Improving the Walkability of High Streets: A Participatory Approach Using Biosensing and Scenario Co-Creation

Abstract

In the 21st century, there has been a concerted effort to undo the automobile-centric urban planning of the 20th century, which has resulted in degraded public spaces that deter citizen permanence. However, the perpetuation of quantitative-based methodologies, along with low public participation, has led to underused public spaces. To create more appealing spaces, the methods need to feature more public involvement. This article addresses this gap by implementing the Participatory Mobile Biosensing methodology. Participants were asked to walk along two high streets in Lisbon using biosensors and, in a later workshop, to interpret their biodata and co-create scenarios to improve their walking experience. The participants were able to identify the intangible and physical factors that affected their walk, as well as devise scenarios to address them. When the participants formulated their scenarios, they were also able to demonstrate several ideals that influenced their vision for the streets. The subsequent discussion focused on the relevance of this methodology to high streets and how participatory methods could further the study of walkability by incorporating subjective experiences in the creation of public spaces.

1. Introduction

Walking is the most important mode of transportation for humans, playing a vital role in moving people to their desired destinations in urban areas [1,2]. Not all walks have the same purpose, with people walking for multiple reasons, such as transportation, leisure, exercise, interacting with people, or as an incidental activity (e.g., a waiter walks to perform their job) [3,4].

Despite its importance, every innovation in transport technology over the last two centuries has led to a degradation of walkable areas, with the dedication of considerable public space to automobile circulation and parking being of concern [5,6,7]. Pedestrians are left with a small portion of space, often in disrepair, to enjoy and walk in [2,5]. Public space has become devoid of citizen permanence and livelihood, as people find these spaces unpleasant [8].

With the turn of the century, urban areas around the globe have started to shift from car-centric planning to approaches that favor alternative forms of transportation, such as walking, cycling, and public transport [9,10,11]. This paradigm shift can be associated with a change in urban planning thinking, as the modernist current, which disregarded citizen involvement in public space creation, has been substituted by new approaches that conceptualize public participation within urban planning and design [12,13,14]. Despite these changes in urban planning thinking, walkability studies (defined by their focus on modifying urban environments to be more pedestrian-friendly) still mostly use quantitative approaches that measure walkability without considering the subjective drivers that influence it [15,16].

Within this context, biosensing studies can present themselves as an appropriate methodology to study the more personable aspects of walkability and how to improve urban space to suit users’ experiences better [17]. Nevertheless, the usage of biosensing in walkability studies remains understudied, except for a few recent studies [18,19].

The main objective of this article is to understand how to promote citizens’ direct involvement in urban planning and design processes, using biosensing participative methodologies, to improve walkability within the planning and design of commercial streets. The commercial streets are in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, Portugal (the Avenida da Igreja, Lisbon, and Rua Pulido Valente, Odivelas). The Participatory Mobile Biosensing (PMB) methodology was applied. It consists of two main stages. The first one involved participants walking for around 15 min on the street. The second stage consisted of a workshop, where participants were asked to describe their walk and to create scenarios that envisioned a street to mitigate negative emotions and highlight positive ones. This study aims to prove that PMB is an efficient methodology for helping the creation of urban environments that are unique and better adapted to user sensibilities and experiences.

This article is divided into four chapters. The first one regards the literature review, in which a careful exploration of the walking experience and walkability and its approach in urban studies is conducted, in addition to discussing how biosensing technology can help further this study. The literature review was conducted with a narrative focus instead of a systematic one, and it was produced using articles found on Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science. The second chapter seeks to explain the PMB methodology and contextualize the study areas. The third chapter explores the main results obtained from the realization of this study. The last chapter reflects on how the PMB methodology can be best applied to improve the walking experience and walkability in public spaces.

2. Walkability

As a concept, walkability is not well-defined in the scientific literature, as multiple authors have utilized this term for different objectives [4]. This dubiousness has been attributed to its transformation in mobility studies, from a general understanding that successful and vibrant neighborhoods are designed to appeal to walking, as proposed by Jane Jacobs, to a quantitative measure that evaluates a place’s distance to daily amenities, services, and commerce [20,21,22].

Nevertheless, most definitions utilized in the scientific literature can be categorized based on whether they exclusively consider physical elements or also consider subjective elements [15]. Authors such as Southworth, Dovey, Pafka, and Cambra focus solely on physical aspects, mostly categorizing it as how the physical characteristics of the built environment enable walking [23,24,25]. We can correlate this first group of definitions with strict definitions of objective walkability, which is defined as the physical factors that influence the walking experience [15]. However, Fonseca et al., Forsyth, and Tobin et al. consider this definition reductionist, expanding it to include intangible aspects such as sense of security and social and individual factors that influence the walking experience [4,16,26]. This last group can be correlated with an expansion of the concept to contain elements of perceived walkability (also called subjective walkability), which can be described as the ease with which people consider walking [15,27]. This is important because De Vos et al. found a bigger influence of perceived walkability on the decision to walk than objective walkability, revealing that it is important to consider a broader definition to study walkability adequately [15,27].

