Walkable Access Research Articles

Food access in Kalamazoo, Michigan: A spatial analysis

Healthy and affordable food is a universal human need. In the U.S., food access is often limited in low-income areas as opposed to medium- and high-income areas. To address disparities in the availability of healthy foods, the dispersion of food access points needs to be quantified and docu­mented. Nutritional quality and consistency of availability vary across different types of food access points, including permanent grocery stores, farmers markets, community gardens, food pan­tries, and convenience stores. Accessibility is also determined by the means of transportation avail­able or required to get to food access points (public transit, driving, or walking). In this geographic information systems (GIS)-based analysis, we iden­tify differences in accessibility to distinct types of food access points—reliable, seasonal, and lower quality—between low-income and higher-income tracts in the City of Kalamazoo, Michigan. We found that all full-service grocery stores are acces­sible via bus routes in the City of Kalamazoo; however, 11% of people reside in low-income areas with low access to these grocery stores—beyond the 0.25-mile walkable distance to bus routes. We then asked whether the addition of community gardens, food pantries, and farmers markets, on the “plus” side, or convenience and dollar stores, on the “minus” side, changes the food access landscape in this community. We found that the “positive” access points served areas that already had access to grocers, while “negative” access points filled the access gap in lower income areas. More than twice as many low-income residents had walkable access to convenience stores—which provide lower-quality and highly processed food—with 81% of them being located within low-income tracts. Geographical analysis of low food access and low-quality food access is important to identify structural patterns, but it needs to be paired with interview-based community assessments to ascertain how residents actually procure their food.

Capturing spatial inequalities: an analysis of walkable access to open spaces in Lima

ABSTRACT Social inequity is a global problem that often acutely materialises in cities, where people with lower incomes have reduced access to open spaces. This article examines how walkable access to open spaces mediated by urban morphology and topography differs for people with contrasting income profiles. Taking Lima as a case study, the spatial analysis adapted GIS tools to consider the steep slopes of informal settlements. The combined mapping and measuring of open space catchments and urban fabric permeabilities shows significant spatial inequities between low- and high-income residents that could not have been captured through traditional spatial analytical methods.

Associating sense of place and nature relatedness in the British Columbia Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region: a case study

ABSTRACT This case study is part of a project examining the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region – a UNESCO-designated biosphere reserve on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. We aimed to understand the extent to which individuals in six communities experience psychological variables linked to pro-social and pro-environmental outcomes, such as sense of place – comprised of place attachment, place identity, and place dependence – and nature-relatedness. We also explored how these attitudes relate to residents’ perceived views of, and walkable access to, nature. Overall, sense of place was neutral; nature relatedness and perceptions of views and access to nature were significantly stronger than sense of place. Although these two variables, as well as sense of place and perceptions of views and walkable access to nature correlated in the region on aggregate, significant associations were not revealed per community. Over 60% of responses to an open-ended item about physical features that contribute to sense of place concerned the natural environment – rather than social or built amenities. Municipal planners may capitalize on restorative effects that arise when community members form connections with nature, and concentrate funding or public engagement on trails, parks, and other natural features to bolster sense of place in coastal and mountainous communities.

Walking access to urban wetlands: an opportunity for recreation and wellbeing

Urban wetlands in Chilean cities are one of the urban ecosystems most affected by real estate developments. Despite their importance for recreation and biodiversity, they are constantly shrinking due to deficient urban planning processes. However, with the recent boom of green and sustainable cities, wetlands are being revalued through restoration projects and open urban parks, with natural value for the well-being of habitats and the urban population. In this sense, promoting accessibility through suitable infrastructure will contribute to improving the quality of life of inhabitants and the urban environment, specifically through the integration of blue-green infrastructure. Walkable access to a network of wetlands called "La Ruta del Agua" (“the water trail”) has been analyzed here, through a perception-based survey, looking to improve access to nature in cities. The urban wetlands assessed comprise five ecosystems located in different types of neighborhoods in the metropolitan area of Concepción, Chile. Although this is a local case study, it is relevant from a methodological perspective, given the existence of a large number of degraded urban wetlands in Latin America that are in danger of disappearing. The results show that wetlands are accessible by walking, but the fact that they are rarely visited, despite being close to residential areas, reveals a lack of integration as open green spaces, rich in biodiversity, and as places of recreation in the city of Concepción. The results of this study are valuable for the design of future “wetland parks”, one which must consider the ecosystem values, biodiversity, and recreation for people’s well-being.

