Abstract
Empirical research provides evidence that, in neighborhoods with higher walkability, individuals make more walking trips. However, it is not clear what the exact nature is of the relationships between neighborhood walkability and walking trips, since a higher walking frequency can be explained in different ways. This study examined whether the extra walking trips in better walkable neighborhoods are related primarily to trip generation, destination choice, or transport mode choice and whether this is the same for different age groups. A neighborhood fixed effects regression analysis was conducted in a first step to obtain a walkability measure for each neighborhood in the Netherlands including systematic as well as unobserved effects. Subsequently, the estimated fixed effects were used as walkability data for a path analysis based on a causal model to test the hypotheses stated. The results of the path analysis show direct relationships of neighborhood walkability with trip generation, destination choice, and transport mode choice, after controlling for the mutual relationships between the activity and trip variables. Comparing different age groups (i.e., children, adults, and elderly), the differences found mostly concerned the relationship between neighborhood walkability and trip generation. We concluded therefore that conditions for walkability are not the same for all age groups.
Highlights
Empirical research has shown that the design of the built environment has a significant influence on the extent to which individuals walk which is an important element of a healthy lifestyle [1,2,3,4].Commonly, this influence is captured in the notion of walkability which represents the extent to which the built environment is conducive to walking
Walkability available in the survey and included in the model include gender, age, income, household composition, education, and migration background. When controlled for these socio-demographic variables, the fixed neighborhood effects in the regression model should represent the component of physical characteristics which we identify as the degree of the walkability of each neighborhood
Regarding the relationship between neighborhood walkability and behavior variables of all age groups together, the results of the path analysis (Figure 3 and Table 5—All age groups) show a positive relationship between walkability and the number of out-of-home activities that people conduct, a positive and relatively strong relationship between walkability and share of short-distance trips and a positive and relatively strong relationship between walkability and the share of walking trips. These results provide support for hypotheses Hypothesis 1 (H1), Hypothesis 2 (H2), and Hypothesis 3 (H3), i.e., that the relationship between walkability and walking frequency originates from an activity choice effect, a destination choice effect, and a transport mode effect
Summary
Empirical research has shown that the design of the built environment has a significant influence on the extent to which individuals walk which is an important element of a healthy lifestyle [1,2,3,4].Commonly, this influence is captured in the notion of walkability which represents the extent to which the built environment is conducive to walking. An important theoretical basis for measuring walkability is provided by Cervero et al (2010) [5] who distinguish six built-environment dimensions, i.e., density, diversity, design, distance, destination, and demand management Using this framework, indices of walkability have been developed to predict levels of inhabitants’ walking activity and active travel in the neighborhood [6,7,8]. Indices of walkability have been developed to predict levels of inhabitants’ walking activity and active travel in the neighborhood [6,7,8] These existing measures consider neighborhood features, such as dwelling density, presence of local amenities (schools, shops, etc.), and street connectivity, as determining factors of walkability. These neighborhood features correlate with the extent to which individuals are inclined to walk in their direct environment for transport or recreational purposes [1,2,3,4]
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