Multiple physical elements affect the walking experience, including the walking infrastructure, such as sidewalks or pedestrian network, the structure of the surrounding urban space, including buildings and the activities inside them, the interaction with other modes of transportation, such as public transit and car traffic, and the presence of other pedestrians. Consequently, we provide a synthesis of the identified physical elements that can facilitate the creation of highly walkable environments, as highlighted in walkability and public space studies (

Table 1. Synthesis of physical elements that enable the creation of walkable environments.

Categories	Physical Characteristics	Referenced in
Walking context	Appealing and interesting architecture	[16,28,29]
	Active facades	[30,31,32]
	Building orientation parallel to the street	[30]
	Attention to landscaping	[28]
Social presence	A high number of people on the street	[23,30,32]
	The presence of surveillance cameras and police officers	[16,33,34]
Walking infrastructure	It serves as a street, not as a road	[30]
	The existence of large, smooth, and well-maintained sidewalks	[4,15,16,31,32]
	The existence of urban furniture	[4,15,16,32]
	Appropriate lighting	[23,31,32,33]
	Safe crosswalks, at street level	[16,30]
	No obstacles present	[3,16]
	Sidewalks with a low slope	[16]
	Appropriate pedestrian signaling	[4,30]
	The presence of artificial shadows	[35]
	The presence of trees and vegetation along the sidewalks	[4,15,16,23,31]
Organization of urban space	High density of destinations	[3,15,16,36,37]
	Mixed land use	[36,37]
	Grid street pattern, with small distances between blocks, and/or use of superblocks	[3,4,36]
	Well-maintained buildings alongside the sidewalk	[16]
	The presence of green and public spaces	[30,38]
	Design at a human scale	[30]
	Pleasant soundscape	[31]
Pedestrian network	Direct and extensive pedestrian network	[7,16,32]
	High connectivity	[15,16,23,32]
Relationship with the automobile	Presence of measures to disincentivize car use	[4]
	Low volume of automobile traffic	[16,30,31]
	Low levels of pollution and noise resulting from traffic	[16,30]
	Restriction of car speed	[16,30]
	Few parking spaces and car parks	[30,33]
	Little and narrow interactions between the road and sidewalk	[16,31,33]
	Correct driver conduct	[4,28]
	Security measures from automobile traffic (such as more traffic policing, tickets, vegetation buffers between sidewalks and the road, traffic calming schemes, speed bumps, and traffic lights)	[4,16,23,28]
Interaction with public transit	Easy access to public transit	[23,39,40]

).

Nonetheless, physical characteristics are not the only factors that affect walkability, as factors related to the individuals themselves are of large influence, as well as how they perceive the environment around them. To explain these factors, Alfonzo created the hierarchy of walking needs, based on the unconscious evaluation all walkers take when deciding to walk [4,41,42]. These needs were hierarchized by their importance: viability, accessibility/utility, security, comfort, pleasurability (which includes sensory pleasure), and community [41]. For someone to consider walking, not all conditions must be satisfied, and if all conditions are satisfied, it does not necessarily mean that someone will choose to walk [25,41,43]. Viability is the first decision all pedestrians make, and they will decide if it is practical to make this journey by walking [28,41]. This is directly influenced by the person’s physical characteristics and whether they are directly responsible for another person when walking [41]. Secondly, a person will consider accessibility, which centers on the amenities of a place, and the physical and perceived connectedness to them, by considering the pedestrian network that allows them to travel between them, and any barriers found on the journey [25,41]. Mehta further elaborated on the accessibility factor and added utility to this pyramid, which is related to how the area within a walkable radius can satisfy a person’s daily needs for shopping, entertainment, and food [44]. Next, a person will consider security, which is whether they feel safe from perceived and physical dangers, such as crime and traffic [41]. Next, they will consider comfort, which is associated with the convenience and individual satisfaction felt when walking [25,28]. After this, they will consider pleasurability, which is how much pleasure and interest they have when walking, and this is influenced by aesthetics, architecture, and the level of activity of a street [25,41]. These elements are then perceived by the senses, leading to the sensorial pleasure mentioned by Mehta [44]. Lastly, they will consider their sense of belonging to their community [28,44]. All these factors are then influenced by moderators, which may be individual (encompassing psychological, demographic, and biological factors, such as a persons enjoyment of walking), group (including cultural or sociological elements, such as belonging to a society that heavily encourages walking), and regional (pertaining to natural conditions affecting walking, such as temperature and topography) [41,45,46].

