Terms Of Walkability Research Articles

Recreation characteristics of the green zone forests of the Zhytomyr city

Recreation in forests is important for residents of cities, including Zhytomyr. The forests of the city’s green zone require a comprehensive assessment to regulate the recreational use of state and municipal forests. In order to analyse the recreational indicators of the forests of the green zone of Zhytomyr, a comparative analysis of forest management data of landscape mensuration was carried out and compared with the results of our own field research. To analyse the recreational indicators, the forest management database, materials of previous field studies, as well as electronic mapping materials and a geographic information system were used. According to the forest management data, the spatial structure of the forest park area is far from optimal due to the small share of open and semi-open landscape types. The existing functional zoning in most areas does not correspond to the actual recreational use of the territory. There are areas with intensive visits that are not classified as forest parks and do not have landscape mensuration data, although they have a high level of improvement. In terms of walkability, sustainability, aesthetic and integrated assessment, the forest park areas demonstrate mostly mediocre results. The recreational digression of the vast majority of sites is insignificant. Some plots have the necessary indicators for a high additional assessment. The results of the field surveys confirmed the unreliability of some recreational indicators determined by forest management. The largest discrepancy was noted in the determination of walkability, additional and recreational values, which are significantly underestimated. In the most visited areas, the actual indicators of recreational digression and aesthetic assessment are lower than those in the forest management materials. Refinement of the data on recreational characteristics of the forest park zone areas allows updating the information on landscape mensuration and developing a comprehensive functional zoning of the territory of suburban forests in Zhytomyr. The results of the study will help state and municipal forestry enterprises to optimize the recreational exploitation of forests within the green zone of the city, rationalize the use of natural resources for recreational purposes, while ensuring environmental sustainability

Spatial disparities of street walkability in Moscow in the context of healthy urban environment

Urban walkability might be one of the most important indicators of a healthy city. Taking Moscow as a case study we focused on assessing the walkability through a well-known walkability index using only open data sources. The application of the walkability index to Moscow required some adjustments in its calculation, however, the methodology used has brought the results that could be expected. The strong spatial heterogeneity in walkability was clearly identified within the city. Moreover, the walkability and social differentiation within the city boundaries could have the same spatial patterns. Despite the significant changes and evolution of urban environment throughout the Moscow's history, especially in recent years, historical context is still as impactful as before in terms of walkability. Green infrastructure might be an important component of the walkability index in the context of a healthy urban environment and well-being. Although Moscow could be identified as a green city, some areas cannot adequately provide green infrastructure for all of their residents, primarily due to the remoteness of large parks. According to the results of our study, the priority should be directed towards the improvement of consistency of the green infrastructure network and diversification of land-use in the most vulnerable areas of post-industrial development.

The establishment of an intermodal walkability index for use in car oriented urban environments: The case of Nicosia

Sustainable mobility has been considered key in the pursuit of sustainable development in urban environments. During the last decades, a lot of innovative initiatives have been proposed and examined, most of them were site-specific and highly relevant to the local context. This case study review focuses on Nicosia, a car oriented, medium sized city, and attempts to define an intermodal walkability index for the city center. In a city like Nicosia where more than 90% of the daily trips are done completely by car, encouraging intermodal mobility with walking as part of the trip is an important first step to sustainable mobility. The aim of the paper is to present a model based upon the most impactful sustainability indicators when referring to pedestrian mobility, and therefore will create an intermodal walkability index for grading the walkability of an urban environment, in our case a particular, car-oriented one. The index was developed by using the latest version of pyQGIS, due to the fact that the algorithms that are being used in the calculation of this index are already part of the geospatial analysis toolbox contained within QGIS. The paper uses as a case study the municipality of Nicosia in Cyprus where it was proven that pedestrian transportation can be graded in terms of walkability from the private car drop point. The study has also discovered that the use of primary electricity generation and fossil fuels for transport can be reduced if problematic areas that have a low or negative sustainability score are managed in ways that will increase the score.

Enhancing Walkability in Brick & Mortar Retail Markets: Case Study of Chaura Bazar, Ludhiana

Purpose – In success of brick and mortar (B&M) retail markets, pedestrian friendly urban design plays a pivotal role. Variables affecting walkability have significant social, economic and environmental benefits in B&M retail markets. Through qualitative analysis from field and public agency survey, this paper evaluates the walkability index of retail markets in and along, Chaura bazar road, Ludhiana. Design/ methodology/ approach – Safety, Comfort and Convenience are three important pillars for sustainable urban design for pedestrian in B&M retail markets. Multiple methods including Global walking Index (GWI), Pedestrian Environment Data Scan (PEDS) and Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) are available to measure urban environment related to walking in particular region. For analysis of selected market, GWI method was chosen owing to the fact that it is the best worldwide applicable method to perform walkability qualitative analysis. Findings – Irrespective of the fact that pedestrians are the most important users in B&M retail markets, Walkability Index of study area is 27, which is minimal walkable range. Thus, to increase walkability, it is much needed for architects, planners and policy makers to implement actions to improve safety, comfort and convenience of pedestrian in all potential B&M retail markets. Originality – Walkability is one of the important concepts in urban planning and this paper highlights influencing factors to promote walking in B&M retail market. Indeed, in cities like Ludhiana, huge potential in retail industry is available, thus qualitative analysis of B&M retail markets is needed to attain a sustainable urban environment. Under scope, in terms of walkability, existing markets in Chaura bazar, Ludhiana have been analyzed.

