The role of perceived environment, neighbourhood characteristics, and attitudes in walking behaviour: evidence from a rapidly developing city in China

Abstract

The associations between objective and subjective dimensions of the built environment and walking behaviour have been examined extensively in existing studies. However, the interaction effects of those dimensions of the built environment on walking behaviour are understudied and may be more complex than hitherto suggested. Apart from the subjective dimensions of the built environment, walking attitudes also play a role in moderating these relationships. This paper investigates the independent and joint effects of objective neighbourhood characteristics, people's perceptions of the neighbourhood environment, and walking attitudes on the frequency of walking by using Shenzhen as a case study. Since those effects may vary across different kinds of walking trips, the analysis looks separately at three major types of walking at the neighbourhood level-walking for work/school, walking for leisure/recreation, and walking for household responsibilities. Logistic regression analyses confirm that the correlates of people's walking frequency vary considerably among different types of walking. Statistically significant interaction effects of objective neighbourhood characteristics and perceived environment are found. The results suggest that positive perceptions of the environment can compensate for the effect that low objective walkability of neighbourhoods has on people's walking frequency. When seeking to encouraging walking at the neighbourhood level, policymakers should not only concentrate on improving objective neighbourhood characteristics but also consider people's perception of the neighbourhood environment and their attitudes towards walking.

Pedestrian Walkways for Health in Shiraz, Iran, the Contribution of Attitudes, and Perceived Environmental Attributes

“…These pedestrian walkways were mostly created in the district of the city which has a reputation for numerous gardens and natural elements, and this situation may enrich the recreational walking experiences. The influence of environment-related attributes on walking for recreation as one of the main types of walking has been demonstrated by previous studies [12][13][14][15][16][17] (Section 2.2). In addition, the contribution of socio-demographic factors such as age and gender, as well as walking with others when walking for recreation, have also been demonstrated [12,16,17].…”

“…Previous studies have shown the association between walking for recreation and environmental factors, including low land use mix and low institutional land [37], the presence of walking trails [16], infrastructure for walking (such as the footpath condition and the quality of its surface) [8,13,38], the proximity of recreational facilities [16,38], perceived neighborhood accessibility as well as the presence of accessible destinations (mostly services) such as stores, parks, and beaches [8,12,13,15,39], the presence of public transit facilities such as proximity to public transport/bus stops [15,17], nearby Figure 1. (a) The conceptual framework regarding the factors influencing attractiveness for walking; (b) The conceptual framework regarding the factors influencing general and mental health.…”

“…Previous studies have shown the association between walking for recreation and environmental factors, including low land use mix and low institutional land [37], the presence of walking trails [16], infrastructure for walking (such as the footpath condition and the quality of its surface) [8,13,38], the proximity of recreational facilities [16,38], perceived neighborhood accessibility as well as the presence of accessible destinations (mostly services) such as stores, parks, and beaches [8,12,13,15,39], the presence of public transit facilities such as proximity to public transport/bus stops [15,17], nearby nonresidential locations, and non-park physical activity destinations in the context of China [14], perceived traffic safety as well as actual safety, including factors such as the percentage of street length with speed limits [15,16,40], personal security including less concern about crime [13,16,41], and perceived neighborhood aesthetics as well as the presence of aesthetic features such as the percentage of tree canopy coverage, the maintenance of sidewalks, cleanliness, and the view of the architecture [8,12,13,16,40]. From the few studies on walking behavior in Shiraz, Iran, the impact of certain environmental factors, including comfort, safety, and aesthetics on walking for recreation have been demonstrated by Bahrainy et al [42].…”

Urban Function as a New Perspective for Adaptive Street Quality Assessment

“…(P j,car + P j,road ) /n (7) where I tra f f ic refers to the average road ratio of the street, and n represents the number of street view locations. It represents the pavement installation integrity of the road.…”

“…Traditional approaches to assessing street quality are by means of analyzing walking behaviors using questionnaire surveys, which ask pedestrians for detailed respondents [7,8]. The rise of geographic information science and big geodata has brought new opportunities for understanding spatial configurations along streets [9].…”