friendly urban planning principles for liveable and walkable neighborhoods – the use case of Westlich Kennedydamm and the “Move Düsseldorf" vision in Germany. Ibrahem Alsalamh - Arup Deutschland GmbH Encouraging Children to Walk to Learn Roger Healey - Kingston Coalition for Active Transportation, Canada Session 1/3 : Walk to the Line: joined-up thinking in public transport 11am to 12:30pm, Room EQ-112, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: Good walking infrastructure is an essential part of any public transport network and can deliver both equity and health outcomes. In this session we explore the needs of a variety of user groups and how we can create more inclusive public transport systems that deliver both transport and public health benefits. The needs and requirements of people with disabilities for 'walking' more often: Insights from the mobility survey of the TRIPS project Dr Tally Hatzakis - Trilateral Research Ltd, Ireland 100 101 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 Inclusify: Women empowerment for inclusive mobility Mariona Conill de Azpiazu - Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona, Spain Walk & Ride: Introducing the Public Transport Physical Activity Appraisal Toolkit Martin Wedderburn - Wedderburn Transport Planning, United Kingdom Evidence-based approach through a combination of new technologies and active youth participation to advocate for safer walking environment for children. Quyen Bui - AIP Foundation, Vietnam Session 1/4: Motivating People to Walk: what's the magic wand? 11am to 12:30pm, Room EQ-211, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: Apps, social media or environmental changes - what encourages more people to walk more often? With examples from around the world, we will explore a diverse set of approaches from walking meetings to speed reduction. Motivating Walking in Travel Apps Dr Kate Pangbourne - Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds First time experience of walking meetings: how to design onboarding solutions to promote this healthy work practice? Mélodie Jacob - University of Luxembourg A Saudi experience in using social media for including all people walking in Saudi Arabia, Gulf and Arab States Dr Salih Alansari - Health Promotion Center, Saudi Arabia Neighborhood shared streets under 30km/h: Pedestrian safety challenges beyond speed reduction Dr Jihee Namgung - Architecture and Urban Research Institute, Republic of Kore Session 1/5: Real-life road safety initiatives from around the World 11am to 12:30pm, Room EQ-009, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: How do we design for pedestrian safety? In this session we will share global insights on overcoming challenges to delivering movement at a human pace with peoplecentered design for a range of different contexts. Non-motorized visibility project Galebowe Motlhajoe - Society of Road Safety Ambassadors, Botswana Show me the way - Big Data Screening Methodology to identify road safety risk around schools and prioritize investments Shanna Lucchesi - International Road Assessment Programme, Portugal Loving 30 - A foundation for walking and everything else Rod King - 20's Plenty for Us - Love 30, United Kingdom The right of the city, the right of the students Sonia Aguilar SONIA AGUILAR - World Resources Institute, México How much do 30 km/h speed limits affect walkability? Muireann O'Dea - Love 30, the Campaign for 30km/h Speed Limits, Ireland Session 1/6: Pecha Kuchas 11am to 12:30pm, Room EQ-117, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: Join a Pecha Kucha session to hear from a variety of projects in this dynamic, short-form presentation style. “GRP" - an everyday route-planning tool for healthy mobility Kathrin Chiu - Austrian Energy Agency Exercise, Enliven, Encounter – Potential at the doorstep Jenny Leuba - Pedestrian Mobility Switzerland Safer Neighborhoods Emerging across the Global South 102 103 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 Abhimanyu Prakash - Global Designing Cities Initiative, United States Connecting-Cabra - A community working to reclaim their streets for people Dr Brian Gormley – Connecting-Cabra, Ireland Slow roads set Antwerp in motion Laura Nagels - Trage Wegen VZW, Belgium Engaging Communities Through Walking Art Sara Hayes - The Public Art Company, United Kingdom The Shopping Trolley Project: A Small Investment with a Large Impact Stuart Lindsay - Net Zero Vermont, United States Location as a Service (LaaS): a neighborhood intelligence platform that facilitates the search for walkable neighborhoods Dr Bernardita Calinao – WALKSPAN, United States Session 2/1 : Evaluating Environments and their Walkability 4pm to 5:30pm, Room EQ-002, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: What makes a walkable place and how do we measure walkability? In this session, we will discuss tools to measure the walkability of an area capturing a variety of user perspectives. From STRIDE.App to Walkability.App - development of two apps to report walking experiences in the field Dr Stefan Steiniger - Centro de Desarrollo Urbano Sustentable, Chile From Local to National: A Universal Design Approach to Walkable Towns Ruth O'Reilly - Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, National