Up till now the safe mobility of pedestrians is a neglected area of research. The General Assembly of the International Co-operation on Theories and Concepts on Traffic Safety (ICTCT) decided that it was high time to change that. A Work plan for a study on Pedestrians’ Quality Needs was developed and discussed. At the 29 October 2005 General Assembly there proved to be overwhelming support to carry out such a study. Several delegates indicated that they wanted to participate. To encourage a wider group of experts to participate in the project, a Call for participation was posted on the ICTCT website and sent to known experts in the field. The call much more successful than anticipated. The success made it possible to try for funding by the European Commission. A proposal for a COST Action on Pedestrians’ Quality Needs was sent in. During the drafting process of the proposal over 50 experts from 40 institutes in 28 countries stated their interest or commitment to the study. In November 2006 more than 6 National Memories of Understanding the project will formally signed, so a Kick-off meeting could be held in Brussels. Currently the project includes more than 70 researchers from 44 institutions in 20 countries. The final conference will probably be held in November 2010. Please visit www.walkeurope.org. There you can find the most recent developments.

Main objective of the project
The main objective of the Action is to provide an essential contribution to systems knowledge of pedestrians’ quality needs and the requirements derived from those needs, thus stimulating structural and functional interventions, policy making and regulation to support the walking conditions across the EU and other involved countries.

The research aims

• To improve the understanding of pedestrians’ quality needs with regard to public space, the transport system and the social, legal and political context and their interrelations, thus developing an essential tool for the stakeholders (such as decision makers, politicians, planners and executive offers as well as NGO’s) that can implement better conditions for walking and pedestrians’ quality of life;
• Describe the State-of-the-Art, identify an agreed set of requirements and develop a new paradigm (a coherent system of theories and models regarding adequate pedestrian facilities and qualities) that can be used by stakeholders for analysing and improving ‘reality’;
• Provide an accessible knowledge base and easy to use auditing scheme that enables authorities and possibly interest groups to tackle, prevent and prioritise current and future problems regarding pedestrian mobility and presence in public space
• To stimulate partners to innovate tools and disseminate knowledge that helps shedding new light on the issue and stimulates a new élan in providing for safe mobility of the pedestrian
• To provide recommendations for further research.

Planned ‘products’

Intermediary projects (public, but mainly for internal use):

• Report on the Conceptual framework of the PQN (draft available)
• Country reports regarding the state of affairs, including the perception of institutional actors and available knowledge on PQN (drafts available)
• A prognosis report - time horizon 2030 (expected Fall 2009)
• Report on quality needs in relation to various contexts (expected Fall 2009)
• State of the art reports regarding Functional perspective, Perception perspective, Durability and future prospects and knowledge on compliancy of institutional actors and options for citizens and interest groups (expected Fall 2009)
• An integration and coherence report, displaying the interrelations between the qualities, various contexts and activities of institutional actors, interest groups and citizen groups (expected Spring 2010)

Deliverables (for the ‘general’ public):

• Guidelines for a Pedestrians’ Quality Needs Audit (expected summer 2010)
• Handbook on Pedestrians’ Quality Needs, in which the secondary aims of the project are met (expected Summer 2010)