Abstract
Urban sprawl and increasing population density in urban centers create the challenge to finding ways of sustainable transportation solutions that preserve the convenience of residents while reducing emissions. Therefore, walkability is a core urban design element because of being advantageous onto three fronts: health, livability, and sustainability. Adopting walkability as urban solution relieves conceptual and practical tensions between the individualistic interests manifested in the desire to own and use private cars, and the need to reduce transportation-based consumption. This review advocates that long-term health benefits from walking and physical activity are the premier incentive to repurpose our cities to be more sustainable and more walking friendly, and spark behavioral change into reducing car dependency for all daily transportations. The review inspects physical elements of the built environment that make the walking trip feasible and desirable, such as connectivity, accessibility, and closeness of destination points, presence of greenness and parks, commercial retail, and proximity to transit hubs and stations. Hence, this review explores a few popular walkability evaluation indices and frameworks that employ subjective, objective, and/or distinctive methods within variant environmental, cultural, and national context. There is no unified universal standardized walkability theory despite the need for rigorous evaluation tools for policy makers and developers. Furthermore, there is a lack of emphasis on air quality and thermal stress while approaching walkability, despite being important elements in the walking experience. Research opportunities in the field of walkability can leverage location tracking from smart devices and identify the interaction patterns of pedestrians with other transportation modes, especially for those with fundamental movement challenges such as wheelchair users.
Highlights
Walking has been the main mode of transportation in urban areas
Walkability, as we demonstrate throughout this review, is viewed to serve multiple aspects of life, and is measured and assessed through different variables, such as the pedestrian sidewalks, accessibility to amenities, and environmental conditions, and still a subject of debate, and different prioritization approaches to the competing factors in the built environment (Southworth, 2005; Forsyth, 2015)
This review investigates the role of walkability as a core urban feature designed to link and improve upon three basic needs, 1—the health of residents, 2—livability and quality of life for members of the community, and 3—long-term sustainability with its three pillars, the environment, economy, and society
Summary
Walking has been the main mode of transportation in urban areas. That changed with the rapid urbanization and mass introduction of cars in the 1950s and the subsequent population growth in suburbanite areas around the major cities. We keep this section to focus on the direct financial benefits of walkability associated with cost reductions on the public and consumers, the benefits for the efficient land mixed use on property values, and the reduced burden on healthcare sector associated with increasing the physical activity levels among the population.
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