What’s the Score? Walkable Environments and Subsidized Households

Abstract

Neighborhood walkability can influence individual health, social interactions, and environmental quality, but the relationships between subsidized households and their walkable environment have not been sufficiently examined in previous empirical studies. Focusing on two types of subsidized housing developments (Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and Public Housing (PH)) in Austin, Texas, this study evaluates the neighborhood walkability of place-based subsidized households, utilizing objectively measured Walk Score and walking-related built environment data. We also used U.S. Census block group data to account for the socio-demographic covariates. Based on various data, we employed bivariate and multivariate analyses to specify the relationships between subsidized households and their neighborhood walkable environment. The results of our bivariate analyses show that LIHTC households tend to be located in car-dependent neighborhoods and have more undesirable walking-related built environment conditions compared with non-LIHTC neighborhoods. Our regression results also represent that LIHTC households are more likely to be exposed to neighborhoods with low Walk Score, less sidewalk coverage, and more highways and major roads, while there are no significant associations for PH households. These findings imply that more attention and effort toward reducing the inequitable distributions of walkable neighborhood features supporting rather than hindering healthy lifestyles must be provided to subsidized households.

Assessing the Rationality and Walkability of Campus Layouts

“…Many studies have shown that a good pedestrian-friendly environment can bring several benefits such as strengthening social interaction or cohesiveness, improving individual health and environmental health, as well as economic development [22,23]. Built environment characteristics play a vital role in affecting pedestrian-oriented environment and improving walkability, and the configuration of urban areas can influence pedestrians' walking trips [24,25].…”

Walkability in the Connected and Automated Vehicle Era: A U.S. Perspective on Research Needs

“…Measuring active travel support is challenging when “ways to measure active accessibility are as varied as the number of scholars that measure them” ( 19 ), and when urban form is entangled with socioeconomic patterns such that walkability and walking vary across environments (e.g., urban/rural, heavy/light traffic) and demographic measures such as income or race ( 20 – 25 ).…”