Nevertheless, it is also important to explore how walkability is measured. There are two types of measures most used in walkability studies, objective and subjective, which can be combined to minimize their limitations and obtain more accurate results [9,16,27]. Objective measures are based on immediate reality and mostly use quantitative measures, such as indices, to measure built environment attributes, such as the amenities available to people at a walkable distance [16,47]. Objective studies are mostly used at a neighborhood scale, as they are more difficult to operate at street level [48]. Widespread examples of these methods are the Walk Score, Walkability Index, and the 5D Model [37,47,48,49]. These studies are criticized for their oversimplification of reality and for discrediting individual and other subjective factors within their methodology, but their ease of use and wide availability make them an appealing tool for the study of walkability [27,50,51].

On the other hand, subjective measures try to measure the perceptions, opinions, and behaviors of pedestrians [27,47]. These methods use quantitative data, such as the NEWS method and the 7 C’S method, or qualitative data, which conduct evaluations based on mental maps, walking interviews, and focus groups to study how people perceive an area’s walkability [27,36,47,52]. These methods, however, are criticized due to their lack of precision with the answers provided by the pedestrians, as these can be biased [27,47].

3. Biosensing

To fully understand how to utilize biosensing technology in walkability studies, a detailed exploration of these methods was necessary. Biosensing, in its essence, is about the usage of physiological indicators of emotional stimulation to indicate the emotional state of an individual [17]. There are several physiological measures that biosensing can measure, but, in the context of this article, only electrodermal activity (EDA) was considered [17,53,54]. EDA is the totality of electrical phenomena on the skin [55]. It is regulated by the sympathetic nervous system and, therefore, can be associated with emotional stimulation (which measures the intensity of an emotion) [56]. This measurement is influenced by internal, external, and medical factors, which need to be considered when interpreting the data [55].

Biosensing technology presents multiple upsides to its use, such as making data collection simpler and more trustworthy, by allowing real-time measurement and easing participant fatigue [12,57,58,59]. However, it also has multiple limitations, especially pertaining to data quality and its challenges and considerations in data interpretation [17]. Nevertheless, when considering EDA, its biggest limitation is that the data cannot be associated with the valence of an emotion (related to how pleasurable an emotion is), needing a complementary method to be used to fully grasp the emotional experience of the users [18,56]. To help improve the interpretation of biosensing data, it is often combined with GPS technology, helping to locate the points where the users felt the emotions, and with qualitative methods, which enable the participants to interpret the data and to state the emotions felt during the time they were using it [53,60].

In this sense, biosensing technology can improve citizens’ interest in participating in urban planning and design processes [14,61]. During the 20th century, citizens were mostly excluded from these processes, but with the rise of the contemporary city, the incorporation of citizen opinions became important [12,14]. Historically, the tools and methodologies available to urban planners have been proven insufficient to handle this shifting tide; therefore, the utilization of biosensing can serve as an opportunity to change this [14]. However, when these technologies are not used with the involvement of their users, they can help perpetuate the detachment of citizens from planning processes, but when they are, they can be an important tool for bottom-up planning approaches [12,60,62].

The intersection between biosensing and walkability studies remains insipient, although it has started to be further explored by authors such as Harvey and Kim et al., who extracted somatic responses from participants’ reactions to the surrounding built environment [18,19]. Harvey’s study measured participants’ somatic responses, revealing elevated EDA in emotionally thrilling places, such as crosswalks, and a positive relation between EDA values and physical characteristics that enhance walkability, such as appealing storefronts, abundant windows, and the presence of trees [18]. Kim et al. also correlated the influence of negative environmental stimuli, such as sidewalk inexistence and steepness, on emotional distress through EDA using machine learning algorithms [19].

However, the improvement in walkability using the emotions experienced by pedestrians that managed to incorporate objective and subjective measures, but avoided the subjectivity inherent to participative methods, was not found in the walkability literature. Therefore, this investigation could serve as an opportunity to explore this.

4. Materials and Methods

The purpose of this study was to comprehend how the direct involvement of citizens can be enhanced in urban planning and design processes to improve the walkability of high streets.

The study areas considered were Avenida da Igreja, Alvalade, Lisbon, and Rua Pulido Valente, Colinas do Cruzeiro, Odivelas. Both streets are important commercial streets within their respective contexts—urban (Alvalade) and suburban (Colinas do Cruzeiro). Despite being conceptualized as walking spaces, they are still plagued with problems common to most streets in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, such as car dominance, bad quality sidewalks and urban furnishings, and generalized negligence, needing urgent improvements [60,63].

