ANÁLISE ERGONÔMICA DE CAMINHABILIDADE

UMA APLICAÇÃO PRÁTICA DA AVALIAÇÃO ERGONÔMICA DO AMBIENTE URBANO

Abstract

The increase of the world population living in urban areas, added to the world’s recent confrontation of the pandemic caused by Coronavirus-2, requires an urgent debate about the importance of cities and the quality of urban life, especially in terms of comfort, safety, and well-being. In this context, Ergonomics emerges as a potential assessment tool, mainly regarding the environmental quality of cities that pedestrians are faced with, and, consequently, the Walkability of urban pathways. However, there is a notorious methodological gap inside the ergonomic studies in the urban environment. Given the above, this article aims to contribute to this debate, and presents an ergonomic analysis of the Walkability of two streets located at the city of São Paulo. The methodology consists of quantitative and qualitative collection data, based on empirical surveys, followed by a comparative analysis. The quantitative stage measured physical elements of the urban environment. The qualitative stage, in turn, carried out through socio-behavioral observation, focused on subjective aspects related to the environmental perception of pedestrians. The Ergonomic evaluation results were tabulated and evaluated by visual diagrams with a three-level chromatic evaluation scale. From the comparative analysis, it is possible to affirm that the criteria of "Block" and "Building are extremely relevant in the socio-behavioral pedestrians’ aspects. Also, the analysis demonstrates the relevance of correlating the land use and buildings attractions, concluding that these aspects should be priorities in the urban design guidelines and public policies regarding Walkability. Finally, the paper also indicates the importance of Ergonomics as a tool for the urban environmental assessment of Walkability, especially considering the new forms to use the urban space resulting from the world pandemic.