CITY-STEP: How city design shapes the way we walk

Our walking behaviour is not only a matter of choice — it is strongly influenced by the built environment. Pavement width, greenery, noise, slopes or street furniture all subtly affect the way we move. CITY-STEP, funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR) for 48 months, aims to uncover how urban morphology shapes walking dynamics at the “step scale”.

The project is coordinated by Centrale Nantes (AAU-CRENAU laboratory) in partnership with Université Gustave Eiffel (GEOLOC laboratory) and Nantes Métropole, bringing together expertise in urban sciences, mobility engineering and biomechanics.

Objectives

CITY-STEP seeks to understand how urban features — such as street layout, surfaces, and sensory conditions — influence gait patterns, speed, and movement strategies. By linking physical and environmental data, the project will develop new walkability indicators to guide urban planning and promote sustainable, inclusive mobility. The research involves diverse participants, including older adults and visually impaired people, to account for human variability.

Methods

Researchers are designing a light, multi-sensor wearable device that integrates inertial sensors, cameras, GNSS, and eye-tracking systems to capture natural walking in real conditions. Data from these devices will be combined with 3D mapping and spatial analysis of the environment. Using artificial intelligence, the team will model walking behaviour across scales — from step to city — revealing how the human body interacts with urban space.

Innovative aspects

For the first time, CITY-STEP studies walking at the step level, combining biomechanics, perception and urban morphology. This fine-grained approach goes beyond traditional indicators (density, accessibility) to explore how our bodies resonate with the built environment. The findings will support walkable city design, low-carbon mobility, and urban inclusion for all.

Expected outcomes

The project will deliver:

• A personalised, environment-responsive gait model;
• A unique dataset of real-world walking dynamics;
• An enhanced walkability index linking movement and city design.

Validated with Nantes Métropole, these results will help create healthier, more accessible, and sustainable public spaces, encouraging walking as an everyday practice.

Myriam Servières, CITY-STEP projet leader

Myriam Servières is a professor at Centrale Nantes, within the CRENAU team of the UMR (Joint Research Unit) “ AAU (Urban Architecture research unit)”.

She graduated as an engineer from Centrale Nantes in 2002 and obtained her PhD in computer science from the University of Nantes in 2005. Recruited as a senior lecturer at Centrale Nantes in 2006, she has been a professor there since 2021.

Her research focuses on urban computing and the perception of urban space from the pedestrian's point of view, as well as pedestrian tracking on site. She studies the links that this perspective allows us to establish between the real world and a digital twin of the city, through work on urban modelling, spatial data, intelligent positioning and digital mediation of space.

She has been editor of the IEEE Journal on Indoor and Seamless Positioning and Navigation (J-ISPIN) since 2025 and has been co-chair of the Extended Reality and Visual Analytics Working Group (WG IV/5) of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing since 2025.

She co-leads the Magis network's ‘Au-delà de la 3D (Beyond 3D)’ research initiative, of which she is also a board member. She also co-led the IRSTV's ‘Urban Tomography’ research programme from 2012 to 2025.