**1. Introduction**

The increase of pedestrian mobility and studies related to urban spaces to facilitate accessibility and walkability is defined as a sustainable strategy for the smart and inclusive growth of cities in perfect harmony with what is enshrined in [1].

The definition of strategies to be adopted at the local level must place particular importance on the bottom-up approach both through participatory planning and through the implementation of the Urban Agenda [2,3].

Walking has recently been one of the most popular forms of mobility proposed in many urban plans and in the new concept of sustainable mobility. It is the most economic form of transport especially for short-haul distances (<1 km). Services and infrastructures often facilitate and simplify the mobility of people with disabilities or the elderly. Empirical data are often acquired through video

cameras or sensors and processed in well-known flow allocation models to study the behavior of pedestrians and identify their preferences [4–6].

In literature there are several works related to the choice of itineraries. According to [7], the influence of the variables [8] that describe the visual aspect of the urban landscape can influence the choices of the route and outline the positive role of the urban atmosphere linked to the commercial function of the roads.

Several variables in this context can be analyzed and are in general related to the user's behavioral [9] and perceptual aspects [10] both in terms of safety and usability of the places, i.e., ease in being able to walk around them, especially in shared spaces [11,12]. From the point of view of infrastructure, it is necessary to be able to recognize areas or lanes dedicated to pedestrians and the presence of tra ffic mixing (pedestrians with cyclists or cars). It is also essential to define specific index or variables in order to avoid phenomena that can produce reduced safety and low comfort. In particular, pedestrian's safety is analyzed through interviews by the distribution of questionnaires but also through micro-simulation tools that allow to evaluate the Level of Service of the confined or extensive infrastructure such as Pedestrian Level of Service (PLOS) [13]. The assessment of safety and the reduction of the possibility of collisions with vehicular flows is analyzed by defining surrogate parameters on pedestrian trajectories in accordance with [14,15]. The tracking of the pedestrians and therefore the definition of the trajectory and the choice of the routes can be facilitated using technology. This can make the modal choices of the user more understandable. Di fferent technologies and applications on smartphones and tablets allow the analysis of the trajectories through GPS systems and permit the furnishing of information to the user regarding the best route available, varying the places and reasons for moving [16]. The geographic information system platforms (GIS) could be very effective for understanding the spatial aspects of walkable spaces such as distances, densities, points of interests, and so on by themselves or integrated with other tools [17–20]. Generally, improving parameters such us speed and safety is fundamental to structure a city friendly for walking.

This can be pursued by introducing both motor vehicle travel restrictions and space reallocation, but road pricing must also be combined with the e ffort that many countries and cities attempt to achieve through the restriction of motor vehicle travel in urban areas. On the other hand, there is a risk that this restrictive approach can actually have a detrimental impact, especially for elderly people, persons with disabilities, and persons with chronic illnesses or otherwise vulnerable users such as parents with strollers [21–23].

It is also necessary to support strategies to reduce speed and volume. The tra ffic speed and volume are major determinants of whether people choose to walk or cycle, how safe they feel, and how possible it is to let their children walk [24,25]. Speed limits of 20 miles per hour are now visible in many cities, along with the closure of school streets and the expansion of low-tra ffic neighborhoods, which use modal filters to limit the travel speed in residential neighborhoods, and reduce volume and speed while promoting walking and cycling [26].The definition of safe and comfortable environments for walking is another element to analyze [22]. It is not enough to limit the use of the car and reduce the dominance in cities, but it is also essential to invest in improving the pedestrians' environment.

Cities must increase people's desire to walk by creating attractive, safe, and direct pedestrian networks that are viable alternatives to the use of private vehicles [27–29]. Therefore, pedestrian networks play a fundamental role in connecting urban, residential, commercial, educational, and recreational centers. Accessibility and walkability within di fferent urban areas enables strategies to be pursued that encourage resilient mobility, i.e., the ability to adapt to sudden events, useful for mitigating the impacts of catastrophic and pandemic events [30–32].

The implementation of some actions, strategies, and policies that can be considered as tactical urbanism and the planning of green infrastructures within the urban context allow to improve the usability of spaces for pedestrians [33].

These actions can be of di fferent types; for example, they can start from the bottom up and not be regulated or they can refer to top-down actions decided by the municipal administration and by technicians or middle streets that see the support of local policy and the involvement of citizens and the territory.

In this way, tactical urbanism makes it possible to carry out projects for the modification of public spaces that are temporary and of an experimental nature with a high communicative value [34,35].

Today's pedestrian mobility is encouraged by local and community policies in order to reduce the use of vehicles. Considering also that the European population is characterized by 20% of people being over the age of 65, many administrations are trying to make the routes more comfortable and safer by using underpasses or overpasses and thus reduce the potential of conflicts with the vehicular flow. Mobility is also facilitated by the inclusion of mechanized systems such as stairs, elevators, or treadmills in order to improve accessibility in these areas. On the other hand, the use of underpasses is not often positively perceived by people as they do not like changing their habitual routes or they experience psychological distress when they pass through closed places.