Disability Authority, Ireland Virtual Reality for Improving Walkability Prof. Stefan van der Spek - Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture & Built Environment, Netherlands Walkability Tool Tomer Shachaf - GIS Specialist at PosadMaxwan, Netherlands Walking Towards Inclusion for the Traveller Community in Finglas Doireann Crosson - Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre, Ireland Session 2/2: Walking to School: essential steps to support this journey 4pm to 5:30pm, Room EQ-116, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: Every child should be able to get to school safely no matter where they are in the World. Examples of approaches to create safer routes from around the globe will be presented and discussed in this session. Safe Access to Schools Initiative: A case study from Mumbai Rohit Tak - World Resources Institute, India New School Zone Paradigm in Korea based on Traffic Accident Analysis Dr Sunghoon Oh - Architecture and Urban Research Institute, Republic of Korea Streamlining the Safe Routes to School Programme in Rio de Janeiro Danielle Hoppe - Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, Brazil School streets, school zones - lessons from around the world Richard Clarke - FIA Foundation, United Kingdom Designing 'Playful' School Zones and the wider Safe Routes to School Programme Finola O'Driscoll - National Transport Authority, Ireland Session 2/3: Mobilising our Older Population 4pm to 5:30pm, Room EQ-112, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: Environments that support us to walk, push, run or roll independently through our whole lives are key to a community's liveability. Ensuring that the elderly are well catered 104 105 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 for to enable this freedom is central to this session's presentations. Elderly Mobility Plan, including seniors pedestrians in public spaces Rodrigo Lurueña - Association Transports et Environnement, Switzerland Enhancing Accessibility of Barrier-Free Routes for Elderly Sarah Ang - Land Transport Authority, Singapore Guangzhou's Ageing-friendly Transportation Strategy under the Goal of an All ages friendly City Zexia Wang - Guangzhou Urban Planning & Design Survey Research Institute, China Silver Ribbons: Research on user-friendly walking routes for seniors Naomé Carmeliet - Voetgangersbeweging VZW, Belgium Session 2/4: Walking to Win in Public Health and Planning: 4pm to 5:30pm, Room EQ-211, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: Planning and public health are intrinsically linked but as practitioners from either the built environment or public health professions we aren't always sure how to communicate the successes of working together in meaningful ways. This session highlights ways that we can. Wake-up Call from a Family Doctor in Rotterdam - How Active Mobility Can Serve Public Health José Besselink - Urban Planner, Municipality, City of Rotterdam, Netherlands The Healthy Cities Generator: Get to the heart of healthy Urban Planning Ruth Gow - Bax & Company, Spain Healthy Movement, Healthy Places: Measuring Wellbeing and Quality of Life Impacts in Transport Appraisal Martin Wedderburn - Wedderburn Transport Planning, United Kingdom Walking Interventions to Increase Active Commuting Siobhan Hamilton - National Transport Authority, Ireland Session 2/5: Wrestling with the Data: understanding what is needed and how to use it 4pm to 5:30pm, Room EQ-009, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: In a data-rich world how do we know what the best data and collection methods are? How should we best use it? Surveys and tech solutions for walking and walkability data will be explored by this international group of experts. Technologies to count pedestrians, typologies of flow profiles and extrapolation factors: examples from a comprehensive Swiss study Daniel Sauter - Urban Mobility Research, Switzerland Our right to a walkable city: assessing walkability and accessibility to the public space in Guayaquil Prof. Isabel Escobar - Universidad de Especialidades Espíritu Santo, Ecuador Automated extraction of pedestrian activity using Graph Databases David Powell - tPOT Research Group, Ireland Pedestrian typologies – a sociological look at urban walkways Renate Albrecher - Ecole Polytechnic Fédéral de Lausanne, Switzerland Session 2/6: Pechas Kuchas 4pm to 5:30pm, Room EQ-117, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: Join a Pecha Kucha session to hear from a variety of projects in this dynamic, short-form presentation style. Interim street transformation strategies in the self-built neighborhood of Jardim Monte Verde, RecifeBrazil. 