Analytical assessment of implementation aspect of regional rapid transit system

Being a socio-economic and political hub in India, Delhi-National Capital Region is emerging as a magnet of attraction for people at a revolutionary pace. Despite the extensive network of Indian railways and road transport, the inadequacy of public transport has its undeniable aftermaths such as rising accidental statistics, pollution concentration, commuting time delay, and energy wastage. This study focuses on the analytical assessment of regional rapid transit system as an alternative to existing public transport to reduce the dependency of commuters on personalized vehicles, provide seamless connectivity in regional transportation and highlight the issues & perspectives of urbanization, traffic congestion, road safety, pollution and parking. In this research study, an analytical survey on the public opinion is performed in the following aspects: socio-economic, travel behavior, walkable access, transportation mode, preference of modal share, interchange, and safety with comfort. The result reveals that commuters’ opinion toward regional rapid transit has appeared to be 46% positive, 35% positive with amenities and 19% negative.

Children's outdoor activities in the inner suburbs of Brisbane, Australia

AbstractTo examine the impact of residential design on children's out‐of‐school, outdoor activities, 149 urban, upper‐primary‐school children were surveyed about their activities and opinions. Findings indicate children participate in outdoor activities unsupervised in yards that provide busy families quick, convenient access to safe greenspace without the need to drive or closely supervise. The research concluded that government policies are required to ensure residential developments provide yards with usable greenspace, leafy streetscapes and safe, walkable access to local facilities. Increased public awareness and understanding of the benefits of greenspace close to home and the importance of children's independent mobility must be prioritised.

The changing context of walking behavior: coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic in urban neighborhoods

PurposeIt is observed that the COVID-19 Pandemic mostly restricts people's movement and walking habits. In this direction, this study aims to highlight how the walking behaviors of individuals affected in different geographies' neighborhoods before and during the Pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThis paper focuses on the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and the changing walking behavior of 24 sample regions (514 participants) with the highest incidents of COVID-19 infection from American, European, Asian, Western Pacific, African and Middle Eastern cities. The paper's methodology is supported by an /online questionnaire survey conducted in these 24 disparate neighborhoods in December 2020.FindingsFindings show that “walkable access” varies over geographies during the Pandemic. Urban amenities within 15–20 min of access become more important than ever. The results unravel that either walkable or non-walkable neighborhoods showcased similarities despite that urban amenities were not within 15–20 min of access. Three prominent aspects should be emphasized to plan walkable neighborhoods: providing walkable access, forming spatial proximity and sustaining social cohesion.Social implicationsThe availability of daily amenities, such as shopping stores, health care, education services and pharmacies within a 15–20-min walking distance maintain everyday life and increase social interactions. In addition, places with walkable access encourage an active lifestyle and contribute the public health. The impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic movement restrictions on the walking behavior of individuals highlights how the qualities of distance-based urban planning need to be supported with time-based practical attributes that can shape neighborhood planning frameworks.Originality/valueThis paper highlights the coexistence of “walkability” and “accessibility” measures in urban practice and research to create resilient and sustainable neighborhoods. The “walkable access” term used in the paper addresses joint measures of walkability and accessibility.

Does health service funding go where the need is? A prototype spatial access analysis for new urban contracts data

BackgroundMuch of spatial access research measures the proximity to health service locations. We advance this research by focusing on whether health service funding is within walkable reach of neighborhoods with high hardship. This is made possible by a new administrative data source: financial contracts data for those human services that are delivered by nonprofits under contract with the government.MethodsIn a prototypical spatial access study we apply a classic 2-step floating area catchment model for walkable network access to analyze 2018 data about contracted nonprofit health services funded by the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH). CDPH collected the data for the purpose of this study.ResultsWe find that the common container approach of aggregating contract amounts by provider headquarter locations in a given area (ignoring satellite service sites) underestimates the share of funding that goes to Chicago neighborhoods with higher hardship. Once service sites and spatial access are taken into account, a larger share of CDPH funds was found to be within walkable reach of Chicago’s high hardship areas. This was followed by low hardship areas (which could be driven by more headquarter locations there that do serve areas throughout the city). Medium hardship areas trail both, perhaps warranting closer attention. We explore these results by program type and neighborhood with a spatial decision support system developed for the health department.ConclusionsThe typical approach for analyzing human service contracts based on headquarters is misleading -- in fact, we find that results are reversed when service sites and walkable access are taken into account. This prototype provides an alternative framework for avoiding these misleading results.

