What if traffic congestion was eased not by more roads and trains, but by making Melbourne more walkable?

A Victorian-first study, led by Professor Billie Giles-Corti, the director of Melbourne University's McCaughey VicHealth Unit for Community Wellbeing, is a new measure of liveability: the Transport Walkability Index.

The internationally used measure is based on three aspects: mixed-use planning, population density and street connectivity.

Walkability refers to walking as a means of transport, either to arrive at a destination, or reach public transport.

People living in neighbourhoods scoring high on the index are twice as likely to walk for transport, the research shows.