No abstract

As pedestrian networks tie together all transportation modes, their accessibility is crucial to supporting public transportation and fostering more sustainable and liveable cities. Nevertheless, most studies have relied on street networks when calculating pedestrian accessibility. While street networks can substitute for pedestrian networks in some cases, they fail to capture all paths available to pedestrians. Recent studies argue that this may distort our understanding of connectivity, accessibility and consequently the walkability of an area. This study sought to understand the effect of pedestrian network accessibility on segment-scale pedestrian density. To achieve this goal, dedicated pedestrian networks were constructed for two 400 m 2 areas in Bangkok and Osaka. In each site, the effect of accessibility variables, namely reach and gravity, were assessed first before controlling for other environmental factors addressing connectivity, transit proximity and path conditions. Measures were evaluated using ArcGIS and the Urban Network Analysis toolbox using data obtained from OpenStreetMap databases and field surveys. The results show that accessibility variables alone can account for up to 33% and 35% of observed pedestrian densities in Bangkok and Osaka, respectively. Accessibility to retail land uses is the biggest driver in this relationship. However, when controlling for all variables, only in the denser, more connected Osaka site did accessibility to retail remain significant, helping to explaining up to 45% of observed pedestrian densities, while in Bangkok, its effect was minimal with proximity to rail transit being the only significant variable.

Studies have shown that street network centrality measures are capable of explaining a significant proportion of pedestrian activity. These studies typically employ street centreline networks that differ significantly from the networks that pedestrians use to traverse the built environment. Presently, centrality approaches are rarely applied to dedicated pedestrian network (DPNs). This creates uncertainty regarding their ability to explain pedestrian activity when derived from DPNs. This study addresses that gap by investigating the extent to which centrality metrics derived from DPNs can explain observed pedestrian densities, both alone and when controlling for other built environment variables in metro station environments in Asia. In total, four DPNs were created centred on metro stations in Bangkok, Manila, Osaka, and Taipei chosen to represent different urban typologies. Multivariate results show that centrality metrics alone explain a mere 6–24% of observed pedestrian densities when calculated on DPNs. When all factors are considered, the contribution of centrality remained consistent in most study sites but is somewhat reduced with land-use variables and proximity to rail transit revealed as the strongest predictors of pedestrian density. Pedestrian design factors were also frequently associated with pedestrian density. Finally, stronger associations between centrality and pedestrian densities were observed in the denser, more complex pedestrian environments. These findings provide insight into the performance of centrality measures applied to DPNs expanding pedestrian network research in this area.