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Streets Features That Increase the Intention to Walk

Lien, Hao-Ting
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1534511657373787

Abstract Details

2018, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, City and Regional Planning.
Many studies in many fields has shown health benefits of walkable environments and the importance of perceived aesthetics for walkability. For aesthetics and walkability, research must address two issues: 1) the inconsistency in the measurement of aesthetics has made it difficult to generalize the findings; and 2) the overlapping physical bases between assessed walkability and aesthetics raises a question: Is a walkable street simply an aesthetically appealing street? Thus, this dissertation seeks to provide causal evidence on how environmental attributes and their corresponding measures affect how people evaluate aesthetics and walkability. This dissertation conducted a controlled experiment with simulations. To analyze the data, I used ANOVA and multiple linear regression analysis. I used AutoCAD and SketchUP to simulate 32 street scenes by manipulating two levels of five physical factors: sidewalk width, amount of street furniture, type of sidewalk cafe, facade transparency, and building height. To improve generalizability, I tested the manipulations in two street settings. To measure intention to walk (surrogate for actual walking) and aesthetics, I developed and tested two verbal scales each of which had four items adapted from previous research. I drew three samples: 144 (62 men, 81 women, 1 other) for the intention to walk scale, another 144 (77 men, 64 women, 3 other) for the aesthetic evaluation scale, and another 128 (63 men, 63 women, 2 other) for the intention to walk scale for multiple regression analysis. The results showed similar patterns of effects between the physical factors and the evaluations of the two constructs. Aesthetic evaluation and intention to walk increased, as sidewalk width, amount of street furniture and facade transparency increased. Interaction effects suggested 1) when participants had more to look at from the transparent facade, they tended to care less about the width of sidewalk; 2) when the sidewalk cafe had physical enclosure, the presence of wider sidewalk mattered less but still made participants slightly more willing to walk. The results in different settings suggested some generalizability of the results. Looking at all of the variables together, a statistically significant correlation suggested that as aesthetics improved, intention to walk improved. By pinpointing what and how physical measures affect intention to walk and aesthetic evaluation, the findings offer insights for urban design. Furthermore, they demonstrate the similarity between the two constructs at the street-level. To better understand the bases for walkability, researchers may follow the present study design and continue to test other environmental factors.
Jack Nasar (Advisor)
Rachel Kleit (Committee Member)
Chen Zhenhua (Committee Member)
138 p.
Urban Planning
aesthetics; walkability; urban design; planning

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Lien, H.-T. (2018). Streets Features That Increase the Intention to Walk [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1534511657373787

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Lien, Hao-Ting. Streets Features That Increase the Intention to Walk. 2018. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1534511657373787.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Lien, Hao-Ting. "Streets Features That Increase the Intention to Walk." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1534511657373787

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1534511657373787
521
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.