Does tree canopy moderate the association between neighborhood walkability and street crime?

Creating walkable places and increasing urban vegetation in neighborhoods have emerged as important planning strategies to promote health, social, and environmental benefits. Although past studies have found that walkability and tree canopy are associated with crime, little research has comprehensively examined how neighborhood walkability and tree canopy are associated with street crime. The current study fills this gap by analyzing the relationship among walkable access to amenities measured by Walk Score, urban tree canopy, and the five-year violent and property street crime rates (2014–2018) across an entire city. This study used the case of Austin, Texas to investigate the association exists between 1) neighborhood walkability and street crime and 2) tree canopy and street crime. We also assessed whether the association between neighborhood walkability and street crime was moderated by tree canopy. The first set of models based on a negative binomial regression showed that neighborhood walkability was positively associated with both violent and property street crime rates while tree canopy was inversely associated with violent and property street crime rates. The second set of models revealed a nonlinear relationship between neighborhood walkability and the street crime rate. The final set of models showed that tree canopy cover can moderate the relationship between street crime and neighborhood walkability, suggesting that tree canopy can somewhat offset the negative influence of walkable neighborhoods, such as crowdedness and noise, in relation to street crime. The findings have implications for developing evidence-based planning, design, and policy strategies to create livable streets and prevent street crime by planting more trees in walking-friendly environments.

Mental Health and Recreation Opportunities.

The environment has direct and indirect effects on mental health. Previous studies acknowledge that the poor design of communities and social environments leads to increased psychological distress, but methodological issues make it difficult to draw clear conclusions. Recent public health, leisure and recreation studies have tried to determine the relationship between recreation opportunities and mental health. However, previous studies have heavily focused on individual contexts rather than national or regional levels; this is a major limitation. It is difficult to reflect the characteristics of community environments effectively with such limited studies, because social environments and infrastructure should be analyzed using a spatial perspective that goes beyond an individual’s behavioral patterns. Other limitations include lack of socioeconomic context and appropriate data to represent the characteristics of a local community and its environment. To date, very few studies have tested the spatial relationships between mental health and recreation opportunities on a national level, while controlling for a variety of competing explanations (e.g., the social determinants of mental health). To address these gaps, this study used multi-level spatial data combined with various sources to: (1) identify variables that contribute to spatial disparities of mental health; (2) examine how selected variables influence spatial mental health disparities using a generalized linear model (GLM); (3) specify the spatial variation of the relationships between recreation opportunities and mental health in the continental U.S. using geographically weighted regression (GWR). The findings suggest that multiple factors associated with poor mental health days, particularly walkable access to local parks, showed the strongest explanatory power in both the GLM and GWR models. In addition, negative relationships were found with educational attainment, racial/ethnic dynamics, and lower levels of urbanization, while positive relationships were found with poverty rate and unemployment in the GLM. Finally, the GWR model detected differences in the strength and direction of associations for 3109 counties. These results may address the gaps in previous studies that focused on individual-level scales and did not include a spatial context.

Residents' preferences for private amenities and trade-offs associated with various spatial densities and patterns

ABSTRACT Northwest Arkansas planning policies, like a number of communities across the country, have identified goals working toward more sustainable, livable, and subsequently denser development patterns. However, the understanding of residents’ perceptions of such living arrangements is limited. This study provides a more nuanced understanding of Northwest Arkansas residents’ spatial preferences through a survey of residents’ preferences for private amenities and their trade-off with various spatial densities and patterns in support of sustainability. Results of the survey indicate a preference for, and experience with, single-family residential living arrangements and amenities, with the preponderance (80%) of survey respondents currently living in single-family housing. There is a preference for low-density neighborhoods even if it means sacrificing other amenities. This study is in alignment with previous research suggesting that people may learn to prefer where they live. Additionally, while the majority of survey respondents indicated a preference for communal greenspaces, renters are more likely to prefer communal greenspaces when compared to homeowners. This study indicates that attached, multi-family development and renter development in Northwest Arkansas should consider the provision of communal green spaces, walkable access to transit, and walkable access to services as desired amenities for those residents.

