Pedestrian Satisfaction Research Articles

Human‐centered designs, characteristics of urban streets, and pedestrian perceptions

SummaryThis paper presents the results of a study conducted to examine the characteristics of human‐centered design and pedestrians' perceptions of street design features. The main emphasis was to determine the existence of empirical evidence that human‐centered design increases pedestrian satisfaction levels and enhances community walkability. The following approach was applied in the study: (i) the existing research concerning walkable community and pedestrian facility designs was reviewed; (ii) survey data from pedestrian interviews regarding urban streets as well as the detailed geometric features of the interview sites were gathered; (iii) statistical analysis to determine whether pedestrians actually feel more satisfied when they walk in areas with human‐centered design was conducted based on actual pedestrian interview scores for various street design features; and (iv) major design features to increase pedestrian satisfaction levels were identified. The study results show that pedestrians perceived planting strips as the most important design element that would increase the satisfaction scores whereas they perceived the presence of driveways and the number of vehicle lanes as design elements that that would diminish the scores. Overall, the valuable findings of this research provide evidence of the various effects of the application of human‐centered design and improve our understanding of walkable communities. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Investigation and Analysis of Satisfaction of Rail Transit Transfer Station Facilities in Changchun

The comfort satisfaction of basic facilities of the rail transit transfer station will influence pedestrian choice of vehicle. Aiming at the problem of traffic jams in Changchun in China, we designed a satisfaction questionnaire to investigate the factors which might affect the pedestrian satisfaction in rail transit transfer station in Changchun. By using the statistical methods, including correlation analysis, factor analysis and comparative analysis of satisfaction and importance, we analyzed the survey data, and get the results of analysis. Some suggestions for rail transit transfer station based on the results are given.

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

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.

가로변 미디어폴이 보행만족도에 미치는 영향분석 - 서울시 강남 U-street를 중심으로 -

본 연구는 서울시 강남구 U-street에 설치된 L.E.D 미디어 폴(Media pole)이라는 통합형 가로시설물이 보행 만족도에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지 분석하는 것이 주요 목적이다. 이를 위해 가로시설물로서 미디어폴의 구성요소를 보행자 관점에서 탐색적으로 살펴보고 이를 바탕으로 요인분석을 실시하였다. 요인분석을 통해 제1요인은 '심미 상징성'요인으로 명명하였고, 제2요인은 '형태 조형성', 제3요인은 '접근 연속성'으로 분석하였다. 제4요인은 '감각 전달성', 제5요인은 '정보 매체성'으로 명명하였다. 요인분석은 이용자 관점에서 사례대상지 보행자에 대한 행태관찰과 심층면접(In-depth Interview)을 실시하였고, 33개 예비변수를 도출하였다. 도출된 예비요인을 전문가 F.G.I(Focus Group Interview)를 통해 최종적으로 요인분석에서 사용할 20개 예비변수를 선정하였다. 요인분석을 통해 선정된 5개의 독립변수와 보행자의 만족도를 종속변수로 다중회귀분석을 실시한 결과 강남대로 U-street에 설치된 미디어 폴이 보행자의 보행만족도에 미치는 영향 중 통계학적 유의미한 영향요소는 '심미 상징성'요인으로 분석되었다. U-street에서 미디어 폴은 보행자에게 심미적 감성과 상징성으로 새로운 보행체험에 기여하고 있는 것으로 판단된다. 향후 이용자 편의성을 기반으로한 정보매체로서의 접근성을 강화하고 활용 가능한 콘텐츠 다양화를 유도해야할 것이다. IT 기반형 멀티미디어 매체인 미디어폴은 융합하는 가로환경과 융합하여 보행자에게 새로운 경험을 제공하여 보행활성화에 새로운 수단으로서의 가능성을 시사하고 있다. The purpose of this study is to observe the effects of road facilities that have adopted digital media such as total road facility called L.E.D media pole installed on U-street, Gangnam-gu on the pedestrians' satisfaction. Through the study, we would like to improve the brand competitiveness, increase the revisiting decision factors and suggest the fundamental development direction for the digital media road facilities on the typical pedestrian road, Gangnam street. The three factors from the studies came out to be spatial component, design component, and functional component. In order to analyze the factors, the pedestrians' behaviors were observed through a direct survey which provided 35 reserved factors. Also, the preliminary factors derived through survey questionnaires were revised by experts which compressed the result into 20 factors. The result of the regression analisis states that the 'Factor of the spatial component' is the statistically significant factor among the five elicited factors of the effect of the media pole on the pedestrian satisfaction. U-street's media pole provides the comfortable and various contents and application methods and will provide the new perspective on the purpose of pedestrians by new experience that is based on digital technology.

Meso- or micro-scale? Environmental factors influencing pedestrian satisfaction

Despite interest in walking and its environmental, health, and social benefits, little research has investigated pedestrian satisfaction, and its potential influence on walking decisions. The present study examines the relationships between pedestrian satisfaction, and a variety of built environment factors, in order to gain insight into urban design strategies that can improve pedestrian satisfaction. We analyzed a pedestrian survey, carried out in Seoul, Korea, which includes questions about personal characteristics, micro-scale environmental attributes, and the level of pedestrian satisfaction, together with Seoul GIS data, which provided meso-scale environmental variables. The multilevel models estimated the effects of environmental factors on the level of satisfaction of utilitarian and recreational walkers. The analysis identified significant effects of both meso-scale (e.g. density, intersection density, hilliness, and the presence of bus stops), and micro-scale (e.g. sidewalk width, and the presence of bus dedicated lanes, crossings, lamps, and trees) variables on pedestrian satisfaction. The results calls on researchers to investigate a comprehensive set of psychological and environmental factors, in order to understand the various aspects of pedestrian satisfaction, and the diverse motivations behind it, as well as on planners, to adopt diverse design approaches that will produce more satisfactory pedestrian environments.

Roadside walking environments and major factors affecting pedestrian level of service

This paper provides study results of the pedestrian level of service (LOS) within the roadside walking environments. The comfort needs of pedestrians and the multimodal LOS are the main issues of the study. The approach applied in the research includes a literature review, a pedestrian intercept survey, and a multiple regression analysis. Major findings include: (1) current measure of effectiveness for determining pedestrian LOS in the Korean Highway Capacity Manual should be replaced with a more realistic measure of effectiveness, such as the level of pedestrian satisfaction, (2) pedestrian perception within roadside walking environments was successfully captured in a model developed in this study, and (3) the impact of adding automobile-related variables to explanatory variables was statistically significant. Cross-section design elements affecting the perception of pedestrian LOS were also identified. It is hoped that this research will provide an increased understanding for pedestrian-friendly strategies in urban arterial designs.