The Alvalade neighborhood dates from 1945, and its plan is an example of modernist planning, incorporating neighborhood units and featuring a public facility at its center, which is at a walkable distance [64]. It is home to an aging population of around 25,000 inhabitants, spread over 2.35 km² [65]. Avenida da Igreja serves as its main east–west axis and as its main commercial street [66]. It can be considered a central place in the city’s commercial structure, as it is home to a diverse and well-established commercial infrastructure (Figure 1) [67]. Nevertheless, despite being home to a sizeable collection of urban furnishings, its low adaptation for convivial activities and a large presence of automobiles in the public space detracts from users’ permanence here (Figure 2).

The Colinas do Cruzeiro neighborhood was developed more recently, dating from 2001, with most of its buildings being built over the following 4 years [68]. It is home to a younger population of around 11,000 inhabitants, spread over 0.66 km² [65]. Rua Pulido Valente is its most important commercial street, even though it was not designed to be [69]. It can be considered a non-central location in the city’s commercial structure, but is still home to a lively commercial dynamic (Figure 3) [67]. Despite a significant presence of green space and esplanades, the lack of non-commercial spaces for people to stay in detracts from their permanence (Figure 4).

As previously stated, the methodology used in this study was Participatory Mobile Biosensing (PMB). It was developed under the UrBio project as a qualitative and participatory method for urbanists to co-design urban scenarios with the population, in a way that is sensitive to the emotional dimension of the city, using biosensing technology. Biosensing was utilized as a narrative trigger, allowing the participants to further develop their considerations about the walking experience, rather than as an independent source of data.

This methodology is divided into two parts: the transect walk and the workshop. The workshop is divided into two stages: the mapping and the co-creation stages. The transect walks consisted of participants walking on the street for around 15 min. They were carried out between 11 h and 17 h on sunny days to minimize the effects of temperature and humidity on the data. The participants were equipped with an Empatica E4 wristband, which measured their EDA, and a GPS tracker. The Empatica E4 is frequently used in biosensing studies, due to its high reliability, low weight, and discreetness [53,54,70]. The biosensor is placed on the non-dominant hand and skin-tight to capture better data quality [17,57]. It measures skin conductance (among other physiological responses), of which the EDA data can be extracted [70]. The EDA was matched with the GPS data, and emotional maps with these data were formulated for each of their walks, allowing the emotional data to be located.

For the mapping stage of the workshop, the participants were given the cartography that resulted from their transect walk (Figure 5). Its purpose was for the participants to contextualize the EDA data. The participants were then asked to note points of reference for their walk, where they felt positive, negative emotion, or affective memory (Figure 5). After this, they provided a concise 5 min summary of their walk and further explained the points of reference highlighted. This explanation enabled the researchers to understand the valence of the emotional data, which could not be measured through biosensing, and to give a succinct explanation of the reasons they felt the emotions registered in the Empatica E4 [18,56].

For the co-creation stage of the workshop, they were given three scenarios of different points on the street where they walked. These three scenarios consisted of an unaltered picture of the street as it currently was, and two altered images created with the artificial intelligence tool DALL-E 2. The AI model was provided with unaltered images and instructed to generate (1) a street with more space for pedestrians, less space for automobiles, and a cycle path, and (2) a completely pedestrianized street. For the participants to complete their scenarios, they were given an envelope containing images of urban furnishings and people performing activities. They were asked to develop these scenarios to elicit positive emotions and mitigate negative feelings during their walk (Figure 6). After this, the participants gave a concise 5 min summary of their results.

For the Avenida da Igreja study area, 13 participants were asked to participate, and the study was conducted in April 2023. A total of 15% of participants were residents in Alvalade, and the other 85% were residents in other areas of Lisbon. Most participants (54%) were between 20 and 29 years old, 23% of participants were between 40 and 49, 15% of participants were between 50 and 59, and 8% of participants were between 30 and 39. The sample was balanced in gender, with 54% of the participants identifying as female and 46% as male. The sample was highly educated, with 54% possessing a bachelor’s degree and 46% possessing a master’s degree.

For the Colinas do Cruzeiro study area, 18 participants were asked to participate, and the study was conducted between May and July of 2023. A total of 39% of the participants were residents in the neighborhood, and the remaining 61% were residents in other parts of Odivelas. The participants were of all ages, with a third being between 20 and 29 years old, 22% being between 40 and 49 and between 60 and 69, and 6% being 19 years old or less, between 30 and 39, between 50 and 59, and over 70 years old.

