What does this tool measure?

This tool builds on three indicators:​

• Access is the total number of destinations that can be reached by a particular mode of transport within a certain time.
• Proximity is the total number of destinations within a given distance from the origin, regardless of the travel time required to access them.
• Performance is the ratio between the access and proximity scores for a given mode. A ratio of one or more means the selected transport mode performs well. A ratio close to zero means the mode performs poorly even in providing access to nearby destinations.

The tool includes 121 cities in Europe.

The indicators are calculated for four transport modes walking, cycling, public transport and driving. They consider five destination types: the number of people that can be reached, schools, hospitals, food shops and green spaces.

To estimate the indicators for an average resident, each of the three indicators is aggregated and weighted for population. The tool accounts for three different geographies: city, commuting zone and functional urban areas (FUA). An FUA consists of municipalities that form a dense urban centre of at least 50 000 inhabitants and a commuting zone from which at least 15% of the local workforce commute to the city.

Using this tool results in a composite indicator (score). This is a product of all five destination types compiled into a single value. The aggregation is based on weight for each dimension representing its importance relative to the others. Cities are then ranked in terms of overall accessibility, proximity and performance.

For more background on the methodology see this report