Influence of Environmental Design on Pedestrian Travel Behavior in Four Austin Neighborhoods
Abstract
Results of a pedestrian survey conducted in two pairs of Austin, Texas, neighborhoods that possess either pedestrian-oriented or automobile-oriented transportation system, land use, and design characteristics but similar density, housing, and sociodemographic characteristics are reported. Survey results identify the influence of contrasting neighborhood forms on structural characteristics of walk-activity patterns and attitudes as mediated by personal characteristics. Walk-activity patterns significantly vary between neighborhoods with different accessibility characteristics. In the physically accessible neighborhoods, walks are predominantly short and frequent utilitarian trips that involve more secondary activities. Activity in the less accessible neighborhoods is characterized by longer, less frequent recreational walks that involve fewer secondary activities. Results support the conclusion that neighborhood transportation, land use, and design characteristics influence walk distance, duration, purpose, and number of secondary activities. The importance of walking in general and for specific purposes also varies with the relative levels of environmental variables. In the traditional neighborhoods, walkable distances, access to transit, shops, and work are more important, as is the opportunity to be outdoors. In the modern neighborhoods, walkway continuity, trees, and interesting things to look at are more important environmental attributes, as is the opportunity to maintain health. Accessibility affects walk activities as well as associated attitudes, but it is mediated through personal factors such as number of household cars, number of children, and household size. Evidence that pedestrians more highly value the available opportunities for walking suggests that latent predilections towards walking shape residential preferences.
Get full access to this article
View all access and purchase options for this article.
References
1. Handy S. L. Regional Versus Local Accessibility: Neo-Traditional Development and Its Implications for Non-Work Travel. Built Environment, Vol. 18, No. 4, Spring 1993, pp. 253–267.
2. 1000 Friends of Oregon. The Pedestrian Environment: Making the Land Use Transportation Air Quality Connection. Vol. 4 A, Parsons Brinkerhoff Quade and Douglas, Inc., with Cambridge Systematics, Inc., and Calthorpe Associates, 1994.
3. Friedman B., Gordon S. P., and Peers J. B. The Effects of Neotraditional Neighborhood Design on Travel Characteristics. Compendium of Technical Papers, ITE, District 6 Meeting, Anchorage, July 1992, pp. 195–208.
4. Zegeer C. The National Bicycling and Walking Study: Transportation Choices for a Changing America: Final Report. FHWA-PD-94-023. FHWA, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1994.
5. Hu P. S., and Young J. The Summary of Travel Trends, 1990 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey. FHWA-PL-92-024. FHWA, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1992.
6. Jacobs J. The Peculiar Nature of Cities. In The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Vintage Books, New York, 1961, pp. 29–140.
7. Goffman E. Behavior in Public Places: Social Organization of Gatherings. Glencoe Collier-Macmillan, Ltd., London, 1963.
8. Rapoport A. Human Aspects of Urban Form. Towards a Man-Environment Approach to Urban Form and Design. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1977.
9. Gehl J. Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space (Koch J., trans.). Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1987.
10. Project for Public Spaces. The Influence of Environmental Design on the Amount and Type of Bicycling and Walking. FHWA-PD-93-037, FHWA, Department of Transportation, 1993.
11. Wang B.-C. Pedestrian Streets: The Case Study of the Westgate Pedestrian District. M. Arch. thesis, School of Architecture, University of Texas, Austin, 1992.
12. Appleyard D., Gerson M. S., and Lintell M. Livable Streets. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1981.
13. Mark A., Baba Y. Neighborhood Environmental Satisfaction, Victimization, and Social Participation as Determinants of Perceived Neighborhood Safety. Environment and Behavior Vol. 21, No. 6, November 1989, pp. 763–780.
14. Hanson S., and Schwab M. Accessibility and Intraurban Travel. Environment and Planning A, Vol. 19, No. 6, June 1987, pp. 735–748.
15. Winkel G. Some Human Dimensions of Urban Design. In On Streets (Anderson S., ed.), MIT Press, Cambridge, 1978, pp. 241–248.
16. Dix M. Structuring Our Understanding of Travel Choices: The Use of Psychometric and Social-Science Research Techniques, In New Horizons in Travel Behavior Research. (Stopher P. R., Meyburg A. H., Brög W., eds.), Lexington Books, Toronto, 1981, pp. 89–109.
17. U.S. Census of Population and Housing, 1990: Austin (CPH-3-70), Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1990.
18. Roth R. Municipal Strategies to Increase Pedestrian Travel. Washington State Energy Office, Olympia, Wash., 1994.
19. Untermann R. Changing Design Standards for Streets and Roads. In Public Streets for Public Use, (Moudon A. V., ed.), Columbia University Press, New York, 1987, pp. 255–260.
20. Greenan G., Duaney A., and Plater-Zyberk E. Land Planning and Site Development. In The Technique of Traditional Town Planning, Cintas Foundation, Miami, 1994.
21. Peterson E. B., and Hamburg J. R. Travel Surveys: Current Options. In Transportation Research Record 1097, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1986, pp. 1–3.
22. Robinson F. O., Edwards J. L., and Ohrn C. E. Strategies for Increasing Levels of Walking and Bicycling for Utilitarian Purposes. In Transportation Research Record 743, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1980, pp. 38–48.
23. Kitamura R. Life-Style and Travel Demand. In Special Report 220: A Look Ahead: Year 2020, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1988, pp. 149–189.
Cite article
Cite article
Cite article
OR
Download to reference manager
If you have citation software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice
Information, rights and permissions
Information
Published In
Article first published: January 1997
Issue published: January 1997
Authors
Metrics and citations
Metrics
Journals metrics
This article was published in Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board.