5. Results

The results section is divided into two subchapters: one dedicated to the presentation of results regarding the mapping section and the transect walks, and another for the presentation of the results about the scenario co-creation. The results are analyzed separately for the study areas.

5.1. Results from the Mapping Session

5.1.1. Alvalade

In

Table 2. Aspects of walkability referred to by the participants in Avenida da Igreja, and their emotional valence (if they interpreted these aspects as positive (+), negative (−), or as neutral (+−)).

Statements on Walkability	Participants (%)	Emotional Valence
Comfortable space for walking	54	+
A more pleasant walk on the south side of the street	23	+
Sidewalk occupied by esplanades	23	−
There was a need to deviate from people	23	−
Walking rhythm was disturbed by the crosswalks	15	−
Sidewalk pavement was in acceptable condition	15	+−
Accumulation of garbage by the flower beds	8	−
Care in street cleaning	8	+
Indifference to the esplanades	8	+−
Cars were parked on the crosswalks	8	−
Problems with the pavement	8	−
Benches were well-shaded but badly positioned	8	+−
No obstacles on their walk	8	+
Felt safe when walking	8	+

, it is demonstrated that the participants in Alvalade found the overall space comfortable to walk in, highlighting positive aspects such as increased shade and fewer crosswalks on the south side of the street, the care in street cleaning as evidenced by the presence of street cleaners, the absence of obstacles on their journey, and a sense of safety when walking.

Regarding neutral aspects, they stated that the pavement was in acceptable condition, they were indifferent to the esplanades present on the sidewalk, and the benches, although well-shaded, were positioned facing the facades, which participants found to be less enjoyable.

Regarding negative aspects, they highlighted the presence of esplanades in the sidewalk, as it made their walk difficult; in narrower sections of the sidewalk where this happened, they had to deviate from other people. They also highlighted that their walking rhythm was disturbed by multiple crosswalks, as they had to stop their walk to pay attention to car traffic; the accumulation of garbage in the flower beds, made worse by dogs relieving themselves there; the presence of cars parked on the crosswalks, which worsened visibility of the cars passing on the street; and problems with the pavement, as they deemed the Portuguese cobblestone pavement (calçada portuguesa) prone to slips during the rainy seasons and excessively reflective of sunlight in the summer due to its high albedo.

5.1.2. Colinas do Cruzeiro

The participants in Colinas do Cruzeiro found walking on the street to be a mixed experience (

Table 3. Aspects of walkability referred to by the participants in Rua Pulido Valente, and their emotional valence (if they interpreted these aspects as positive (+), negative (−)).

Statements on Walkability	Participants (%)	Emotional Valence
Well-placed crosswalks	28	+
No obstacles present	28	+
Irregular sidewalks	22	−
Narrow sidewalks	22	−
Good quality sidewalk pavement	22	+
Large and comfortable sidewalks	17	+
There was a need to deviate from the esplanades	17	−
Presence of shade	17	+
There was a need for a crosswalk in the northern part of the street	17	−
Disruption of the walk resulting from cars trying to access the garages	11	−
Illegal parking	11	−
Motorcycles were parked on the sidewalk	11	−
Pleasant area next to the children’s park	6	+
Disrespect for the public space	6	−
The southern side of the street was more pleasant	6	+
The western side of the street was very confusing and crowded	6	−
The trees were pleasant	6	+
The trash cans were well-placed	6	+
The distance from the shops to the sidewalk was good	6	+
Drivers did not stop for people to cross the street	6	−

). They majorly highlighted the positive aspects, such as the placement of the sidewalks, their safety for crossing, the absence of obstacles, the good quality of the pavement, and the large and comfortable space available for walking. As for more minor aspects, they stated that areas next to the children’s park and the southern side of the street were more pleasant to walk in, along with areas with a presence of trees, the placement of trashcans, and the distance between shops and the sidewalk, which allows commercial functions and walkers to peacefully coexist.

Regarding negative aspects, they highlighted the irregularity of the sidewalks, which was caused by the roots of the trees protruding and narrow sidewalks, which not only make it difficult for people with reduced mobility to walk on certain sections but also disturb the normal walking rhythm. They also highlighted the need to deviate from the esplanades on the central section of the street; the need for a crosswalk in the northern part of the street; the disruption of their walk because of the cars entering and leaving garages; cars and motorcycles illegally parked on the road and sidewalk; a general disrespect for the public space, as shop owners leave it unkept and untidy, despite occupying the space; the crowdedness and rowdiness on the esplanades on the western side of the street; and drivers not stopping for people to cross the street on the southern side of the street.

