Quality of Sidewalks in a Brazilian City: A Broad Vision

The sidewalk is the structuring element of walking on foot in the urban environment. For this, it is necessary that the sidewalks offer moving conditions to all pedestrians. The movement of people on foot in urban space increases the quality of life in the cities. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the quality index of sidewalks in a medium-size Brazilian city, through the pedestrians' perception and technical evaluation. The methodology evaluated the Sidewalk Quality Index (SQI) in Passo Fundo, a medium-sized city in the South of Brazil. The results show that, like the great majority of Brazilian cities, the sidewalks in Passo Fundo have a performance index equivalent to 1.9 points which corresponds to the "G" classification - very bad - in the final evaluation. The improvement of the SQI in the study area should be made possible by the awareness of their importance for mobility, urban planning and the quality of life of people in the cities. Presenting a good SQI provides a number of benefits to cities, among which the following stand out: increased life quality and urban mobility, which, in turn, impacts positively on a number of other urban indicators.