Empirical analysis of walkability using data from the Netherlands

Liao, Bojing; Berg, Pauline van den; Wesemael, P.J.V. van; Arentze, Theo

doi:10.1016/j.trd.2020.102390

Cited by 51 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 36 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Finally, the sum score was rescaled such that the neighbourhood walkability index ranged between 0 and 100, with higher scores representing higher neighbourhood walkability levels [ 22 ]. No weights were applied to the components of the neighbourhood walkability index, since an equally weighted index seems to perform well in a Dutch context [ 46 , 47 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations of changes in neighbourhood walkability with changes in walking activity in older adults: a fixed effects analysis

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Supporting older adults to engage in physically active lifestyles requires supporting environments. Walkable environments may increase walking activity in older adults, but evidence for this subgroup is scarce, and longitudinal studies are lacking. This study therefore examined whether changes in neighbourhood walkability were associated with changes in walking activity in older adults, and whether this association differed by individual-level characteristics and by contextual conditions beyond the built environment. Methods Data from 668 participants (57.8–93.4 years at baseline) across three waves (2005/06, 2008/09 and 2011/12) of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA) were used. These individuals did not relocate during follow-up. Self-reported outdoor walking activity in minutes per week was assessed using the LASA Physical Activity Questionnaire. Composite exposure measures of neighbourhood walkability (range: 0 (low)-100 (high)) within 500-m Euclidean buffer zones around each participant’s residential address were constructed by combining objectively measured high-resolution Geographic Information System data on population density, retail and service destination density, land use mix, street connectivity, green space density, and sidewalk density. Fixed effects linear regression analyses were applied, adjusted for relevant time-varying confounders. Results Changes in neighbourhood walkability were not statistically significantly associated with changes in walking activity in older adults (β500m = − 0.99, 95% CI = -6.17–4.20). The association of changes in neighbourhood walkability with changes in walking activity did not differ by any of the individual-level characteristics (i.e., age, sex, educational level, cognitive impairment, mobility disability, and season) and area-level characteristics (i.e., road traffic noise, air pollution, and socioeconomic status). Conclusions This study did not show evidence for an association between changes in neighbourhood walkability and changes in walking activity in older adults. If neighbourhood walkability and walking activity are causally linked, then changes in neighbourhood walkability between 2005/06 and 2011/12 might have been not substantial enough to produce meaningful changes in walking activity in older adults.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations of changes in neighbourhood walkability with changes in walking activity in older adults: a fixed effects analysis

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Such an approach provides detailed data on microscale environmental factors that seemingly increase walking and physical activity behaviours [5] . Audit tools are popular in community planning practice, since they examine easily modifiable factors of the built environment and they do not require to transform macro-level walkability features such as neighbourhood layout or land-use and population spatial patterns [ 9 , 10 , 13 ]. Examples of more analytical reviews regarding micro-level walkability audits can be found in the work of Brownson et al.…”

Section: Experimental Design Materials and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… Although there is a significant policy interest for healthier, more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient transportation systems [6] , [7] , [8] , there is a significant data scarcity in comparable and street-level walkability indicators [9] . The lack of relevant indicators across Europe and places with heterogeneous characteristics constitutes an important barrier in the generalizability of walkability research findings [ 9 , 10 ]. On this basis and to our knowledge for the first time, our dataset enables micro-level walkability assessments and comparisons among a diverse group of European central urban areas and cities.…”

Section: Value Of the Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Microscale walkability indicators for fifty-nine European central urban areas: An open-access tabular dataset and a geospatial web-based platform

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A growing body of empirical findings suggests that more satisfactory, compact, and traversable built environments can positively influence active travel, physical activity, and the walking experience. To this end, planning for better and more walkable places has been identified as a hot topic in urban studies and public health research, since. However, European-level indicators assessing aspects of pedestrian-friendly urban environments are largely lacking. This article introduces spatial and tabular data files of 17 pre-processed and microscale walkability indicators. The dataset presents relevant to the pedestrian environment information for 59 central urban areas from 26 European countries and aims to support policy analysis and assessment related to healthy and low-carbon transportation systems as well as sustainable communities. Methodologically, we applied a virtual (i.e., Google Street View) street audit tool, block-by-block and on both sides of each street and crossing segment separately. To this end, we digitized in polyline features observations and evaluations for a total of 112.577 street- and/or crossing-segments. The data collection process was a demanding and challenging process, which lasted for 21 months and involved 46 trained observers. The data tables in this paper present processed data of each audited item topic as a total share of street segments or crossings length by city. More specifically, the data tables contain indicators that describe the following seventeen themes: percent of segments with predominant commercial or/and entertainment buildings (active uses), percent of segments with access to park/plaza, percent of segments with transit stop(s), percent of segments with available public seats, percent of segments according to their street lighting conditions, percent of segments with well-maintained buildings, percent of segments where graffiti is not present, percent of segments where a bike lane is present, percent of segments where a sidewalk is present, percent of segments with well-maintained sidewalks, percent of segments with sidewalk buffers, percent of segments according to shading levels, percent of segments with wider sidewalks, percent of segments according to the number of road traffic lanes, percent of crossings with a pedestrian walk signal, percent of crossings with curb(s) ramp and percent of crossings with a marked pedestrian crosswalk. Additionally, a dedicated web-GIS platform has been designed and developed to visualize and disseminate collected data in openly available density maps of high spatial resolution (50 m × 50 m). The above data can be utilized to both raise awareness of unsatisfactory pedestrian environments and appoint them as a key health and environmental issue, as well as to assist European policy-makers to apply urban mobility strategies and monitor progress in urban sustainability and public health goals.

show abstract

“…These studies are generally conducted at nationwide [33] or citywide [7,8] scales. The major shortcoming of this type of large-scale approach is the difficulty of capturing sense-perception effects.…”

Section: Objective Measurements Of Walkable Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Participatory Assessment of Perceived Neighbourhood Walkability in a Small Urban Environment

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Walkability has become a research topic of great concern for preserving public health, especially in the era of the COVID-19 outbreak. Today more than ever, urban and transport policies, constrained by social distancing measures and travel restrictions, must be conceptualized and implemented with a particular emphasis on sustainable walkability. Most of the walkability models apply observation and subjective methods to measure walkability, whereas few studies address walkability based on sense perception. To fill this gap, we aim at investigating the perceived neighbourhood walkability (PNW) based on sense perception in a neighbourhood of Brussels. We designed a survey that integrates 22 items grouped into 5 dimensions (cleanness, visual aesthetics, landscape and nature, feeling of pressure, feeling of safety), as well as the socio-demographic attributes of the participants. Using various statistical methods, we show that socio-demographics have almost no effects on perceived neighbourhood walkability. Nonetheless, we found significant differences between groups of different educational backgrounds. Furthermore, using a binomial regression model, we found strong associations between PNW and at least one item from each grouping dimension. Finally, we show that based on a deep neural network for classification, the items have good predictive capabilities (78% of classification accuracy). These findings can help integrate sense perception into objective measurement methods of walkable environments. Additionally, policy recommendations should be targeted based on differences of perception across socio-demographic groups.

show abstract

Empirical analysis of walkability using data from the Netherlands

Cited by 51 publications

References 36 publications

Associations of changes in neighbourhood walkability with changes in walking activity in older adults: a fixed effects analysis

Associations of changes in neighbourhood walkability with changes in walking activity in older adults: a fixed effects analysis

Microscale walkability indicators for fifty-nine European central urban areas: An open-access tabular dataset and a geospatial web-based platform

A Participatory Assessment of Perceived Neighbourhood Walkability in a Small Urban Environment

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About