The Measure of Our (Dis)content: Conceptualizing and Assessing Residential Street Livability in Palo Alto, CA

The purposes of the authors' investigation were to 1) identify the aspects of street life that are most important to residents, 2) measure resident satisfaction with these aspects, and 3) conduct a series of statistical analyses to identify what variables (e.g., traffic volume, gender, household size) significantly influence resident satisfaction. It builds off and expands upon Donald Appleyard’s seminal study, Livable Streets. While Appleyard conducted his research at the neighborhood level, the authors' study expands the unit of analysis to that of an entire city. Data for this study was collected from Spring 2003 to Spring 2004 through focus groups and a telephone survey of several thousand residents, stratified by street type. The authors' results indicate that residents are most concerned about the following street aspects: safety, sense of community, noise and air quality, and accessibility and mobility. Categorically, they are generally most dissatisfied with the level of safety on their street and most satisfied with their street’s sense of community. Ordinary least squares regression analysis shows that traffic volume, both actual and perceived, is consistently the single most significant predictor of resident satisfaction for all aspects of livability investigated in this study. Other independent variables, including gender and living alone are also significant predictors of resident responses.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/1933452137
• Corporate Authors:

  Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)

  Washington, DC  United States 
• Authors:
  • Cushing, Katherine Kao
  • Khor, Niny
  • Kott, Joseph
• Conference:
  • ITE 2006 Technical Conference and Exhibit Compendium of Technical Papers
  • Location: San Antonio Texas, United States
  • Date: 2006-3-19 to 2006-3-22
• Publication Date: 2006

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 17p
• Monograph Title: ITE 2006 Technical Conference and Exhibit Compendium of Technical Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accessibility; Air quality; Cities; Customer satisfaction; Focus groups; Gender; Highway safety; Livability; Mobility; Noise; Residential streets; Residents; Statistical analysis; Surveys; Traffic volume
• Uncontrolled Terms: Household size; Living alone; Sense of community
• Geographic Terms: Palo Alto (California)
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Environment; Highways; Society; I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01026346
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 1933452137
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 29 2006 9:14AM