Improving Walkability by Focusing on Residents’ Needs and Neighborhood’s Built Environment

While the benefits of walkability are clear, it could be difficult how to determine the best approach to budgeting on sidewalk development decisions in order to maximize the efficiency of the investment. This paper presents a methodology and a tool to evaluate the walkability of different areas in a city with focus on the gap between walk needs of residents and built environment of the neighborhood. To do that, the authors first characterize walkability and the most contributing socio-demographic variables on it, like trip purpose, number of vehicles in the household, and the age of individuals. Next, through running principal component analysis, the authors define a unique index for walkability, which is used to find areas with greatest demand of walkability in their neighborhood through hotspot analysis. Finally, using the Pedestrian Environment Index as an indicator for walkability supply of the neighborhood, the authors identify the most efficient places to develop sidewalk by finding the gap between demand and supply of walkability in each neighborhood. In addition to providing an informative location-based measure for policymakers, the methodology opens avenues to address some equity concerns related to walkability and prioritize neighborhoods for any improvement based on the needs of the residents.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Web
  • Pagination: pp 70-81
  • Monograph Title: Leveraging Sustainable Infrastructure for Resilient Communities

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01834805
  • Record Type: Publication
  • ISBN: 9780784483879
  • Files: TRIS, ASCE
  • Created Date: Jan 28 2022 9:15AM