College Campuses and Student Walkability: Assessing the Impact of Smartphone Use on Student Perception and Evaluation of Urban Campus Routes

Joohyun Lee,Mardelle Mccuskey Shepley

doi:10.3390/su12239986

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to assess the relationships between college campus walking route characteristics and student perceptions of them with smartphone use. The study used student sketch maps, survey questionnaires, and observations and measurements of route features on a Korean urban campus. The results show that the pedestrian perception and evaluation of campus walking routes are impacted differently in two conditions: walking with smartphone use and walking without smartphone use. “Smartphone walkers” found the safety and quality of routes more important, while walkers without phones considered the shortest distance and positive walking experience to be important factors in their route choices. Campus-built environments need to be improved to provide more adaptive solutions to respond to changes in pedestrian behavior and perception due to increased “smartphone walking”. Recommendations include a walker-friendly campus with well-connected streets and networks, separation from vehicles (ensuring safety), good quality sidewalks, and increased campus green space.

Highlights

This study addresses college student walkers’ experiences on an urban college campus in relation to smartphone use and tries to find sustainable design solutions to changes in pedestrian perception and behavior due to “smartphone walking”
The current study addresses two important research questions to fill the gap in the literature: investigating how smartphone use affects walkability and perception related to college student walking-on-campus behaviors; examining students’ perceptions of walkability along college campus pedestrian routes and their navigation process of the built environment through avoiding or negotiating obstacles in their way
By gathering and analyzing the sketch maps, we found some common walking routes the students used on a regular basis, and the images of their routes showed campus-built environmental features perceived by them

Summary

Introduction

This study addresses college student walkers’ experiences on an urban college campus in relation to smartphone use and tries to find sustainable design solutions to changes in pedestrian perception and behavior due to “smartphone walking”. Recent surveys indicate that with rising smartphone ownership, smartphone attachment is higher among younger college students than older adults [1]. These young people regularly engage with their phones in a variety of ways while walking [2,3], which results in an increase in pedestrian and phone-related accidents [4,5,6]

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Conclusion