An Analysis of Street Environment Affecting Pedestrian Walking Satisfaction for Different Age Groups

Abstract

This study examines the impact of street environment on pedestrian walking satisfaction for different age groups using the 2012 Pedestrian Satisfaction Survey Data(PSSD) in Seoul, Korea. This study confirms that multilevel ordered logistic model was an appropriate method to control for both personal-level and location-level differences on walking satisfaction which has an ordered unit. The results indicate that street level physical environments have consistent or different impacts on pedestrian satisfaction by age groups. In particular, pedestrian specialization street has statistically significant and positive association with pedestrian satisfaction regardless of different age groups. In addition, it shows stronger impact on walking satisfaction for the aged population. We also found that some physical environmental variables including sidewalk width were important variables for walking satisfaction. However, street-level land use mix variable did not show any statistical significance to the level of pedestrian satisfaction. This study concludes that pedestrian street design strategies should consider specific determinants of pedestrian satisfaction for different age groups.