(Archive) CTwalk Map

The Map

More info: https://bit.ly/ctwalkmap

CTwalk Map is an interactive web tool focused on social cohesion and access equity in urban neighbourhoods. Utilizing population, location, and pedestrian network data from open sources, it estimates the number of individuals from different age groups who can reach city destinations within a 5 or 15-minute walk, highlighting opportunities for social cohesion and access inequities.

Transparency is a key feature of CTwalk Map. Users can navigate the map through a user-friendly interface and explore different destinations. They are encouraged to identify anomalies in the map and scrutinize the completeness of the used data sources.

Furthermore, it aims to serve an educational purpose by enhancing public understanding of the relationship between data, urban design, accessibility, and social cohesion. It simplifies complex concepts and provides in-depth insights into how street networks shape accessibility, empowering citizens to actively participate in urban planning discussions.

Data & Simplicity

CTwalk Map aims to challenge the notion that data-driven tools need to be complex. It uses easy-to-comprehend methods, metrics, and visualizations to enable users to interact with the map and discover how different open data sources can be combined to generate valuable insights. It also invites users to adopt a critical mindset highlighting the crucial role the completeness and quality of the data play in any data-driven tool.

The tool only uses open data sources: population demographic data coming from the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics, street network data coming from OSM, and data on places also coming from OSM. The selection of the places to be included is influenced by Ray Oldenburg's definition of the “third places” (i.e., “public places that host the regular, voluntary, informal, and happily anticipated gatherings of individuals beyond the realms of home and work”). In other words, places where people of different ages can perform activities and socially interact with each other.

Interactivity

The tool includes 3 primary layers that can be toggled on and off in the upper left of the map: (1) the walkable network, (2) the population demographics, and (3) the places.

The walksheds: Hovering over the CTwalk Map will display the 5 and 15-minute walksheds. To switch between the 5 and 15-minute walksheds, click the “5 minutes” or “15 minutes” buttons in the upper left of the map, respectively.

Accessibility & Equity: By clicking on the population demographics icon, the population blocks over the city are colored based on the number of places people can reach within a 5 or 15-minute walk. When you click on any block, a popup will open displaying the number and type of places accessible within a 5 or 15-minute walk from that block.

Co-accessibility: If you click on any location, a window will open with information about that place, how many individuals can access it within a 5 or 15-minute walk from their home, and how diverse these people are in terms of age. The color of each location indicates whether the age diversity (or number of children or elderly citizens) is lower, almost equal, or higher than the national average.