Examining the Impacts of Street-Level Built Environmental and Urban Design Qualities on Walking Behavior in Downtown Dallas, Texas

Few studies have acknowledged the impacts of street-level urban design qualities on walking behavior. Researchers have yet to attempt this kind of analysis in a large auto dependent context. This paper seeks to address this gap and study the impacts of urban design qualities on walking behavior in Downtown Dallas. While the city has the potentials to experience growth in pedestrian activities, it is one of the least walkable cities in the nation. This is one of the first comprehensive walkability studies in Downtown Dallas. For the purpose of this research, the authors collected data on 23 urban design features, 11 built environment variables and pedestrian counts for 402 street block faces in Dallas Downtown Improvement District over a six-month period, accounting for the time of the day (peak vs. non-peak hours). Also, an extensive GIS analysis was done to measure D variables (density, diversity, design, destination accessibility, and distance to transit) as built environmental factors previously identified in the literature. Controlling for spatial autocorrelation, the authors found that, in addition to D variables, two out of five urban design qualities including imageability (“the quality of a place that makes it memorable”) and transparency (“degree to which people can see what lies beyond the edge of a street”) significantly influence pedestrian volume in downtown streets. The results confirm the findings of two previous studies that used the same methodology. Policy makers may apply the results of this study to create more appealing and walkable places through implementation of these urban design features.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF10 Standing Committee on Pedestrians.
• Authors:
  • Hamidi, Shima
  • Moazzeni, Somayeh
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2018-1-7 to 2018-1-11
• Date: 2018

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Maps; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 18p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Built environment; Travel behavior; Urban design; Walkability; Walking
• Geographic Terms: Dallas (Texas)
• Subject Areas: Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01664249
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 18-04422
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 27 2018 11:14AM