A Theoretical Model for Urban Walking Among People With Disabilities

This paper is an attempt to advance research on walking at a neighborhood level ofanalysis for people with disabilities by proposing a theoretical model that combines theknowledge of two disciplines: traffic planning and environmental psychology. The aim isto provide guidance for a discussion and a plan for future interdisciplinary investigationsby proposing a model that accounts for the dynamic interaction between environmentalcharacteristics, human processes, and walking experience among individuals with adisability. For this purpose, traffic planners, and environmental psychologists cametogether to discuss theories, concepts, and thematic relevance in a series of focus groupmeetings. These meetings led to the selection of the Human Environment Interaction(HEI) model, originally developed from the field of environmental psychology andoperationalized to describe how walking experiences result from the interplay betweenindividual abilities, emotional processes, and the physical and social characteristics ofthe environment (K\ufcller, 1991). The proposed model aims to sustain interdisciplinarydiscussion and research planning around the topic of neighborhood walking for peoplewith disabilities. By operationalizing each dimension in the model, a good fit betweengroups with disabilities and individual differences associated with walking experiences isassumed, which, in turn, will have the potential to provide a more conscious analysisof wellbeing-related outcomes, such as usability of the environment, frequency ofmobility, and quality of life. However, to improve understanding of urban walking at aneighborhood level for people with disabilities, empirical studies must be carried out totest the proposed model