Realizing proximity in times of deregulation and densification: Evaluating urban change from a welfare regime perspective

We evaluate changes in proximity (in terms of walkability) to essential services in the city region of Gothenburg, Sweden, 1994–2014, when sustainability policy goals were set to promote urban densification and non-motorized mobility. Simultaneously, public services were deregulated, reducing political capacity to control their accessibility. Considering this tension and welfare regime theory, we investigate to what extent typically regulated and deregulated services (libraries, pharmacies, primary schools, and grocery stores) have come closer to the population in areas of different densities and centralities. We draw on unique micro-level data comprising the detailed locations of population and services analyzed using decomposition. Results indicate that services the most (libraries) and least (grocery stores) controlled by public policy decreased in proximity. In contrast, recently deregulated services (pharmacies and primary schools) became more accessible by foot due to disruptive market change. While population relocation reduced the proportion of people living near the services, the changing geography of amenities was a more important driver of proximity change. We argue that sustainability goals to realize proximity have far-reaching repercussions for urban governance, emphasizing the need to assess proximity changes at detailed scale levels.

Street connectivity and walking: An empirical study in Londrina- PR

A caminhabilidade emerge como uma diretriz de planejamento urbano que incentiva a caminhada, considerada como o meio de transporte mais saudável e sustentável. A conectividade viária, essencial para espaços caminháveis, geralmente é medida por meio da densidade de intersecções (DI). Por outro lado, Integração é entendida como uma medida mais complexa de conectividade. No Brasil, nenhum estudo foi identificado que considere essas variáveis em termos de caminhabilidade ou moderação de variáveis sociodemográficas. O objetivo desta pesquisa é analisar a influência dessas medidas de conectividade na caminhada, considerando covariáveis sociodemográficas em uma regressão logística múltipla. Foi realizado um estudo de caso em Londrina-PR, utilizando dados de origem-destino de viagens (n =19323) e características sociodemográficas. A Integração foi calculada para cada segmento de via em um raio de 1200 m. A DI foi calculada por zona, considerando a quantidade de intersecções e a área da zona. Um modelo de regressão logística múltipla foi ajustado, contendo covariáveis significativas. As Razões de Chance foram analisadas em relação às suas implicações teóricas. Os resultados indicam que os moradores de áreas altamente conectadas andaram mais. Ambas as medidas de conectividade foram significativas. Isso sugere que, embora relacionadas, elas podem capturar diferentes aspectos da rede de ruas. Este estudo contribui com evidências para o contexto brasileiro sobre conectividade considerando o prisma da caminhabilidade. Por meio do empirismo, será possível subsidiar políticas públicas e planejamento urbano na criação de espaços caminháveis.

What Is The Role Of Design And Architecture In Slip, Trip, And Fall Accidents?

The paper and presentation addresses how much comparative negligence is contributed by bad architectural choices and environmental design, as compared to humans not being aware or “unconscious” of their surrounding environment. What is the role of the environment versus behavior? The architectural design process has critical steps in developing design criteria, but human factors and ergonomics are not typically given priority over aesthetics. Egress paths of travel are addressed typically in terms of accessibility and fire resistance, but not in terms of walk-ability, safety, including slip and trip resistance. Various national and state codes, as well as standards of care define what safe paths of travel should be, yet in 2007, more than 21,700 Americans died as a result of falls and more than 7.9 million were injured. Falls are the leading cause of injury related deaths among adults 73 year and older, and 2nd leading cause of death of persons 60-72. Over 275,000 occupational injuries were caused by slips, trips and falls in 2008 (Scott, National Safety Council, 2009). The consequences of a person suffering injures from a fall accident are ten times more likely than being a victim from a fire (National Safety Council 2017). Recommendations are made for improved architectural awareness and understanding of the human factors and ergonomics in the prevention of slip, trip, and fall accidents.

