Question 1

What is WELL Feature V05, Part 1?

Accepted Answer

V05 is Site Planning and Selection, part of the Movement concept in WELL v2. Part 1, Pedestrian-friendly streets, requires at least one functional building entrance opening onto a pedestrian network, plus one of three conditions: a Walk Score of 70 or above for the area, a street with restricted vehicular traffic, or a set of measured street conditions within 400 m of the project boundary.

Question 2

What do you use for WELL V05 when Walk Score has no data for your country?

Accepted Answer

Either demonstrate path (c) by measuring the streets within 400 m, which requires sidewalk continuity across 90% of street length and is hard to evidence from open data, or submit an equivalency proposal to IWBI asking to substitute a walkability metric that covers your region. IWBI accepts equivalency proposals before or after registration, charges no fee, and states a ruling within 20 to 25 business days.

Question 3

Has IWBI accepted walkability metrics other than Walk Score?

Accepted Answer

Yes. IWBI has published equivalencies allowing projects in Europe to use the ILS Walkability metric and projects in Japan to use the Japanese Walkability Index in lieu of Walk Score, which is primarily a United States index.

Question 4

Does SafeStreets cover the Philippines, the Gulf, India and Southeast Asia?

Accepted Answer

Yes. SafeStreets scores any address in more than 190 countries from OpenStreetMap, Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery, NASADEM terrain, Open-Meteo climate data, OpenAQ air quality and aggregated GTFS transit feeds. Coverage does not depend on a commercial licence for a particular country.

Question 5

Is SafeStreets an approved WELL equivalency?

Accepted Answer

IWBI rules on equivalency proposals project by project, and generalised approvals are published in the WELL addenda. SafeStreets is not currently listed in those published addenda. SafeStreets provides the assessment and supporting evidence a project team submits with its own proposal.