Walk score® and its potential contribution to the study of active transport and walkability: A critical and systematic review

The Walk Score® index has become increasingly applied in studies of walking and walkability. The index assesses the “walking potential” of a place through a combination of three elements: the shortest distance to a group of preselected destinations, the block length, and the intersection density around the origin. The Index links a gravity-based measure (distance accessibility), with topological accessibility (street connectivity) measured by two complementary indicators that act as penalties in the final score (linearly expanded in the range 0–100). A systematic review of Scopus® and Web of Science® was conducted with 42 journal articles eventually being evaluated. Research was primarily undertaken in North American urban geographies. Analysis of walkability using Walk Score® is inconsistent. Twenty-nine papers do not exclusively relying on Walk Score® as a single measurement of walkability and add further estimates to better capture the multiple dimensions of walkability. In 33 studies the Walk Score® was used as an independent variable, and only once as a mediating-moderating variable. In eight papers (18%) the Walk Score® was a part of a bivariate correlation model. On no occasion was it used as a dependent variable. Results tend to only partly support the validity of Walk Score®. The paper concludes that the Index is best understood as a surrogate measure of the density of the built environment of a specific neighborhood that indicates utilitarian walking potential. Implications for, and potential areas of, future research are discussed.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2017.12.018
• Record URL:
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361920917302560
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/13619209
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Hall, C Michael
  • Ram, Yael
• Publication Date: 2018-6

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 310-324
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment
  • Volume: 61
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 1361-9209
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13619209

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Built environment; Literature reviews; Nonmotorized transportation; Recreational trips; Urban areas; Walkability
• Identifier Terms: Walk Score
• Uncontrolled Terms: Utilitarian trips
• Geographic Terms: North America
• Subject Areas: Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01675461
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 19 2018 2:45PM