During Autumn 2021, the Architecture Group at Luleå University of Technology initiated three workshops with academics and practitioners across Scandinavia to address ‘levelling-up’ walking as a mode of transport. Despite the key role of walking in the total traffic environment, walking 'as a mode of transport' is often over-looked in the transport planning discourse. Today, most emphasis is placed on either motorized transport or transport modes such as cycling, regardless of whether the focus is on city planning, logistics or safety. 

Consequentially, the focus of this study was to gather leading researchers and practitioners – in different and various ways related to walking as a mode of transport – to identify common problems, issues, and priorities, as well as to identify potential ways forward in solving these issues. 

Potential participants were strategically selected from the authors’ professional networks. Participants were asked to fill in a survey individually, the results of which were discussed in focus group seminars. The combination of both individual and collective opinions has the advantage of both making sure that all individual’s specific comments are included as well as the combined experiences and perspectives. Results: In total, the three workshops had 125 attendees; 44 attended seminar 1, 43 in seminar 2 and 41 in seminar 3. Participants were encouraged to attend multiple seminars and 14 delegates attended all seminars, 17 attended 2 seminars and 31 attended 1 seminar. In total, 68 unique participants were engaged in the research outside the project team. The overarching characteristic of the participants was a professional interest in the concept of ‘Walking as a mode of transport’.  

The results of individual questions identified a large range of perspectives, thereby highlighting the broad competencies in the participants. It also highlighted three overarching themes; (1) Policy and strategy, 2) Objective and subjective safety, and 3) Create, design and maintain. These themes formed the basis of later workshops. The workshops found a number of overarching themes including “The view of walking and pedestrians”, “Social and spatial planning”, “Data and indicators and data for follow-up”, “Responsibility and organisation”, “Lack of overall strategies and guidelines as well as a diffuse field of research”, “Socio-economic aspects”, and “Socioeconomic effects”.