VIRTUAL Manchester Livable Cities
Abstract
Ensuring convenient walking access to public transport is a cornerstone of contemporary neighbourhood planning: it supports compact, service-rich districts and reduces dependence on private cars. This paper presents a time-based accessibility workflow that models pedestrian catchments for neighbourhood-scale decision-making. The open-source Python/GIS pipeline consists of (i) clusters adjacent rail, bus and micro mobility stops into multimodal seeds; (ii) builds a slope-aware time-cost graph for every urban block, modulating walking speed; and (iii) grows recursive isochrones from each seed, continually generating new seeds at outer edges until no further blocks remain reachable. Spatial queries remove barriers such as rivers, motorways and gated estates, while uphill segments incur time penalties, yielding a realistic mosaic of walking times. A case study in the Municipality of São Paulo—whose rugged relief and fragmented street network typify many Latin-American cities—shows that even modest gradients and physical barriers markedly shrink nominal station catchments, leaving chrono-voids where everyday amenities lie just beyond feasible walk times. Overlaying land-use and demographic layers turns these results into an actionable diagnostic: planners can pinpoint blocks where additional services, pavement upgrades or last-mile links would most effectively broaden equitable access to public transport. By replacing fixed buffer radius with context sensitive walk times, the method equips neighbourhood planners with a reproducible tool for transit-oriented development, proximity-based zoning and targeted public-realm investment fostering healthier and more inclusive urban environments.
Emílio Bertholdo: Ph.D candidate in Urban Engineering at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (USP), where I investigate how artificial intelligence and machine-learning models can power data-driven urban decision-making. I also work as a researcher on the FAPESP Public Policy Research Program project “Development of an instrument to support and promote the development of neighborhood plans in the city of São Paulo”, in the Public Policy Research Program of the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP).
Aída Pontes is an architect and urban planner (UFPB, 2004), with a master’s degree in Urban Engineering (UFPB, 2007) and a PhD in Urban Planning from Eindhoven University of Technology (2018). She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (USP), focusing on neighbourhood planning. She coordinated the IAB/Urban95 project, developed child-friendly urban tools, and led the Sumaré Neighbourhood Plan in Sobral-CE. She has experience with master plans, urban design, public sector planning, and academic teaching. Since 2014, she has held leadership roles at the Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB).
Karin Regina de Castro Marins is an Associate Professor at the Polytechnic School of USP in the field of urban planning and urban engineering. Bachelors and PhD. in architecture and urban planning (FAU USP, Brazil), Ms. in environmental management (School of Public Health, USP). MSc. in sustainable energy engineering (KTH, Sweden. Fulbright postdoctoral fellow and visiting professor at the Chair of Global Cities at the City University of New York. Coordinator of the research project “Development of an instrument to support and promote the development of neighborhood plans in the city of São Paulo”, in the Public Policy Research Program of the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP).
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Thursday 18th June, 2026