The speed of pedestrians, the perception of users, and the geometric-functional evaluation are useful parameters for the planning of pedestrians' structure. During the last few years, it has been quite di fficult for designers to understand the relationship between the characteristic pedestrian flow and the pedestrian movement using only their experience and their senses. Interactions between pedestrians are di fficult to understand and often the presence of closed or small spaces alters their behavior.

The planning and the design of spaces in which pedestrians can be moving as they do in streets and squares must be considered as certain parameters in order to increase the perception of safety in users and therefore to make them more usable. Among these parameters, streets are the spontaneous surveillance that increases the o ffender's apprehension given by the risk of being seen by people [36].

This is achieved by maximizing visibility and developing positive social interactions between legitimate users of private and public space. In this way, potential o ffenders experience increased control and limitations on their potential escape routes.

Another variable to be attenuated is the natural access control that limits the opportunities for criminal behavior by clearly di fferentiating public and private spaces. This is achieved by intervening on lighting, inserting selective entrances and exits, fencing, and creating large spaces that restrict access or generate a controlled flow.

Finally, the natural territorial reinforcement promotes social control by increasing the definition of spaces and the perception of private property. This can be achieved by using buildings, fences, flooring, signs, lighting, and landscape to express property and define public, semi-public, and private spaces. More specifically, this research tries to analyze the key components that influence the behavior of pedestrians, in particular their attitude, perceptions, motivations, behavior, and habits by implementing a comparison through an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach. Therefore, the present work starts from a literature review related to the estimation of the propensities of weak road users to the use of roads with underpasses or high walkability. Generally, the possibility to walk in an urban context depends on the interactions between pedestrians, infrastructure, and context, as represented in Figure 1.

**Figure 1.** Description of variables related to walkability concept.

Several examples of pedestrian or mixed infrastructure are presented in the literature: think for example of sidewalks or pedestrian lanes within the same road superstructure but often refers to the use of shared space within urban areas in order to accustom pedestrians but also cyclists to mutual respect and sharing space [37].

The research is therefore aimed at analyzing and comparing different pedestrian routes in order to understand which of them can define a unitary, fluid, safe, and quality road space, where all road users can live together in appropriate and attractive conditions. The objectives of the comparison carried out by this study has allowed to


The evaluation of different qualitative and quantitative parameters related to the perception of the itineraries and to the measurement of their level of service but also to their frequency of use must be analyzed by choosing appropriate methods. The present work focuses on the multicriteria analysis via AHP method.

The creation of open spaces where people can spend time and visit attractions makes it easier to walk in different cities. In addition to good walking routes and discouraging other modes of travel, people also need a reason to walk to or through an area or to stay in a place [22,38,39]. The possible conflicts between pedestrians and other traffic components must be minimized by considering the creation and managemen<sup>t</sup> of underpasses. The search for walking routes is also essential to promote walking in the city. To ensure that, pedestrians' networks are easy to navigate and comfortable for everyone [40].

It is essential to create sustainable public transport networks in cities as an alternative way of travelling for high distances that cannot be covered on foot or bicycle in order to reduce motorized travelling by private vehicles [41]. In addition, transport bus stations and hubs must be strategically located and support and improve mixed land use to encourage greater walking [42]. Several strategies have been implemented such as the creation of dedicated lanes [43] or the advent of the rapid transit bus (acronym: BRT) [44] or demand responsive transport (acronym: DRT services) for weak demand areas [45]. Providing public transport that improves accessibility (not only for the wealthy) is very beneficial for all the areas of a city. It is also essential that the pedestrians can easily reach the bus platform using safe and comfortable crossing points and infrastructures that are accessible on foot and by bicycle. While public transport must be treated as an investment for the city and not just as a mobility investment, it must benefit the city in total.

The implementation of shared mobility services such as cars, bicycles, micromobility, and the study of specific transport demand (by age, gender, work) can reduce the use of private vehicles and thus tra ffic congestion in urban areas [46,47]. In terms of urban planning, the integration of pedestrian networks and routes into urban planning is essential for cities which try to encourage people to walk [48]. It has been shown that creating cities that embrace mixed-use planning principles, bringing together residential, commercial, recreational, and educational elements in areas of around 400 m2 of neighborhood/town center, has increased the rate of pedestrians and cyclists among residents and visitors [49]. While the more an area of a city has a mixed use of land, the more there are reasons to visit and walk on it. The active participation of the inhabitants [30,50] can also help in the urban planning phase, exploring the critical and positive aspects of every part of the city such as a neighborhood or an infrastructure [51]. Green infrastructure is also a key element of a city and has multiple benefits for both people and the built environment. It has been shown that cities and places that have a high level of greenery both in the streets, including trees and plants in buildings, and in regular open green spaces and parks, present an increase in the level of people's desire to walk [52–56].

In addition, greenery on the streets improves pedestrian safety because of the reduction of the vehicles' speed in the road. In order to be able to consider the six previous points, considering the need to implement sustainable policies and to make the best use of the routes in the area under investigation, this research analyzes the user's perception, which is connected to the transition in an area with a strong pedestrian vocation, laying the foundations for more in-depth research. The goal of this research is the exploration of users' perception as the short itineraries change, considering the same origin/destination in order to evaluate the ease of walking in the analyzed area.