5.2. Results from the Scenario Creation

5.2.1. Alvalade

Table 4. Type of scenario chosen by the Avenida da Igreja participants.

Original Scenario	Shared-Use Pathway/Cycleway Scenario	Fully Pedestrianized Scenario
-	61%	39%

indicates that participants in Alvalade unanimously chose scenarios in which there would be more pedestrian space and less car traffic. The reason why 61% chose the shared-pathway scenario is due to a desire for more space for pedestrians while maintaining local car circulation and buses passing. Another reason for the shared-use pathway was to incentivize the use of bicycles and to use the space gained from automobiles for green space. A total of 39% of participants chose the fully pedestrianized scenario, stemming from a desire to support local commerce and the mitigation of negative feelings, such as stress.

As demonstrated in

Table 5. Urban furnishing elements chosen by the Avenida da Igreja participants.

Element	Percentage
Garbage Cans	100%
Bushes	85%
Trees	77%
Bench	69%
Bike Parking	69%
Lighting Poles	54%
Totem	46%
Flower Beds	38%
Bus Stop	38%
Vegetable Garden	31%
Swings	8%
Bikes	8%
Children’s Parks	8%

, the urban furnishing element chosen most in these scenarios was garbage cans. They were incorporated not because participants felt they needed them on their walk and could not find them, but to make it more convenient for users and decrease littering. Trees were added to demonstrate a need for green areas in the neighborhood, and there was a discussion on the types of trees used. The trees present were praised for the shade they provided, but were criticized because the leaves, flowers, and fruits from the trees had fallen to the ground and made the ground sticky and slippery. So, it was suggested that fruit trees could be planted, but they should produce sweet fruits that would encourage people to collect them so as to prevent them from falling to the ground. Bikes and bike parking were added to complement cycling activities on the cycle path that would be created. The addition of benches is not due to a lack of them, but because they should be positioned in a way that would foster interactions and face the street, so as not to bother the people performing activities inside the buildings. Bushes, flower beds, and vegetable gardens were not only added to improve biodiversity but also to separate the cycle path and pedestrian spaces. Lighting poles were added not because they felt there were not enough, but because they felt that the existing ones were not adequate for pedestrians, as they were directed at the car traffic and did not light the sidewalks well. It was suggested that they could be substituted with smaller lighting poles. A totem was added to help disseminate local history to tourists and younger people. Swings and children’s parks were added due to a lack of spaces designed for children in the area. A bus stop was added to provide more comfort to users, as only a pole stands to mark the bus stop currently.

The addition of people in the scenarios (

Table 6. People performing activities chosen by the Avenida da Igreja participants.

Element	Percentage
A girl on a bike	85%
A bench with a cat on it	69%
Older people walking	69%
A couple walking a dog	62%
A cyclist with a helmet	54%
A Father with kids	54%
Friends standing with ice cream	46%
A couple with a shopping bag	46%
Girls taking photos	46%
A man walking a dog	38%
People on the phone carrying bags	38%
Friends sitting with ice cream	31%
A couple on a bench	31%
A man with a flower	23%
A man with a bag	23%
A man with a bicycle	8%
A boy with a soccer ball	8%

) was not the target of individual reflections by the participants; rather, they were added to demonstrate certain ideals and visions the participants had for the street.

The main vision was to create a public space that was welcoming to all people, especially people of all ages. This was demonstrated by the addition of an elderly couple walking, a boy with a soccer ball, and a father with kids.

The connection to commerce was also highlighted, as the participants added that the street should not be catered to only residents to satisfy their daily needs, but to people from all over the city who wish to shop there. For this purpose, the participants added the couple with a shopping bag, the man with a bag, and friends eating ice cream, both sitting and standing.

Sense of community was also highlighted, as they added people, who mostly represented locals, interacting and talking, intending to show the development of community bonds, and for new unlikely social dynamics to arise. This was shown through friends eating ice cream, a bench with a cat, a couple walking a dog, a couple on a bench, older people walking, people on the phone carrying bags, and girls on the phone and on a bike.

The presence of animals was also important to the participants, as they wanted to demonstrate a space where the owners could feel safe walking their pets. This was shown through figures such as friends eating ice cream, a bench with a cat, a couple walking the dog, and a man walking the dog.

The presence of tourists was also mentioned. Due to Lisbon’s character as a tourist hotspot, it was intended to show this area as interesting for tourism, whether it is merely visiting the area or staying at a hotel or short-term accommodation. This was shown with the figure of girls taking photos.

The presence of cyclists was to show this area as suitable for these practices and to further encourage people to go biking there. The figures most utilized were cyclists with helmets, a man with a bicycle, a girl on a bike, and a girl on the phone and a bike.