Assessment of factors influencing walkability in shopping streets of tourism cities: case of Bursa, Turkey

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the principal factors affecting walkability from the viewpoint of the inhabitants of Bursa. It is intended to discover whether inhabitants’ conception of factors affecting walkability complies with the factors identified by the authors in regard to literature review.Design/methodology/approachBased on several studies about influencing parameters of walkability, three main factors – spatial, social, economic – can be specified affecting the desire to walk by the user. In the content of this study, a conceptual model is developed for the assessment of factors influencing walkability. In this study, two different analysis methods are applied: qualitative approach: observation survey; and quantitative approach: questionnaire survey. By utilizing the conceptual model, a questionnaire is prepared and applied to 200 pedestrians in three streets. Moreover, the questionnaire items were factor analyzed to explore the principal factors affecting walkability from the viewpoint of the inhabitants of Bursa.FindingsIn the literature review part, the factors affecting walkability are defined as accessibility, comfort and use, environmental aesthetics, safety and security and connectivity. However, as a result of the survey applied to pedestrians in Bursa, it has been revealed that the most important factors are “Accessibility,” “Comfort and Use,” “Traffic Safety,” “Crime Security” and “Connectivity,” excluding the factor “Environmental Aesthetics.”Originality/valueThere is a need for studies which assess the factors influencing the walkability in tourism cities in depth. Tourism potential in Bursa, Turkey, has raised since it has been inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2014. Therefore, walkability became one of the important issues in urban planning decisions for the streets in the historic city center in policies of the local government. The studies that assess the factors influencing walkability and the satisfaction of the pedestrians will open up new visions for urban decision makers. Within the scope of this study, existing historic city center in Bursa has been analyzed in terms of walkability.

Measuring the Impact of Street Network Configuration on the Accessibility to People and Walking Attractors

A common approach to evaluating the quality of urban environments in terms of walkability is to measure the accessibility of walking attractors. For this purpose, the information on street network configuration and distribution of walking attractors is required. However, in the early planning stages when not all the necessary data on land use allocation is available, or if the knowledge about the walkability impact of the pure street network configuration is required, this approach is of little use. By addressing this deficiency, we developed method for predicting the accessibility of walking attractors only by using the information on the street network configuration. This method is based on the hypothesis that street network configuration influences how people move through space, and this in turn affects the allocation and accessibility of walking attractors. We empirically test this hypothesis in a case study of Weimar, Germany and found that street network configuration alone was significant and the strongest predictor of AWA. We show how street network influences the distribution of people in terms of pedestrian movement flows and that the access to these movement flows is highly correlated to the neighbourhood walkability. This highlights the importance of urban structure as an interface for social interaction and suggests the positive effect of social proximity on the quality of environment.

Walkability as an Indicator of Neighbourhood Resilience ( breakout presentation )

Background Reducing car-dependency can significantly reduce the negative impact of neighbourhoods in terms of energy consumption and GHG emissions. In this way, walkable neighbourhoods assist in climate change mitigation plans by decreasing reliance on fossil fuels for transportation. Furthermore, many features associated with walkable environments, including street trees and green space networks, play important roles in supporting overall neighbourhood climate change resilience by mitigating urban heat island (UHI) and managing storm water. In addition to this, walkability can have significant impact on adaptation to climate change-related events, and so plays an important role in increasing the resilience of a neighbourhood. Aim This paper investigates the impact of neighbourhood design on transportation mode choice by examining walkability through its role in satisfying the basic needs of the community during and after a disruption. This is based on the assumption that walkability is employed as a method of transportation, not just as recreation. Placed in context of the wider relationship between walkability, transportation, and land use designation, the significant role played by neighbourhood design in supporting urban resilience is outlined and opportunities for further research highlighted. Method The paper presents a comparison of two neighbourhoods from different eras and examines them in terms of walkability and resilience. Using walkshed mapping, the relationship between walkability, distance, amenities, and basic needs is revealed, and therefore the overall resilience of the subject neighbourhoods are better understood. The relative resilience of different parts of each neighbourhood are also revealed. Results and Conclusion The relationship between neighbourhood resilience, walkability, and transportation must also be considered when creating walkable environments. Distance, local risks, as well as mitigation and adaptation are important factors requiring consideration. Using a checklist of walkable design elements (trees, sidewalks, architectural guidelines) does not necessarily support neighbourhood resilience in the face of extreme weather events especially in the context of supporting the basic needs of the local community.

