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Project

Designing Walkable Communities

Creative Commons

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

 Teresa Olano

Groups

Designing Walkable Communities

A tangible interface for exploring how the distribution of urban amenities shapes walkability, mobility, and urban life.

This project explores how the spatial distribution of urban amenities influences walkability, mobility patterns, and neighborhood livability. Using mobility data and urban analytics, the research identifies optimal distances and quantities of everyday amenities—such as schools, groceries, healthcare, and culture—to support walkable communities, and the 20-minute city model.

To make these insights accessible, the project introduces a tangible urban simulation interface, where users can physically rearrange amenities on a tabletop grid and instantly observe the impact on urban performance indicators.

Creative Commons

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

How it Works

The system combines data-driven urban modeling with tangible interaction:

  • Physical blocks represent housing and urban amenities.
  • A camera tracks the configuration of the pieces on the table.
  • A simulation model calculates indicators in real time.
  • Visual dashboards display the results on a screen.

This setup allows planners, researchers, and stakeholders to experiment with urban layouts and immediately see how design decisions influence accessibility, travel behavior, and walkability.

Creative Commons

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Research Context

The project builds on research in City Science, which investigates how data, simulation, and interactive tools can support more sustainable and human-centered urban development. By enabling collaborative exploration of urban scenarios, the interface helps bridge the gap between urban data analysis and participatory design processes.

Creative Commons

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Impact

By combining urban analytics, interactive visualization, and physical interfaces, this project demonstrates a new way to support collaborative urban planning. It enables policymakers, researchers, and communities to explore how the placement of amenities can create more walkable, sustainable, and vibrant neighborhoods.

Creative Commons

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

ARTICLE: Assessing amenities requirements: a methodology for quantifying demand, space requirements, and distance for a given community

Credits

Project Author / Development
María Teresa Olano Ibargoyen — Tecnun, University of Navarra

Supervision
Kent Larson — MIT Media Lab, City Science Group

Leire Labaka Zubieta — Tecnun, University of Navarra

Luis Alonso — MIT Media Lab, City Science Group

Research Context
City Science Group — MIT Media Lab

Research Topics
#human-computer interaction #architecture #data #urban planning #cities