Walkability is a term for planning concepts that can be understood in terms of the mix of amenities in high-density neighborhoods that people can reach on foot. The study aimed to investigate the ...walkability in commercial center and explore the walkability score with the walkability assessment tool in commercial center. According to a study conducted by Stanford University (2022) ranked Malaysia as the ‘third laziest’ country based on a study of 717,527 people giving them a glimpse into the lives of people in 111 countries across the globe. Furthermore, some of the walkability assessment tools are incomprehensive to measures the walkability. Thus, a new developed walkability assessment tool had been used in this study. Finally, walkability in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya’s commercial center may be identified comprehensively.
In recent years, walkability is increasingly integrated into sustainability strategies, considering its many health and environmental benefits. Besides, thermal comfort also has been progressively ...promoted as a critical measure for pedestrian comfort and wellbeing. Despite the relevance of the two concepts, few studies combined them in a comprehensive model. This study considers thermal comfort in assessing walkability by developing a new measurement tool, the Street Walkability and Thermal Comfort Index (SWTCI), which focuses on comfort facilities and Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET), at the street scale. The applied point system method requires combining a questionnaire survey, observations, and in situ measurements (air temperature, wind velocity, and relative humidity). The questionnaire survey (330 responders) measured 21 street design indicators' importance, using a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (least important) to 5 (very important). The observation technique seeks to evaluate every pedestrian comfort indicator score (Sis). The in situ measurements permit Envi-met's calibrated data validation and getting the mean radian temperature (Tmrt). Those were considered in the PET's calculation using Rayman software. Three distinct streets have been chosen in Annaba city, Algeria, within the Mediterranean climate (Csa). The results show that the SWTCI achieves its highest score on the three streets when the thermal perception is neutral (20 < PET <26), and its lowest score, with a warm thermal sensation (28 < PET < 31). Despite the divergence in PET values, the highest score of SWTCI was 33%, reflecting a low comfort quality and minimal pedestrian facilities. Applying the SWTCI method can transform uncomfortable streets into an ideal walkable and pleasant path by finding the problems and proposing improvements.
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•SWTCI tool combines walkability and thermal comfort at the street scale.•Exploration of PET and pedestrian comfort facilities became a systematic method.•PET assessment is based on the calibration process in the Mediterranean climate.•PET comfort range has a considerable effect on the SWTCI average.•Applying this method can transform uncomfortable streets into ideal walkable paths.
Factors influencing subjective walkability Rodrigue, Lancelot; Manaugh, Kevin; El-Geneidy, Ahmed ...
Journal of transport and land use,
01/2022, Volume:
15, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Subjective walkability is a measure of the perceived friendliness of walking in an area. Though subjective walkability is less commonly assessed than objective measurements, the latter often fail to ...reflect the experience of walking. This study aims to better understand subjective walkability and how it varies between travel and leisure walking by investigating its relationship with the built environment and land-use characteristics. Data is collected from 848 street segments in Montreal, Canada, using the MAPS-mini audit tool, external measurements including Walkscore as well as synthetic subjective walkability scores. Mixed effect multilevel models are then generated using travel and leisure subjective walkability scores as dependent variables and built environment features as independent variables. Statistically significant positive predictors of perceived walkability differ between walking for travel and walking for leisure. Walkscore is found to have a weak but significant effect on perceived walkability for travel but no effect at all for leisure. Based on this research, a multi-scalar approach both at the street and neighborhood level making use of a combination of objective and subjective walkability measures should be employed to study predictors of walking behavior. Lastly, distinctions of walking behaviors based on trip purpose should be integrated in future research.