106 107 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 Eduarda Aun - Global Designing Cities Initiative, United States A Phenomenological Exploration of Landscape and Long-Distance Walking Practices on the Dingle Way Dr Mary Dillon - Technological University Dublin, Ireland Exploring Transport Doublespeak - the importance of storytelling in changing people's minds! Mario Alves - International Federation of Pedestrians, Portugal Safer School Zones Galebowe Motlhajoe - Society of Road Safety Ambassadors, Botswana Where the city meets the river - Riverside placemaking in Budapest Berta Molnar - Centre for Budapest Transport, Hungary Micro Mobility – Future mobility and inclusive design for Individuals who are Blind or Vision Impaired Chantelle Smith - National Council for the Blind of Ireland, Ireland Interim street transformation and speed reduction strategies in the downtown corridor Rua da Palma, RecifeBrazil Antônio Oliveira - Prefeitura do Recife (Recife City Hall), Brazil Pedestrians within and towards mobility hubs Maxine Ketele - Infopunt Publieke Ruimte, Belgium Wednesday 21 September 2022 – Parallel Sessions Session 3/1: Walking in Women’s Shoes 11am to 12:30pm, Room EQ-002, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: The differences in our walking experiences are not just in the shoes we wear. We need to build out bias in our approaches to public space and this session will share examples of places from around the world that have made better for women and girls. Planning for gender-inclusive in urban areas: An application to the City of Naples (Italy) Dr Carmen Guida - University of Naples Federico II, Italy Walkability with gender and race perspective + the Public Authorities and society together Leticia Sabino - SampaPé!, Brazil GIS-based Suitability Analysis and App-based Smart Routing System to Enhance the Security for Women while Walking Dr Andrea Gorrini - Fondazione Transform Transport ETS, Italy Vivo Mi Calle. Living our streets. Lina Quinones – Despacio, Colombia The Walking In ScHools (WISH Study): A study protocol for a clustered randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a peer-led school-based walking intervention in adolescent girls Dr Leanne Doherty (nee Breslin) - Centre for Exercise Medicine, Physical Activity and Health, Sports and Exercise Sciences Research Institute, University of Ulster, United Kingdom Session 3/2: First Principles for Engineers: putting pedestrians first 11am to 12:30pm, Room EQ-116, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Description: Pedestrians are often top of our street design hierarchies, but they don't always come top of the list in street design. Learn how people-centered approaches to design can be achieved in a world were road design standards are still centered around vehicles. Barriers to walking perceived by people don’t necessarily correspond to those described in technical documents Dr Tamara Bozovic - University of the West of England, United Kingdom Reducing Pedestrian Delays at Signalised Junctions in Dublin Oisín Devilly - Dublin City Council, Ireland If you build it who will come? Exploring the effects of street improvements in walking behaviour Paulo Cambra - U-Shift - Técnico Lisboa, University of Lisbon, Portugal Get out of my Way! Or, politely put, understanding the nature of the ‘barrier’ in the review, 108 109 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 redesign and removal of redundant man-made structures on public rights of way Rowena Macaulay - Walk Colchester, United Kingdom High Visibility Crossing Places for Pedestrians Dr Suzanne Meade - Transport Infrastructure Ireland Session 3/3: City Policy and Planning Initiatives 11am to 12:30pm, Room EQ-112, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: Walking in our cities happens by default, but not always by design. Around the world city administrations are making a conscious decision to give pedestrians priority - from Chennai to Rotterdam. Explore the key elements from funding to integrated planning and overcoming the challenges that city officials face. Ghent: a cycling city that will become a walking city as well Eveline van Hooijdonk - Mobility Department Ghent - team pedestrians, Belgium Pedestrian on a pedestal. Where and why? André De Wit - Municipality, City of Rotterdam, Netherlands Austrian Klimaaktiv Mobil Action programme - Funding offensive for walking infrastructure of cities and regions Robert Thaler - Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, Austria Session 3/4: Smarter than Smart: app., ethics & usefulness of data 11am to 12:30pm, Room EQ-211, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: Learning from the data and building on session 2/5 this discussion will examine how we collect walking data, what different tools and approaches reveal about walking and provide insights into how cities are using data for best impact. Using machine learning and big data to discover what makes people actually walk in NSW Nick Fletcher - Vivendi Consulting Pty Ltd, Australia To walk or not to walk? Merging the walkability and walking accessibility concepts – the development of user-specific walking accessibility measures Ulrike Jehle - Technical University of Munich, Germany Walking Malta. An innovative Pedestrian-Centered Walkability Assessment Carlos Cañas - Institute for Climate Change and Sustainable Development, University of Malta Walking data - cities needs and market gaps Marianne Weinreich - Ramboll Smart Mobility, Denmark Envisaging a Digital Pedestrian Network in Singapore for Planning, Routing and More Kankang Zhu - Land Transport Authority, Singapore Session 3/5: Leveraging the Community 11am to 12:30pm, Room EQ-009, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: This session will explore how communities can engage the power of local people to develop walking in their neighbourhoods. At