Walkability and the 15-Minute City

Index Validation by Experts

Abstract

Contextualization: In the face of an increasingly urbanized world, efforts have been directed towards achieving sustainable forms of urban development. In this process, ensuring adequate walkability is essential. Walkability can be conceptualized as the spatial quality of a place that favors the presence of pedestrians in that public space. To measure it, a walkability index is generally used.

Relevance: Since the origin of the first indexes in the 1990s, there has been no consensus on which would be the most appropriate tool to evaluate each context, which encourages the continuous emergence of new methodologies.

Objective: This article aims to validate the content of the walkability index created by Silva and Silva (2025), formulated from the perspective of the 15-minute city.

Methodology: The content validation methodology proposed by Hernández-Nieto (2002) was used, with the voluntary participation of experts in the field, who evaluated the practical relevance and clarity of the tool's language.

Results: The walkability index, as well as all its constituent indicators, achieved a Content Validation Coefficient (CVC) above the minimum recommended in the literature (0.70). However, based on the experts' comments, it was possible to identify overlaps between the indicators, which resulted in the removal of four of the initial 31 indicators.

Contributions: The results obtained can contribute to the advancement of the literature by providing greater reliability to the index and supporting more accurate diagnoses of walkability.