Is Alicante a 15-Minute City?
A 250-metre spatial analysis highlighting the contrast between higher-scoring central cells with Grade A accessibility and lower-scoring outer areas across the evaluated municipality.
The Alicante 250-Metre Score Map
BarrioRadar evaluated 1,736 discrete 250 m × 250 m grid cells covering the evaluated grid envelope of Alicante (108.5 km² nominal area across evaluated grid cells). Every cell is scored on a calibrated 0–100 scale based on spatial proximity to groceries, healthcare, education, transit services, and leisure amenities.
One City, Very Different Streets
Evaluating Alicante across uniform 250m cells reveals a pronounced accessibility contrast between higher-scoring central cells and lower-scoring outlying areas.
Master Score Distribution (10-Point Intervals)
Sample: 1,736 CellsThe national index weights each evaluated cell by represented CartoCiudad address portals, yielding an Address-Weighted BarrioRadar Score of 43.2 out of 100 (National Rank #29 / 100). In contrast, the unweighted Geographic Grid Mean is 17.7 / 100 and the Geographic Grid Median is 5.0 / 100, with 1,478 cells (85.1%) falling into Grade D (scores 5–44). The evaluated cells show two distinct spatial patterns across the municipality:
- Land footprint vs. Population distribution: Over 1,000 Grade D cells cover low-density peri-urban entities (such as postal codes 03699, 03113, and 03114) where average portal density is only 10.1 address portals per 250m cell. These Grade D cells have substantially lower portal density than the higher-scoring cells.
- Concentration of residents: In contrast, over 36% of all address portals in Alicante (10,496 of 29,131 portals) are concentrated in the 110 cells (6.3% of spatial cells) scoring Grade B+ or higher (scores 65–92), where portal density averages 95 portals per cell.
Empirical Infrastructure & Livability Benchmark Table
| Evaluated Spatial Metric | Empirical Value | Coverage / Context | Data Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evaluated 250m × 250m Grid Cells | 1,736 cells | 108.5 km² nominal grid area | CartoCiudad (INE 03014) |
| Address Portals Represented | 29,131 portals | 16.8 portals / cell municipal average | IGN CartoCiudad |
| Weekday Scheduled Stop Departures | 67,215 departures | 3,411 daily vehicle journeys | Generalitat Valenciana / NAP GTFS |
| Active Public Transit Platforms | 886 platforms | 85 bus routes, 39 TRAM variants | Feeds 1392, 966, 1325, 932, 1515 |
| Peak Hour Transit Volume (08:00–08:59) | 4,329 departures | 268 TRAM, 4,061 bus departures | GTFS Scheduled Timetables |
| Total Mapped Street & Pathway Network | 2,061.3 km | 15,865 discrete street segments | OpenStreetMap (Comunidad Valenciana) |
| Dedicated Pedestrian Footways | 370.4 km | 18.0% of total network length | OpenStreetMap (footway tags) |
| Total Cycling-Accessible Infrastructure | 216.7 km | 124.1 km dedicated cycle tracks (6.0%) | OpenStreetMap (cycleway tags) |
| Mapped Building Footprints | 33,401 buildings | 23,420 with recorded levels (70.1%) | OpenStreetMap Building Layer |
| Average Building Height | 4.2 floors | Median 4.0 floors above ground | OpenStreetMap Building Levels |
| Dominant Low-to-Mid-Rise Band (3–5 Floors) | 9,855 buildings | 42.1% of buildings with level data | OpenStreetMap Building Levels |
| Address-Weighted BarrioRadar Score | 43.2 / 100 | Grade D • National Rank #29 / 100 (Weighted by 29,131 address portals) | BarrioRadar National Ranking Index |
| Geographic Grid Mean | 17.7 / 100 | Unweighted territorial average across all 1,736 evaluated 250m cells | BarrioRadar v1.1 250m Spatial Model |
| Geographic Grid Median | 5.0 / 100 | Unweighted territorial median across all 1,736 evaluated 250m cells | BarrioRadar v1.1 250m Spatial Model |
| Grade A Master Score Cells (Master Score ≥ 80) | 36 cells (2.1%) | Clustered in postal codes 03001, 03002, 03003, 03004 | BarrioRadar v1.1 Scoring Model |
| Address Portals in Grade B+ or Higher (≥ 65) | 10,496 portals (36.0%) | Concentrated in 110 core cells (6.3% of evaluated area) | BarrioRadar • CartoCiudad Overlay |
What Alicante Has Around You
OpenStreetMap records thousands of commercial amenities and civic facilities across Alicante's evaluated area. Commercial storefronts and community services are analyzed directly from verified geometry layers.