5.2.2. Colinas do Cruzeiro

In

Table 7. Type of scenario chosen by the Rua Pulido Valente participants.

Original Scenario	Shared-Use Pathway/Cycleway Scenario	Fully Pedestrianized Scenario
28%	61%	11%

, we see a desire from most participants to see scenarios in which pedestrian space would be gained in Rua Pulido Valente. Nevertheless, 28% of participants chose to maintain the original scenario. The main reasons provided were to base their scenarios on the existing realities, to focus on small executable changes, and that taking space from automobiles would be unrealistic. In total, 61% suggested turning the street into a scenario featuring a shared-use pathway to improve the current situation, described as chaotic and insecure, and improve the enjoyment of the public space. They also added a cycleway so the street would be accessible from destinations further away. A reduction in parking spaces was also suggested, and the space gained from it could be allocated to leisure activities. However, the impacts of pedestrianization on local commerce were of concern, as participants felt that a great percentage of clients of local establishments arrive there by car and that the street could become isolated. A total of 11% of participants who suggested the fully pedestrianized scenario intended to focus on leisure activities on the street and a reduction in pollution from automobiles.

As shown in

Table 8. Urban furnishing elements chosen by the Rua Pulido Valente participants.

Element	Percentage
Garbage Cans	83%
Bench	83%
Lightning Pole	61%
Bike Parking	56%
Flower Bed	50%
Trees	44%
Children’s Park	33%
Bike	28%
Bushes	28%
Bus Stop	17%
Swing	11%
Vegetable Garden	11%
Totem	11%

, the element that added the most to the scenarios was garbage cans. They were added not due to a perceived deficiency in street services, but because the area, characterized by a large concentration of activities, will facilitate trash disposal and mitigate littering. Lighting poles were also added due to poor lighting during the night, and, consequently, the insecurity felt by pedestrians. The addition of bikes and bike parking was also discussed, and they were added to serve the cyclists who would pass through the cycle path to be created. Benches were also added, and there was a concern by the participants in making sure that these benches could not only serve as a resting point for the shoppers on the street but also be positioned in a way that would promote interactions between their users and foster a sense of community. Trees, vegetable gardens, flower beds, and bushes were added to diversify the flora on the street and promote biodiversity. A children’s park was added to show that the street is a space safe from automobile traffic, in which parents would feel their children would be safe. A bus stop was added to demonstrate that public transit should stop in the street, as no routes stop there. A totem was added to inform pedestrians of the person that the street was named after.

Participants also suggested elements not considered in the envelopes, such as a drinking fountain for people and animals, and signage for the nearby car parking lots and dog parks.

Like in Avenida da Igreja, the addition of people in these scenarios was to demonstrate certain ideals and visions that the participants had for the street (

Table 9. People performing activities chosen by the Rua Pulido Valente participants.

Element	Percentage
A father with kids	67%
A girl on a bike	61%
An older couple walking	56%
A couple walking a dog	50%
A man walking a dog	44%
Friends standing with ice cream	39%
A couple on a bench	39%
A cyclist with a helmet	39%
Girls taking a photo	39%
A bench with a cat on it	33%
A couple with a shopping bag	33%
Friends sitting with ice cream	28%
A man with a bag	17%
People on the phone carrying bags	17%
A boy with a soccer ball	11%
A man with a flower	6%
A man with a bicycle	0%

). Similarly to Alvalade, they inserted figures to represent similar ideals and discussions (an older couple walking and a father with kids to represent an inclusive space; girls taking a photo to represent the discussion of who the street should be geared towards; and tourists, including people from all over the city and people from the neighborhood).

However, there was also some discussion on commerce on the street. Some participants said that due to the threat of a large shopping mall nearby stealing its customer base, the local shops and restaurants should diversify and offer different products and experiences to the commercial center. To show this aspect, one participant showed friends eating ice cream to show a different kind of shop he does not find there.

There was also a divisive discussion on the practice of sport on the street, as some participants tried to show athletes on the street, and others chose to avoid it altogether. While a large percentage of people showed interest in having cyclists on the street and wanted to take advantage of the space gained from automobiles and devote it to sports facilities, some chose not to include any sport on the street, so as not to detract from commerce. This was shown through the addition of a girl on a bike, a cyclist with a helmet, and a boy with a soccer ball.

6. Discussion

When presenting the results, it was noticeable how the participants navigated and interpreted the environment around them and how the PMB enabled such results. It was also noticed that the application of PMB further enables the study of walkability and helps create better-suited environments.