all levels these initiatives reveal innovative projects and promotions that shed a light on walking and invite people to participate. Walking Champions de Marche - leveraging Olympic race walkers to promote communitybased walking initiatives Dr Tim Berrett - Caminata Consulting, Canada WalkRollMap.org: Crowdsourcing Barriers to Safe and Comfortable Places to Walk Karen Laberee - University of Victoria, Canada Project Force: getting your neighbourhood moving Niels Linhart - Voetgangersbeweging VZW, Belgium 110 111 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 How to develop networks of pedestrian pathways in Wallonia? Charlotte Angerand - Tous à Pied, Belgium The first steps in understanding local and national level walking system in Ireland Dylan Power - Centre for Health Behaviour Research, Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland Session 3/6: Pechas Kuchas 11am to 12:30pm, Room EQ-009, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: Join a Pecha Kucha session to hear from a variety of projects in this dynamic, short-form presentation style. Fortaleza Municipal Walkability Plan Luciana Lobo - Municipal Secretariat for Urban Development and Environment of the Municipal Government of Fortaleza, Brazil Transforming degraded land into Urban Micro Parks Hannah Silva - Municipality of Fortaleza, Foundation of Science, Technology & Innovation, Brazil Along Pilgrim Paths to Scherpenheuvel Nina Van Meerbeeck – Interleuven, Belgium Walk Which Way? Retrofitting Schools as Walking Destinations for Young Children and Caregivers in Tirana, Albania Simon Battisti – Qendra Marrëdhënie, Albania Mapping, recognizing and rewarding projects which have expanded walkability Louise Uchoa - SampaPé!, Brazil Minecraft and Mobility: using Minecraft for community participation Janene Tuniz - UN Habitat, Kenya Mulranny Village Transformation Pat Staunton - Mayo County Council, Ireland Session 4/1: Making it Inclusive: walking for everybody! 4 to 5:30pm, Room EQ-002, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: Walking is a mode of movement that is readily available and accessible for everyone, but inviting those more marginalised or hesitant to feel welcome requires understanding of our differences as well as our shared needs. With a variety of research and experience, this session will examine how we craft successful streets and spaces that work for, and invite everyone, to walk. Walking For Everyone Stephen Edwards - Living Streets, United Kingdom Intergenerational Pedibus Corine Kibora - Association Transports et Environnement, Switzerland Woodlands for Health Niamh Ní Chonghaile - Mental Health Ireland, Get Ireland Walking, Coillte, Ireland Shared Space includes all people walking Dr Pieter de Haan - Knowledge Center Shared Space, Netherlands Session 4/2: Planning walkable neighbourhoods and developments 4 to 5:30pm, Room EQ-116, East Quad, TU Dublin Grangegorman campus Playback: Session Recording Link Description: Whether in Brazil or Botswana, the Netherlands or Norway, do the principles of good planning for walking remain the same? This session will elaborate on how we ensure walkability for urban regeneration or new housing programmes through these shared principles. 112 113 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 f. Environmental justice g. Healthy options 3. Planning and design a. Shortcuts b. Desire lines c. Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) d. Not designing for cars e. Smart mobility f. Accommodating complex uses of the streets, i.e. traders on footpaths g. Lighting h. Eyes on the street i. Public space connections Gender 1. Women of all ages must be included in planning and design of spaces and delivery of infrastructure a. Public amenities, i.e. toilets b. Safety and security are door-to-door issues c. Inter-agency cooperation needed d. Make walking more Insta-friendly e. Young girls and not considered in planning and design f. Design for accessibility g. Consider movement other than commuting h. Post-occupancy evaluation i. Broaden the view of transport beyond commuting j. Embed design auditing with a gender perspective into design and delivery of infrastructure 2. Societal change needed a. Awareness of women’s needs required b. Understanding of women’s concerns and fears without victimisation c. Educate professionals in design and planning d. Social awareness and social sanctions for acts against women e. Empowerment courses for girls and women f. Support system to navigate transport systems g. Make real and personal stories h. Educate/Raise awareness i. Empowerment through educational programmes for teens, young people j. Women-friendly legislation - clear laws on harassment, equality of salaries/pay/job security k. Guys following women in cars l. Angry at women when not validated m. Responsibility to de-escalate unwanted attention by men n. Where do the girls go - “It’s not our space”? o. Walk less due to unwanted attention 3. Greater overall inclusivity a. More women making decisions b. Immigrant voices c. LGBTQ community involvement - currently under attack d. Inclusivity for people with disabilities both visible and invisible e. Public space = shared space but how well is it shared? f. Places to report issues g. Non-gendered sports