VIEW ALL JOURNAL METRICSArticle usage*
Total views and downloads: 48
*Article usage tracking started in December 2016
Altmetric
See the impact this article is making through the number of times it’s been read, and the Altmetric Score.
Learn more about the Altmetric Scores
Articles citing this one
Receive email alerts when this article is cited
Web of Science: 0
Crossref: 77
- MODEL OF PEDESTRIAN CROSSING BEHAVIOUR BASED ON ROAD TRAFFIC AND HUMAN...
- Ciudades: sedentarismo y obesidad
- Catchment-Area Delineation Approach Considering Travel Purposes for St...
- Mitigating crowded transportation terminals nearby mega-sports events
- Exploring built environment correlates of walking for different purpos...
- An intercept survey of the use and non-use of footbridges in Ghana
- A Participatory Assessment of Perceived Neighbourhood Walkability in a...
- Strategies for Activating Historic District: Micro-reform Implement in...
- A comprehensive study on factors influencing pedestrian signal violati...
- Modelling walking accessibility: A case study of Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Types of suburbs in post-socialist Poland and their potential for crea...
- Explaining subjective perceptions of public spaces as a function of th...
- An integrated assessment of factors affecting modal choice: towards a ...
- The impact of the built environment on the decision to walk for short ...
- Personal mobility and climate change
- The Relationship Between Urban Environment and Travel Behavior
- The Relationship Between Objectively Measured Walking and Risk of Pede...
- Why people walk: modeling foundational and higher order needs based on...
- Data Analytics for Safety Applications
- Computational Streetscapes
- Quantifying the relationship between visitor satisfaction and perceive...
- The impact of street network connectivity on pedestrian volume
- A qualitative study on the role of the built environment for short wal...
- Evaluation of urban redevelopment impact on non-motorized traffic
- Walk or Drive between Stores? Designing Neighbourhood Shopping Distric...
- Planting design for urban parks: Space syntax as a landscape design as...
- Using Images to Measure Qualitative Attributes of Public Spaces throug...
- Measuring factors influencing valuation of nonmotorized improvement me...
- Walking to School...
- Situational crime prevention at nightclub entrances in Perth, Western ...
- Pedestrian and bicyclist motivation: an assessment of influences on pe...
- Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) in Edmonton, Canada
- Assessing Walkability in the City of Buffalo: Application of Agent-Bas...
- Non-motorised Level of Service: Addressing Challenges in Pedestrian an...
- Disabled Pedestrian Level of Service Method for Evaluating and Promoti...
- Can Built and Social Environmental Factors Encourage Walking among Ind...
- Built environment instruments for walkability, bikeability, and recrea...
- Reliability analysis of pedestrian safety crossing in urban traffic en...
- Individual differences of pedestrian behaviour in midblock crosswalk a...
- Modeling Pedestrian Violation Behavior at Signalized Crosswalks in Chi...
- La carte conceptuelle du transport actif urbain
- Smart density: a more accurate method of measuring rural residential d...
- Deviations in Pedestrian Itineraries in Urban Areas: A Method to Asses...
- Commercial Density, Residential Concentration, and Crime: Land Use Pat...
- INVESTIGATING STRUCTURAL RELATIONSHIPS AMONG PEDESTRIAN PERCEPTION, BE...
- The Pedestrian Itinerary–Purposes, Environmental Factors and Path Deci...
- Manipulating Permeability as a Process for Controlling Crime: Balancin...
- Methodology for Counting Pedestrians at Intersections...
- Pilot Model for Estimating Pedestrian Intersection Crossing Volumes
- Steps in Reserve...
- Fronts and Backs...
- The Shape of Things to Come: New Urbanism, the Grid and the Cul-De-Sac
- How Far, by Which Route and Why? A Spatial Analysis of Pedestrian Pref...
- The relationship between destination proximity, destination mix and ph...
- Extent and correlates of walking in the USA
- A GIS‐based land use and public transport accessibility indexing model
- Urban layout, landscape features and pedestrian usage
- The Physical Environment and Physical Activity
- The Urban Built Environment and Obesity in New York City: A Multilevel...
- How Many Steps Do you Have in Reserve?...
- Sidewalk Planning and Policies in Small Cities
- The Influences of the Built Environment and Residential Self-Selection...
- When Worlds Collide: Observations on the Integration of Epidemiology a...
- Urban Form and Older Residents' Service Use, Walking, Driving, Quality...
- Space Syntax: Innovative Pedestrian Volume Modeling Tool for Pedestria...
- Testing the Claims of New Urbanism: Local Access, Pedest...
- Pedestrian behaviors at and perceptions towards various pedestrian fac...
- Opportunities for Integrating Public Health and Urban Planning Approac...
- Reliability and Validity of Two Instruments Designed to Assess the Wal...
- Relationship between Urban Sprawl and Physical Activity, Obesity, and ...
- Environmental correlates of walking and cycling: Findings from the tra...
- Pedestrian Environments and Sense of Community
- The Built Environment and Human Activity Patterns: Exploring the Impac...
- Evaluating Pedestrian Connectivity for Suburban Sustainability
- Estimating Pedestrian Exposure Prediction Model in Rural Areas
- Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and Physical Activity, Obesity, and ...
- Decision Loads and Route Qualities for Pedestrians — Key Requirements ...
Figures and tables
Figures & Media
Tables
View Options
Get access
Access options
If you have access to journal content via a personal subscription, university, library, employer or society, select from the options below:
loading institutional access options
Alternatively, view purchase options below:
Purchase 24 hour online access to view and download content.
Access journal content via a DeepDyve subscription or find out more about this option.