Overall, the PMB methodology proves to be valuable in engaging residents in the assessment of walkability in these areas, owing to the significant commercial activity and relatively adequate physical qualities of the pedestrian pathways on both streets. When analyzing the statements from the mapping part of the workshop and the scenario co-creation, most concerns and characteristics relate to secondary aspects of the hierarchy of walking needs. Most concerns pertain to security (e.g., security from traffic or personal security when walking at night), comfort (e.g., the quality of the pavement), and pleasurability and sensorial pleasure (e.g., the beauty of the trees lining the street) [23,28,41,44,46]. This means that viability, accessibility, and utility are needs that are largely satisfied, with the case of a few exceptions (e.g., the sidewalk narrows at some points, which stops people with reduced mobility from walking on the street). However, most walkability studies are currently focused on the satisfaction of the most basic needs by analyzing the extension and connectivity of the walkable infrastructure (relating to viability) and whether there are amenities at a walkable distance (relating to accessibility and utility). Most studies also base their methodologies on objective and quantitative data. This can be correlated to the prevalence of problems regarding perceived walkability on high streets, while most studies use methods that focus on problems associated with objective walkability. So, for cases such as high streets, there is a gap between methodologies and reality. The walkable spaces in these streets are still riddled with problems, which would be undetected by studies that only consider these physical aspects. With PMB, we can identify these problems and work with users to improve the walkability of these spaces.

The PMB methodology was effective not only for the participants to notice how the material aspects of the street affected their walk, but also showed potential in helping pedestrians understand how the immaterial aspects affect their walk. The participants approached the topics regarding their psyche when walking (such as sense of security and how their perceptions of the surrounding environment affected their journey). As this methodology incorporates emotional components into the analysis of walkability, it enables researchers to understand how the intangible aspects of walkability affect the experience. As previously stated, most research on this topic is geared towards how the improvement in the physical aspects of the street can improve overall walkability, without considering elements of perceived walkability [16,27,47,50,51]. Therefore, PMB can help close this knowledge gap and create public spaces that are more adapted to pedestrians’ needs.

The PMB methodology also showed itself to be useful in understanding how the physical characteristics of walkability impact the overall walking experience. When correlating the physical characteristics synthesized in Table 1 with the discussions presented in the results section, it was observed that most concerns refer to the relationship between automobiles and pedestrians. Most participants understood that to improve public walkable space, it was necessary to remove car parking and circulation, suggesting that the newly available space could be used not only for walking but also to enable other activities that could improve the walking experience.

7. Conclusions

This article demonstrates that through biosensing participatory methodologies, such as the PMB methodology, citizens can be more involved in urban planning and design processes, creating more walkable public spaces in high streets that are better suited to their needs. The PMB methodology was effective not only in identifying the physical characteristics that affect walkability but also in pinpointing the intangible aspects. The PMB methodology further demonstrated that it was an adequate methodology for high streets, as it could identify problems that traditional objective and quantitative measures could not and create personalized solutions to solve them. It also enabled detailed descriptions of how the participants wanted the street to be.

Among the principal limitations found were time constraints, as interventions from all participants were restricted to 5 min each so as not to create participant fatigue. Constraints related to the sample were also identified, as there was some difficulty gathering participants who were residents of the neighborhood, with this being minimized by trying to find residents and workers from nearby neighborhoods, which can enable conclusions to be drawn that might not align with the opinions and interpretations of segments of the resident population. As all walks were made explicitly for this study, having a leisurely purpose in mind, it influenced how people experienced and interacted with the public space around them [3,4]. There was also an impossibility in comparing the results from both study areas, due to the problems and solutions being highly site-specific. The use of biosensing as a narrative trigger could also introduce further limitations, as participants can not only influence the interpretation of the data but can also be influenced by the data itself and try to reshape their interpretation to match the data [60]. A further limitation is the time of day at which the transect walks were recorded. To limit the influence of external factors, they were all carried out during business hours on sunny days, which can lead to an assessment of the needs of the pedestrians on the street that may not be correct during the night, on rainy days, or on weekends.

In further studies, more research needs to be devoted to improving walkability using physiological and sensorial aspects, as research on this topic remains scattered and understudied. An aspect that could be further analyzed is representativity, as it could allow underrepresented groups, such as older and disabled people, to gain more representation in walkability studies, allowing for a walkable space more suited to their specific needs. There could also be studies that include other technologies, such as EEG, as they can also help mitigate one of the main limitations of biosensing with EDA, which is not being able to understand emotional valence. These studies should include citizens’ opinions and perspectives so as not to further alienate them from these studies and to create better-suited solutions [14,53,60]. In a post-modernist era of urbanism, the potential of methodologies such as the PMB methodology is necessary to continue so that people are included in the planning of the spaces they use.