The 15-minute walkable neighborhoods: Measurement, social inequalities and implications for building healthy communities in urban China

A sufficient number of studies have highlighted that walkable neighborhoods can help to reduce the risk of obesity and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). The Chinese government advocates the 15-minute (15-min) walkable neighborhoods to provide citizens with 15-min walkable access to basic public services, and ultimately to improve walking behavior and overall health. Following the Walk Score metric, this paper proposes a modified method for measuring 15-min walkable neighborhoods and applies it to Shanghai, China. Based on amenity access, the assessment considers walking demands of different pedestrian groups (i.e., the entire population, children, adults, and seniors), the amenity attributes (scale and category), and the real traffic conditions. Spatial regression is further performed to determine whether significant associations exist between community socioeconomic status and 15-min walkable neighborhoods score. Results show clear variations in 15-min walkable neighborhoods score for different pedestrian groups. Regarding the overall 15-min walkable neighborhoods, highly walkable communities are primarily concentrated in the central areas; and that poorly walkable communities are dispersed in rural areas. Senior-concentrated and adult-concentrated communities are more likely to present higher walkability, while children-concentrated communities exhibit lower walkability. Moreover, communities with inferior walkability are characterized by a high proportion of floating population (nonresidents). This research provides future studies with references for evaluating 15-min walkable neighborhoods. Social inequalities in 15-min walkable neighborhoods should be emphasized, and interventions in planning implementation for building healthy communities in China should be targeted.

AwaP-IC—An Open-Source GIS Tool for Measuring Walkable Access

Within the broad field of walkability research, a key area of focus has been the relationship between urban form and capacities for walking. Measures of walkable access can be grouped into two key types: permeability measures that quantify the ease of movement through an urban fabric, and catchment measures, quantifying the potential to reach destinations within walking distance. Of numerous street network measures in use, it has been shown that many are poor proxies of permeability and catchment. Instead, two new measures have been proposed: the area-weighted average perimeter (AwaP) and interface catchment (IC), that, combined, better capture the capacities of urban morphologies to enable and attract pedestrian movement. In this paper, we present the QGIS tool AwaP-IC, developed to overcome the difficulty of computing these measures. Unlike GIS tools based on models that abstract streets to axial lines, by employing new algorithms and spatial computation techniques, AwaP-IC analyses actual urban morphologies, based on cadastral maps delineating public and private land. This can empower a new stream of urban morphological studies with the computational power of GIS. As an open-source tool, it can be further developed for use in urban mapping and to streamline the analysis of large datasets.

Geospatial patterns of access to self-care resources for obesity among endometrial cancer survivors in a high poverty urban community

ObjectiveTo examine endometrial cancer survivors' access to recommended obesity-related self-care resources. MethodsParticipants included women treated 2010–2015 for endometrial cancer at an academic medical center who lived in the surrounding 16 ZIP code area on Chicago's South Side. Demographic and health data were abstracted from medical records. A socioeconomic status (SES) score (SES-1 = low, SES-5 = high) was generated for each patient using census block group-level data. Self-care resources for exercise, healthy weight, and diet were obtained from a community resource census. Geospatial techniques assessed “walkable access” (~½-mile radius around a patient's home) to obesity-related resources. Multivariable logistic regression investigated associations between access to obesity-related resources and patient characteristics. ResultsOf 195 endometrial cancer survivors, 81% identified as Black/African American and 34% lived in an SES-1 census block. Two thirds (68%) had Stage I or II endometrial cancer. Nearly two thirds (62%) were obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2). Obesity was inversely associated with SES (p = 0.05). Two thirds of survivors had access to at least one of all three recommended resource types. Access was lower in low SES regions and among Black/African American women. Lower SES was associated with lower odds of walkable access to recommended resources (AOR for access to two of each resource type 0.75, 95%CI 0.59, 0.97; AOR for access to three or more of each 0.44, 95%CI 0.32, 0.61). ConclusionsObesity rates were higher and access to recommended resources was lower for Black/African American endometrial cancer survivors living in high poverty areas in Chicago.

