Pedestrian Safety in Compact and Mixed-Use Urban Environments: Evaluation of 5D Measures on Pedestrian Crashes

Hyungun Sung,Sugie Lee,Sanghyun Cheon,Junho Yoon

doi:10.3390/su14020646

Abstract

This study examined the impact of density, diversity, design, distance to transit, and destination accessibility, five measures, known as the 5Ds, that characterize the built environment, on pedestrian–vehicle crashes in Seoul, Korea. Using spatial analysis based on 500-m grid cells, this study employed negative binomial regression models on the frequencies of three specific types of pedestrian–vehicle crashes: crashes causing death, major injury, and minor injury to pedestrians. Analysis shows that compact and mixed-use urban environments represented by 5D measures have mixed effects on pedestrian safety. Trade-off effects are found between a higher risk for all types of pedestrian crashes, and a lower risk for fatal pedestrian crashes in 5D urban environments. As a design variable, a higher number of intersections is more likely to increase some types of pedestrian crashes, including fatal crashes, a finding which warrants policy attention to promote pedestrian safety near intersection areas. This study also confirms an urgent need to secure the travel safety of pedestrians near public transit stations due to the higher risk of pedestrian crashes near such facilities. Various destinations, such as retail stores, traditional markets, and hospitals, are associated with pedestrian crashes. Pedestrian safety measures should be implemented to reduce the likelihood of pedestrian crashes near major destination facilities.

Highlights

Accepted: 30 December 2021From the discourse on how to resolve transportation problems in Western cities, the car-oriented cities of the United States (US), the concept of compact development has emerged
We confirmed that the goodness of fit of each model is reasonable, based on pseudo R2, the Akaike information criterion (AIC), and the Bayesian information criterion (BIC)
This study examines pedestrian safety issues in Seoul, South Korea, a transitoriented development (TOD) environment, with evaluations of 5D measures on pedestrian crashes

Summary

Introduction

Accepted: 30 December 2021From the discourse on how to resolve transportation problems in Western cities, the car-oriented cities of the United States (US), the concept of compact development has emerged. Since the late twentieth century, the vicious cycle of automobile-dependent transport systems and urban sprawl has led transportation planners and policymakers to frame a progressive concept of smart growth by promoting high-density and compact development in US cities. Though measures to design and implement compact urban development and environmental improvements have been diverse, they mainly aim to adopt high-density planning and efficient land-use. Such measures invariably address the “five Ds” (5Ds) of the urban built environment: density, diversity, design, distance to transit, and destination accessibility [5,6]. Planning strategies to reduce automobile dependence, and increase walking and biking, facilitate

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