Bradford is tranquillity trailblazer
The University of Bradford is leading the way in showing city dwellers how they can escape the hustle and bustle and recharge their batteries, without leaving the city.s.
Researchers at the University have developed a method of identifying tranquil walking routes in urban areas - tranquillity trails - and can assess how successful they are at achieving the goal using the Tranquillity Rating Prediction Tool.
The process measures how relaxing urban environments and public spaces are, linking green open spaces and watersides and using quiet residential roads or footpaths to form a circular walking route.
In a new paper published in the Urban Forests and Urban Greening journal*, lead researcher Professor Greg Watts uses the tool to predict the variation of tranquillity along the various routes and the proportion of time spent at each level of tranquillity. The routes described are in Bradford, Kingsbridge in South Devon and Guildford, covering a range of urban areas of different sizes and in widely different regions of England
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