SPACE AND ITS USE FOR PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC IN CENTER AREAS OF SELECTED POLISH CITIES

The quality of urban space in terms of walkability can be assessed taking many parameters into account, such as the presence of sidewalks, their density and continuity, appropriate technical parameters as well as the presence of greenery, squares, parks, which create the environment for pedestrian traffic. The lack of travel barriers, the possibility to shorten the route, travel safety and security, the presence of street furniture, shops and services are also significant. This article concerns some of the above described factors and presents selected research results on the use of space in city centers of several Polish cities – Kraków, Gdańsk, Szczecin, Warsaw, Gdynia, Wrocław and Poznań as well as the results of an analysis on the friendliness of this space for pedestrian traffic. The first phase of this study was to determine the share of public space within the analyzed city center areas, and then define areas used as roads, infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists, squares, green areas, parks and public courtyards. The balance of the used space was created for each researched area, and the space dedicated to pedestrian traffic was additionally analyzed in terms of the presence of obstacles as well as sidewalk location. The analysis results prove that that greatest amount of the public space is located in the city center of Poznań, and the smallest in Kraków. Warsaw is characterized by the greatest and Szczecin by the smallest percentage of the pedestrian infrastructure. Szczecin dominates in terms of the share of roads in the downtown area, Wrocław in terms of squares and Gdańsk – public courtyards.

A Methodological Framework to Rank Energy Efficiency of Cities

Out of 17 sustainable development goals established by United Nations, the goal of sustainable cities and communities achievement can be addressed by having more energy saving cities. In this context this study will be useful in identifying sustainable cities in the evaluation of goal achievement as one indicator to measure sustainable cities. The objective of this study is to propose a methodology that would enable to rank energy efficient cities and to establish their rank priorities. Energy efficiency may be the cheapest, most abundant, and most underutilized resource for local economic and community development.In today’s context motorized transportation is highly being used, which resulted in more energy waste and pollution. Walking receives a considerable interest as non polluting transportation mode which results in energy saving as opposed to motorized traffic. We can have more energy saving cities by reducing the motor traffic and promoting more pedestrian friendly cities. In this context, measure of “walkability” has been used. This research attempts to identify a ranking system of cities to base on their energy efficiency in terms of walkability with the identified indicators.These indicators included daily traffic flow composition, Public transport network, pedestrian movements and an evaluation of existing pedestrian facilities within the city limits. On the basis of the surveys performed, the significance of indicators was determined.Since this being an initial attempt in ranking energy efficient cities in terms of walkability, researches can further develop this methodological framework and fine tune it towards an all inclusive ranking system of energy efficient cities. Keywords: Sutainable cities, Motorized transportation, Walkability, Pedestrian, Indicators

Polish Version of the Neighbourhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS-Poland).

The characteristics of built environments are the subject of intense consideration in the search for solutions to promote wellbeing and a higher quality of life among the inhabitants of cities. Walkability, defined as the extent to which the built environment is friendly to living and fulfilling the needs of the area, has become an important concept in sustainable urban design, public health and environmental psychology. This study systematically adapted the Neighbourhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS) for Poland, and evaluated the construct validity aspects of the adapted version among Polish adults. A total sample of 783 participants from a TriCity (Trójmiasto) agglomeration completed the adapted version of the NEWS. Smaller extracted samples of the participants also completed wellbeing related scales, including self-efficacy, local identity and distance to city centre measures. It was expected that various districts of Gdańsk would differ in terms of walkability. The confirmatory factor analysis showed satisfactory goodness-of-fit statistics and factor loadings corresponding to the proposed original factor structure. According to the predictions, the NEWS subscales correlated with the self-efficacy, local identity and wellbeing related measures. In addition, the comparisons between the neighbourhoods of Gdańsk also showed a predictable pattern of results. Overall, the NEWS demonstrated satisfactory measurement properties, and may be useful in the evaluation of the built environment in Poland.

Do Better Urban Design Qualities Lead to More Walking in Salt Lake City, Utah?

Urban designers recognize the importance of perceptual qualities to an active street life but have had little empirical evidence to support the claim. Recent research has developed measurement protocols for urban design qualities related to walkability. A subsequent study conducted in New York City confirmed the explanatory powers of the measures. However, New York City is exceptionally walkable. This study seeks to validate urban design qualities in terms of walkability in Salt Lake City, Utah. This research validates specific micro-urban design measures of walkability while controlling for spatial autocorrelation, finding that imageability, in addition to transparency, adds significantly to walkability.

Is Kentlands Better than Radburn?: The American Garden City and New Urbanist Paradigms

This article compares the two developments—Radburn in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, and Kentlands in Gaithersburg, Maryland—that exemplify the American Garden City and New Urbanist paradigms, respectively. Through a morphological case study and quantitative analysis, we examine how their goals and prescriptions were realized in suburban residential developments and how they differ from each other. In the end, Radburn and Kentlands are not so completely opposed as they initially appear. They share the underlying goal of a walkable residential environment, and their prescriptions are very similar. However, in terms of walk-ability, Kentlands' interconnected grid cannot resolve the conflict between automobiles and pedestrians. Additionally, overemphasis on variety in housing types and styles in Kentlands, probably common in New Urbanism, may work against the marketability and long-term success of such planned suburban communities. Their similarities in scale, development density, mixed land use scheme, and block plan allow us to try complementary shuffling of the individual elements in both sets of prescriptions.