Limits of space syntax for urban design: Axiality, scale and sinuosity

Space syntax analysis of the city as a movement economy has made major contributions to our understanding of the spatial structure of cities, particularly the importance of a mapping of network integration in relation to density, functional mix and streetlife vitality. It has focused attention of urban researchers onto the importance of the relations between the sociality and spatiality of the city. The primary methods of syntactic analysis involve a reduction of urban morphology to a set of spatial axes; here, we explore some limits to such analysis for urban design. Topological analysis of axial models has long recognized problems in accounting for distance, scale and sinuous streetscapes. Existing adaptations to axial methods that address such problems are modelled and shown to produce a broad range of results for the same urban morphology. In each case, we also compare different capacities for to-movement and through-movement – the distinction between ‘closeness centrality’ and ‘betweenness centrality’ that shows that network integration is multiple. We argue that axial analyses privilege visibility over accessibility and can produce distorted mapping at walkable scales; only one of the methods tested measures permeability and walkable access. Space syntax analysis is a powerful tool that will be more useful the better such limits are understood.

Impacts of transit and walking amenities on robust local knowledge economy

As of 2013, knowledge economy has held more than 10% of U.S. employment, generated nearly 20% of national GDP and expect to increase to 25% during the next 20 years. Likewise, Eurostat 2020 aims to increase investment in Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) to bypass the competitors, Japan and the U.S. As the result, investigating the determinants of robust knowledge economy is a continuing concern between city scholars, planners and leaders. To date, several locational and non-locational factors have been found to be influential. For instance, transit service, walkable street networks and dense neighborhoods that provide walkable access to urban amenities are the location preferences for the creative class. Creative class, in turn, attracts KIBS, and produces innovation which are all contributive to the knowledge-based economic vitality. While such trend is widely supported by the theoretical efforts, there is little empirical evidence on these complex multidimensional relationships and hence this study seeks to investigate both direct and indirect impacts of transit and walking amenities on the robust local knowledge economy. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), we developed a comprehensive model that accounts for KIBS, creative economy and innovation productivity and investigates their locational and non-locational determinants with the particular focus on walking and transit amenities. Our results generally echo the findings of previous studies about the key role of industry clustering, place quality amenities, diversity and tolerance on the three drivers of robust local knowledge economy. We found that among all exogenous variables racial diversity and industry clustering have the most significant direct effect on innovation productivity. We also found that transit service quality and walkability contribute to a robust local knowledge economy through KIBS and creative class, but they have an adverse relationship to the innovation production of the STEM small firms. This might be due to the fact that walkability and transit access increase the property values and, therefore, make them unaffordable for small innovative firms. Our findings on the impacts of walkability and transit access on innovation productivity in vulnerable small firms call for attention to the equity aspects of innovation-supportive urban developments.

WalkYourPlace - Building a Web-based Platform for Urban Accessibility Analysis ( breakout presentation )

A high degree of walkability is one of the keys to complete and liveable neighbourhoods. Apartments with shops, a pharmacy and a park around the corner are often in high demand. A study by National Association of Realtors but also newspaper and blog discussions show that walkable access to daily services is perceived by citizens to be important. Thereby a neighborhood is considered “walkable” if services for daily and weekly routines, such as bringing kids to school, grocery shopping, and visits to entertainment locations (e.g. cafe, bar, cinema) can easily and safely be walked to in 5 to 15 minutes. Our aim is to build an online platform that permits to evaluate a neighbourhood’s accessibility based on access to points-of-interest (POI), such as parks, schools, stores, cafes, theatres etc. within a certain travel time. Thereby we want to account for the evaluation of different transport modes (walk, bike, bus) and different demographic groups. In a first stage we developed a platform prototype for Calgary, Canada, and second Santiago de Chile. The platform is based on the free software OpenTripPlanner.org as routing backend, and a web-browser based user interface developed with the Python Django framework. Data comes mainly from OpenStreetMap, and transit data from local transit agencies. The method for the score calculation evaluates and weights the number and type of POI found within a network-based travel-shed. The sheds size is defined by the chosen travel mode and travel time. This method was original presented by WalkScore.com utilizing, however, a 1-mile circle for evaluation of walking. The prototype permits to measure urban accessibility for a particular map location given by the user (see http://webmapping.ucalgary.ca/WalkYourPlace/). We also added options for batch calculations to calculate accessibility for a complete city by evaluating a point grid. With the platform it’s possible to evaluate accessibility and in particular walkability for a user defined location. However, evaluation of planning scenarios - before and after infrastructure changes are also possible. For instance, we evaluated if and how accessibility changes for a new subway line in Santiago de Chile currently under construction.