areas for all ages and with more diversity 126 127 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 Appendix E – Conference Feedback Plenary 1 Feedback The feedback for Plenary 1 was very good with 89% of respondents saying that the opening plenary was good, excellent or outstanding. Plenary 2 Feedback: There was excellent feedback for this session with 90% of respondents reporting Plenary 2 as good, excellent or outstanding. The panel session had a lower satisfaction score with 78% of respondents rating the panel discussion at Plenary 2 as good, excellent or outstanding. Feedback given outlined that the short discussion time to explore the topic as a limitation. It was acknowledged that this could be seen as a limitation, but it was important to also show the relevance of the central topic to a diverse grouping in the short period of time available. Plenary 3 Feedback: “Great diversity of topics covered. Several excellent speakers who kept the interest throughout the presentation. Interview with Edith Toomey and her mom. This girl has a strong character and is a great speaker. Was emotional and strong!” This plenary session had two of the speakers that delegates voted as being outstanding, Charles T. Brown of Arrested Development and the interview with Neasa Hourigan and Edith Toomey. 88% of respondents rated the overall Plenary 3 session as good, excellent or outstanding with 77% saying the same for the panel element of the session. Plenary 4 Feedback: Similar to other sessions with the majority of respondents rating the plenary session as good, excellent or outstanding (87%) with a lower number giving the same ratings to the panel discussions (74%). Table 3: Conference feedback Plenary 1 Table 4: Conference feedback Plenary 2 Table 5: Conference feedback Plenary 3 Table 6: Conference feedback Plenary 4 128 129 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 World Café Feedback: The delegate feedback for the World Café was mixed. While 82% of delegates reported it as good, excellent or outstanding, in the qualitative feedback reported that it felt a bit rushed. “The World Cafe Groupwork felt a bit too rushed. I think future iterations would benefit from handing over a full day to workshops.” Plenary 5 Feedback: The feedback for this session showed that 93% of those that completed the evaluation found the closing plenary to be good, excellent or outstanding. The keynote speaker Skye Duncan of Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI) was also voted as one of the most impactful of the conference. Parallel, Roundtable and Poster Session Feedback: Like the plenary sessions, the parallel sessions were generally well received and enjoyed. The majority of people were happy with the range and diversity of topics covered. “The sessions had a great mix of presenters and it was great to have them all in one room conversing about their topics.” Table 7: Conference feedback World Café Table 8: Conference feedback Plenary 5 Table 9: Conference feedback - Parallel, Roundtable and Poster Sessions: Figure 48: Conference feedback - Parallel, Roundtable and Poster Sessions: 130 131 Conference ReportWalk21 Ireland 2022 General Feedback In the post conference evaluation survey respondents were asked to rate more general elements of the conference, such as a food and venues. Overall the response regarding these elements of the conference was very positive with all elements scoring well, the lowest of which was conference wayfinding, which was still at 70%. Delegates scored the helpfulness of staff, lunches and the Grangegorman venue the highest (satisfied and very satisfied). General Feedback Quotes “That it was hybrid. I was only able to attend parts of the conference in person, but I could follow more sessions working from home while staying on top of work commitments.” “Insights from international speakers (from outside Europe), programming (and having it easily accessible on the lanyard!), pleasant and comfortable venues (EPIC museum and TU Dublin campus).” “The venue was perfect, walk-able to, from the city centre. The commitment from National Government departments was very refreshing and most welcomed, specifically the ministers who presented and the 20% Transport budget been allocated to walking and cycling demonstrates why Ireland will be a walking and cycling nation and an exemplar for other countries. I highlight Skye Duncan's contribution as a stand out and wrap up of the event and the Walk21 team, very slick in their operations.” “Simply put: too many politicians. I understand that they may contribute a lot of money for the organisation of the conference and so they should have a platform, but none of them managed to inspire or excite me - quite the opposite. So much so that I - along with many other attendees - decided to skip the plenary sessions on Thursday. Another big issue for me was that there were hardly any slides. Please show us something to keep us awake, and to remind us of who is talking.” “The venue (Tuesday and Wednesday) was great.” “The Grangegorman campus, facilities and hosting.” “The evening at the Mansion Room was a definite highlight. Loved the band and the food was superb.” “The general atmosphere of the event was great.” Table 10: General conference feedback 132 133