One major limitation currently with studying street level urban design qualities for walkability is the often inconsistent and unreliable measures of streetscape features across different field ...surveyors even with costly training due to lack of more objective processes, which also make large scale study difficult. The recent advances in sensor technologies and digitization have produced a wealth of data to help research activities by facilitating improved measurements and conducting large scale analysis. This paper explores the potential of big data and big data analytics in the light of current approaches to measuring streetscape features. By applying machine learning algorithms on Google Street View imagery, we generated objectively three measures on visual enclosure. The results showed that sky areas were identified fairly well for the calculation of proportion of sky. The three visual enclosure measures were found to be correlated with pedestrian volume and Walk Score. This method allows large scale and consistent objective measures of visual enclosure that can be done reproducibly and universally applicable with readily available Google Street View imagery in many countries around the world to help test their association with walking behaviors.
•We generated objective visual enclosure variables applying machine learning algorithms on Google Street View imagery.•The results showed that the proportion of sky ahead the street is strongly associated with the sky proportions across the street.•The visual enclosure variables are significantly associated with observed pedestrian counts and Walk Score negatively.•This method allows large scale and consistent objective measures of visual enclosure.
In a globally connected world and increasingly smart cities, the demand for living in a physical neighborhood where one can walk and cycle among familiar people and a variety of services is always ...alive. It is a quality of life which meets the deep desire of community and place identity. In this regard, the 15-minutes city is the contemporary version of the classical “human measure”. The model offers a refreshing chrono-centric vision for the city that prioritizes people’s time, energy and physio-psychological health by relieving their daily commutes. The recent pandemic clearly showed this potential; the daily outdoor movement by soft mobility allowed for social life even during lockdown periods. The paper is subdivided into two main components: a theoretical discussion of the 15-minute city model as part of a broader sustainable urban planning narrative, and a practical application mapping the potentials of Milan as a 15-minute city, focusing on population distribution and urban fabric structure as a measure of performance evaluation. The emergence of the 15-minute model rebalances the building volume concentration of the consolidated Transit Oriented Development paradigm; suggesting an innovative and more articulated vision. The 15-minute approach, rooted in the organic planning of the ‘60, is pushed by the covid-19 emergency, making treasure of the experience of urban regeneration masterplans of the last decade. The approach falls in line with real estate strategies for place making, which aim to create new sustainable urban districts that are pedestrian oriented and carbon free. After interpreting the international framework of urbanism trends with respect to the 15-minute model, the paper focuses on the Milan case. The potentials for neighborhoods across the city of Milan is investigated to conform to an inclusive 15-minute city model, using fully-fledged and innovative mapping of proximity. This analysis aims to explore the resilience of urban resources to support walkable living environments with a guaranteed basic level of accessibility to daily needs by walking. The support to this model offered by soft mobility modes and micro-mobility devices is also raised. The results show, in a number of urban neighborhoods, a limited level of walkability although related to a spatial city structure which is able to be regenerated as a dense and effective network of 15-minute neighborhoods through tactical urbanism actions on existing open spaces and soft mobility policies, combined with long term strategies (infrastructure capacity and digital upgrading). It is a first methodological test which opens up the research towards a new inclusive concept of accessibility.
Walkability is defined as the extent to which the built environment is friendly to people who walk, which benefits the health of residents and increases the liveability of cities, and studies of ...walkability have increasingly attracted the attention of researchers worldwide. To provide a roadmap for research on neighbourhood/community walkability, this paper critically reviews the literature on neighbourhood/community walkability studies using geographical information systems (GIS), which is an objective tool universally used in this area. The literature review covers 136 papers that were published between 2008 and 2018 and retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database. Firstly, a bibliometric analysis is conducted to give a general view of recent studies. Secondly, a detailed critical review is performed from three major perspectives concerning neighbourhood walkability, namely, walkability measurements, the built environment and health, and the applications of walkability. Finally, research trends and future directions are discussed. The implications include: (a) factors affecting walkability and their interactions should be investigated; (b) more accurate data need to be available for the measurement of walkability; (c) relevant research in the contexts of different countries could be expanded and compared; (d) the application of walkability could be developed in terms of depth and width.
•A detailed roadmap for research on neighbourhood/community walkability is provided.•A bibliometric analysis is used to review recent studies from multiple viewpoints.•A critical review is conducted from three major perspectives of walkability studies.•The limitations of existing studies and future research directions are discussed.