Top Mapped Amenities by Category
Mapped Sports Infrastructure
OSM Pitch & Court Features by Tagged Sport* OpenStreetMap may map individual pitches or courts separately within a larger sports complex, so these counts represent mapped features rather than unique sports facilities.
* Data source: OpenStreetMap (Comunidad Valenciana extract, August 2026). Values reflect mapped features and do not constitute an exhaustive municipal commercial tax register.
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Search Any Spanish AddressHow Alicante Moves
Analysis of official General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) schedules on a representative weekday
(Wednesday, 19 August 2026). Modes are classified strictly by standard GTFS route_type
definitions.
Scheduled Stop Departures by Hour of Day
Across all 886 transit platforms within the evaluated cells, public transit schedules deliver 67,215 scheduled stop departures across 3,411 unique vehicle journeys on a typical weekday:
- Bus Network (GTFS route_type 3): 62,609 scheduled stop departures across 2,987 distinct vehicle trips and 85 routes (operated by MIA urban buses and regional operators).
- TRAM d'Alacant (GTFS route_type 0 & 1): 4,600 scheduled stop departures across 418 vehicle trips and 39 route variants (operated by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana).
- Peak Operating Hour: Service reaches its peak between 08:00 and 08:59, with 4,329 total scheduled departures (268 TRAM, 4,061 bus).
The Streets Beneath the Scores
Geodesic length calculation across 15,865 mapped road and path segments within the evaluated cells, totaling 2,061.3 km of mapped network.
Mapped Road and Pathway Composition
Geodesic Distance (km)Building Levels & Vertical Profile
Distribution of mapped building levels. Out of 33,401 mapped building footprints in the evaluated cells, 23,420 buildings (70.1% coverage) have explicit level information in OpenStreetMap.
Building Levels Distribution (Sample: 23,420 Tagged Buildings)
70.1% CoverageAmong buildings with explicit level data, the average floor count is 4.2 levels (median 4.0 levels). Low-rise buildings (3–5 floors) represent the largest observed level band, accounting for 9,855 buildings (42.1%) of those with recorded level data.
What Does the Pedestrian Network Reach Within a Modelled 15-Minute Walk?
The municipality-wide analysis above measures how neighbourhood conditions vary across Alicante's 250-metre grid. BarrioRadar's network accessibility model asks a different question: from a specific location, which everyday destinations does the pedestrian routing network place within a modelled 15-minute walk?
BarrioRadar Score vs. 15-Minute Walking Accessibility
Deterministic Sample: n=16Comparing the broad neighbourhood composite (X-axis) against modelled pedestrian street-network reachability across seven everyday sectors (Y-axis).
Analyzing pedestrian-network routing across the deterministic 16-location sample reveals how doorstep walking reach differs from the broad neighbourhood composite:
- Loading pedestrian network accessibility findings…
- Loading comparative divergence metrics…
- Loading comparative convergence metrics…
Seven-Sector Walking Accessibility Matrix
Sectors weighted equally (1/7 each)Sector performance across sampled locations, combining First Access travel time (60%) and Time-Weighted Choice (40%).
Alicante varies considerably from one location to another. Search an address to see its BarrioRadar Score and neighbourhood analysis.
Highest and Lowest Scoring Cells
Factual extremes identified from the evaluated 250m grid cells. Descriptions identify representative street addresses and postal codes directly from CartoCiudad records.
Frequently Asked Questions: Alicante Urban Livability & Transit
Direct empirical answers to common research questions regarding spatial accessibility, public transit operations, street network composition, and vertical urban density across Alicante.
How does Alicante score for everyday accessibility?
