Mobility Audits
H Paquet
Mobility audits are a tool for assessing pedestrian conditions on your streets.
Typically, mobility audits consist of a list of questions for participants to answer as they walk and roll through your community. Audits can be conducted by an individual or group, with or without a planned route. Questions may be:
Binary - Is there a sidewalk?
Quantitative - How wide is the sidewalk?
Qualitative - Is the sidewalk in a good state of repair?
Questions can be broad in scope, or focus on specific topics, like infrastructure or universal accessibility. There is no right or wrong way to conduct a mobility audit, so long as it meets the needs of your community. Here are two methods you may want to try:
Fixed Route Audit
Exploratory Audit
If you need to identify common pedestrian corridors and problem areas in your community, conduct an audit without a set route that allows residents to explore on their own and reconvene to share their observations.
If your community has identified pedestrian corridors with problem areas, conduct an audit along a route that connects these sites and corridors. Bring residents together to identify problems that matter most to them and brainstorm solutions.
Additional Resources
Participatory Planning has guides tailored for a number of different themes:
Topic Specific Audits:
Facilitation Techniques
The Safe Routes to School National Partnership has a guide for audits around schools.
The American Association of Retired Persons has a more in depth guide featuring printable facilitation materials and suggested solutions for common problems.
Before doing a formal audit, consider hosting a Jane’s Walk. Every year during the first weekend in May, communities around the world lead walking tours to start conversations about the history and impact of community planning on a local scale.