Numerous methodologies measuring walkability have been developed over the last years. This paper reviews the Walkability Index (WI) literature of the last decade (2009-2018) and highlights some ...limitations in the current approaches. Only a few studies have evaluated walkability in Latin America, mainly in big cities but not in medium and small-sized cities in the region, which present their own urbanisation dynamics, security issues, sidewalk invasion problems, and poor planning. Furthermore, most WIs in the literature use objective mesoscale variables to assess walkability in a given area. This paper contributes to filling these gaps by generating new evidence from a medium-sized city in Latin America to question if characteristics of the built environment encourage walking trips, as found in the literature, are transferable among regions. The study also proposes a novel index comprised of microscale and mesoscale built environment variables to assess walkability using virtual tools and considering users' perceptions. The WI estimation relies on ranking probability models. The results of the case study suggest that subjective Security and Traffic Safety are the most crucial factors influencing walkability in these kind of cities, which is different from what is found in the literature from cities in developed countries where Sidewalk Condition and Attractiveness are the most important factors. Security appeared to be strongly associated with a subjective dimension, represented by the fear of crime or perceived risk for crime, instead of the actual occurrence of crimes. This result evidences the importance of the physical attributes of the real world and how they are captured, judged, and processed by pedestrians. Then, regional transferability of WIs needs to be done carefully. Finally, results in this paper highlight the importance of microscale built environment characteristics in the WI formulation in these cities. Results are in line with other research in some cities of the region, which found that microscale variables such as pavement quality and presence of obstacles on the sidewalks are relevant components to promote walkability.
•A walkability assessment method suitable for various pedestrian groups is presented.•Stakeholders and decision-makers were involved in indicator selection and weighting.•Application to a case-study ...produced detailed walkability score analytics.•Results show clear differences in walkability scores for distinct pedestrian groups.•The tool can support policies/actions towards more inclusive pedestrian environment.
Walkability has been defined as the extent to which the urban environment is pedestrian friendly. By measuring it, planning professionals may be able to address the quality of the pedestrian environment, supporting more objective, effective and comprehensive walking-related strategies and interventions.
This work presents a participatory framework for the assessment of walkability based on local circumstances and expertise, replicable on distinct urban contexts. The framework takes into account distinct pedestrian groups (adults, children, seniors and impaired mobility pedestrians) and trip purposes (utilitarian, leisure), expressing walkability in terms of seven key dimensions (7C's layout). From this conceptual framework, a methodology to evaluate walkability through GIS-based and street auditing indicators is presented. It was applied to an area in central Lisbon, Portugal, in order to evaluate the ease or difficulty that different types of pedestrians can face in their walking activities and, potentially, providing an insight for intervention and improvements.
The results show clear differences in walkability scores for different pedestrian groups, namely between adults and seniors or impaired pedestrians. Besides, a validation of the results is presented by comparing street performance, as measured by our process, with home-based surveys conducted within the study area. Validation results confirm that the evaluation framework proposed is reliable in the representation of the pedestrian environment qualities as perceived by the public.
Subjective walkability is a measure of the perceived friendliness of walking in an area. Though subjective walkability is less commonly assessed than objective measurements, the latter often fail to ...reflect the experience of walking. This study aims to better understand subjective walkability and how it varies between travel and leisure walking by investigating its relationship with the built environment and land-use characteristics. Data is collected from 848 street segments in Montreal, Canada, using the MAPS-mini audit tool, external measurements including Walkscore as well as synthetic subjective walkability scores. Mixed effect multilevel models are then generated using travel and leisure subjective walkability scores as dependent variables and built environment features as independent variables. Statistically significant positive predictors of perceived walkability differ between walking for travel and walking for leisure. Walkscore is found to have a weak but significant effect on perceived walkability for travel but no effect at all for leisure. Based on this research, a multi-scalar approach both at the street and neighborhood level making use of a combination of objective and subjective walkability measures should be employed to study predictors of walking behavior. Lastly, distinctions of walking behaviors based on trip purpose should be integrated in future research.
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