Neighborhood walkability moderates the association between low back pain and physical activity: A co-twin control study.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether neighborhood walkability moderates the association between low back pain (LBP) and physical activity (PA), using a co-twin design to control for genetics and shared environmental factors. A cross-sectional analysis was performed on 10,228 twins from the Washington State Twin Registry with available data on LBP from recruitment surveys between 2009 and 2013. LBP within the past 3months was our exposure variable. Our outcome variables were sufficient moderate or vigorous-intensity PA (MVPA, defined as at least 75min of vigorous-intensity PA, or 150min of moderate-intensity PA per week), and walking (≥150min per week). Neighborhood walkability, estimated using the commercially available Walk Score®, was our moderator variable. After controlling for the influence of genetics and shared environment, individuals reporting LBP were significantly less likely to engage in sufficient MVPA if they lived in a neighborhood with high walkability (OR=0.59, 95%CI: 0.36-0.96). There was no association between LBP and sufficient MVPA for individuals living in a neighborhood with low walkability (OR=1.27, 95%CI: 0.93-1.72), demonstrating that walkability is a significant moderator of the association between LBP and PA (interaction p=0.013). These findings were similar for the association between LBP and walking (high walkability OR=0.42, 95%CI: 0.22-0.78; low walkability OR=0.71, 95%CI: 0.46-1.12), although the interaction was not significant (p=0.700). Neighborhood walkability moderates the association between LBP and PA. Our results highlight the importance of targeting interventions promoting PA towards individuals with LBP living in a neighborhood with good walkable access to amenities.

Permeability and interface catchment: measuring and mapping walkable access

The relationship between urban morphology and walkability is central to urban design theory and practice. In this paper, we develop new measures for pedestrian permeability and catchment areas, suggesting that their joint use can progress our understanding of the ways urban morphology mediates walkability. Existing measures of permeability do not account for heterogeneous morphologies. Likewise, measures of pedestrian catchment do not account for what it is that is caught. The proposed “area-weighted average perimeter” and “interface catchments” together integrate both street width and block size, measuring both walkable access and what one gets access to. What is at stake is not only correlations with health and transport, but also measures of walkable access that are geared to the social and economic productivity of the city.

How walkable is Walker’s paradise?

This article tests the extent to which a measure of walkable access is a good proxy for the quality of the walking environment. Based on existing findings on inequalities of walkability, we ask whether this relation varies between neighborhoods with low and high incomes. Walk Score is used to measure walkable access while the State of Place Index is applied to synthesize the qualitative urban form dimensions collected as part of the Irvine Minnesota Inventory. Simple bivariate correlations and difference-in-means tests assess the relationship and difference in average scores between the two. We draw on an existing sample of 115 walkable neighborhoods in the Washington, DC metro area that Mariela Alfonzo and colleagues had collected for previous research and that we augmented to include additional low-income neighborhoods. Our results reveal a strong and positive overall association between walkable access (Walk Score) and walkability (State of Place). However, this association masks problems with the quality of the walking environment that are significantly larger in low-income neighborhoods (even those with very good walkable access), especially regarding connectivity, personal safety, and the presence of litter and graffiti. As a proxy for walkability, Walk Score’s walkable access measure is, therefore, not equally strong across all neighborhoods but declines with income. In this sense, Walker’s Paradise is more walkable in higher than low-income neighborhoods.