Across Alicante's evaluated grid cells, 36 cells (2.1% of evaluated cells) achieve Grade A or A+ (score ≥ 80), tightly concentrated in postal codes 03001, 03002, 03003, and 03004. Over 36% of all address portals (10,496 of 29,131) are situated within the 110 cells scoring Grade B+ or higher (scores 65–92).
Why is the municipal median BarrioRadar Score in Alicante 5.0 out of 100?
The municipal median BarrioRadar Score is 5.0. More than 1,000 evaluated cells are located in dispersed, low-density outlying sectors (e.g. postal codes 03699, 03113, and 03114) where average portal density is 10.1 address portals per 250m cell and measured physical distances to supermarkets, pharmacies, and high-frequency transit are greater.
How many public transit departures operate in Alicante per weekday?
On a representative weekday, official GTFS transit schedules deliver 67,215 departures across 886 active boarding platforms and 3,411 vehicle journeys. The network comprises 62,609 bus departures across 85 routes and 4,600 TRAM d'Alacant departures across 39 variants, peaking between 08:00 and 08:59 with 4,329 departures.
What is the cycling and pedestrian infrastructure network length in Alicante?
OpenStreetMap records 2,061.3 km of total mapped streets and ways across the evaluated cells. This includes 370.4 km of dedicated pedestrian footways (18.0% of network length) and 216.7 km of total cycling-accessible infrastructure, with 124.1 km of designated cycle tracks and shared cycleways.
What is the typical building height and vertical urban density in Alicante?
Among the 23,420 mapped buildings with explicit level tags in OpenStreetMap (70.1% of all 33,401 mapped footprints), the average height is 4.2 floors above ground (median 4.0 floors). Low-rise buildings of 3–5 floors dominate, representing 9,855 buildings (42.1% of tagged structures).
Data Provenance & Reproduction
1. Official Cadastral Addresses • IGN CartoCiudad
Address portals and spatial centroids are derived from the Spanish National Address Directory
(CartoCiudad) published by the Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN) and Centro Nacional de Información
Geográfica (CNIG). Analysis is bounded to municipality code INE 03014 (Province 03:
Alicante/Alacant, Dataset ID cartociudad_9106).
2. Public Transit Operations • National Access Point (NAP) GTFS
Public transit departures, stop locations, and route variants are computed from official General Transit
Feed Specification (GTFS) feeds published via the Punto de Acceso Nacional (NAP) and Generalitat
Valenciana. Evaluated feeds include 1392 (Autobuses urbanos de Alicante), 966
(TRAM d'Alacant / FGV), 1325 (Metropolitano), 932 (ALSA), and 1515
(Ouigo). Analysis uses the standard representative weekday 19 August 2026.
3. Physical Amenities, Roads, and Buildings • OpenStreetMap
Amenities, street network segments, and building footprints are ingested from OpenStreetMap (Comunidad
Valenciana regional extract, osm_valencia, ingested August 2026). Data is published under the
Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL) © OpenStreetMap contributors.
4. BarrioRadar Scoring Model (V1)
Scores are calculated across uniform 250m × 250m grid cells using continuous diminishing-returns curves (BarrioRadar v1.1 scoring engine). Each grid cell is scored at its representative IGN CartoCiudad address portal located nearest the cell centroid. The model evaluates four production pillars: multimodal transit schedules (30%), daily essentials (30%), lifestyle and dining (20%), and family and education amenities (20%), adjusted by an essential deficit penalty when core daily infrastructure is absent.
5. Pedestrian-Network Accessibility • Valhalla Engine (v2-b2.0)
The 15-minute walking accessibility analysis uses the open-source Valhalla routing engine over the
OpenStreetMap pedestrian network under frozen specification v2-b2.0. Seven everyday sectors
(groceries, health, education, parks, transit, services, dining) are evaluated and weighted equally (1/7
each). Each sector score blends First Access travel time to the nearest qualifying anchor (60%) and
Time-Weighted Choice abundance of qualifying alternatives (40%). The research sample comprises a
deterministic, stratified set of 16 locations across Alicante's score distribution with a minimum spatial
separation of 1,000 metres.
How to Cite This Research
If referencing this dataset or spatial analysis in research, journalistic reporting, or urban planning studies, please cite as:
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