Urban Diversity and Pedestrian Behavior : Refining the concept of land-use mix for walkability

Abstract

While land-use mix has continuously been referred to for its importance for walkability, current researchdemands further investigation to refine the concept and develop the measurement for it so that it may bestcapture the way it influences walking behavior. This study combines two on-going research projects dealingwith issues in urban form, one on urban diversity and the other on walkability, both trying to develop theconceptualization and the measurement of these qualities. Regarding diversity, scales and categorizations astwo essential factors for evaluating diversity are examined in this study by the implementation of analysis atvarious configurational levels and on access to variety. From the research project on walkability, a qualitativeobservation study was conducted examining the subjective measurement of pedestrian density and itspatterns, the route choices made in the walking trips observed while tracking pedestrians, and the differenttypes of walking activities taking place in the study areas. By obtaining hard data on real behaviors of walkingin different situations, it provides a detailed description of the walking activities and their patterns in threeneighborhoods in Stockholm, Sweden, where the quantitative analysis regarding diversity was also conducted.Therefore, in this study the multi-level analyses searching for the proper and useful scale for measuringdiversity are compared with the descriptive data on walking behavior, in order to test their validity andapplicability in walkability research. The results show that areas with higher degree of diversity in the builtenvironment contribute to higher degree of diversity in walking behavior by providing variety in both thecomposition of pedestrians and the type of walking activities, which may ultimately enhance the walkability ofan area. The comparison of the quantitative analysis of the built environment with the description of thewalking activities show the potential of the analysis presented in this paper as a tool in measuring factorsrelated to walkability, and the process allows a better understanding of the walkability as a complex subject.Certain parts of the analyses especially show strength in being a more precise measurement and a betterrepresentation of the built environment attributes than the ones done in the earlier walkability studies.Although the analyses and discussions presented in this paper yet have limitations in fully exploring the issueof diversity and walkability of the urban form, they provide insight and knowledge for the development ofeach project.QC 2012042