WALKABILITY E PERCORSI DESIDERATI NEI CAMPUS UNIVERSITARI. IL CASO DELL’UNIVERSITÀ DI SALERNO

Universities, and university campuses in particular, with large numbers of students, academic and administrative staff and a variety of activities, are comparable to small cities. For this reason, the ability to move easily on foot within the campus becomes essential to get around and, at the same time, foster a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. However, dispersed planning, which separates functions and services, reduces the walkability of the campus, increasing car dependency, pollution and accessibility problems. With this in mind, it becomes essential to promote routes and environments that are comfortable, accessible and pleasant to walk through. It is important to consider not only the functional and formal requirements, but also the spontaneous behaviours that emerge from the daily use of spaces. Among these behaviours, the socalled ‘desire paths’ are particularly important: unplanned and informal paths created by people’s repeated and preferred movement. On a university campus, recognising the value of users’ intuitions, while maintaining the integrity of the campus environment, is the key to promoting a harmonious relationship between desire paths and traditional planning. Starting from these premises, this contribution proposes a procedure for the enhancement of pedestrian paths within the campus of the University of Salerno, located in Fisciano, analysing the relationship between the physical characteristics of the space and the behavioural choices of the users. In particular, it explores how accessibility, understood not only as spatial configuration but also as perceived quality, influences the daily use of spaces. Particular attention is given to the comfort of routes, which is strongly influenced by the local microclimate. In the case study, in fact, the need emerges to design covered pathways that guarantee continuity and protection in movement, even in adverse weather conditions, or to provide for the flanking of tree plantings that, on the contrary, produce shade in movement during the summer months. The work consisted of several phases: analysis of the current state, elaboration of design scenarios for the pedestrian (and bicycle) network, and administration of a questionnaire to campus users. The results obtained provide operational ideas for improving accessibility and use of the campus and represent a basis for future in depth studies aimed at making the internal mobility system more efficient, comfortable and attentive to the real needs of users.