A Stated Preference Survey for Evaluating Young Pedestrians’ Preferences on Walkways

Abstract

For promoting pedestrian mobility, the quality levels of pedestrian paths should be increased. Many researchers suggest methodologies for determining the pedestrian level of service. Among these, some studies consider both paths’ physical characteristics and users’ perception about the walkways. Investigating users’ perceptions represents a good strategy for implementing interventions aimed at increasing the quality of service. The aim is recording pedestrians’ perceptions about the characteristics of the path and detecting the choices they would make in a hypothetical scenario. This work proposes the design of a Stated Preferences survey and the analysis of the preliminary results. A questionnaire was sent out to a sample of 240 pedestrians, prevalently students, about a walkway located in the University Campus of Rende (Italy). The collected data were analyzed by means of a discrete choice model for assessing the importance assigned by pedestrians to each aspect included in the analysis. The results showed that the environment can be considered as the most important aspect for young pedestrians, while the width of the path is not significant. The outcomes also highlighted the aspects it is necessary to change in order to make pedestrian paths increasingly attractive and to encourage users towards active mobility.

Walkability Indicators in the Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

“…Active modes of transportation have become one of the beacons of Sustainability [1][2][3]. In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United Nations has determined that countries and regions should provide for safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transportation for their citizens [4].…”

“…Active mobility can contribute to the reduction of the number of circulating private vehicles [2]. Consequently, this can help alleviate traffic congestion, as well as lead to a reduction in air pollutant emissions, thus promoting sustainability by reducing environmental degradation [8][9][10].…”

“…To fill the research gaps, our aim is to answer the following research questions: We performed a systematic literature review following the PRISMA [53] methodology and conducted exploratory and bibliometric analysis of the selected works on the topic of walkability indicators in the aftermath of COVID-19. This study contributes to the literature by (1) identifying influential authors, papers, journals, and countries; (2) systematizing and synthesizing recent findings, methodologies, and results used in selected articles; (3) investigating the association between walkability indicators and the subject of the pandemic; and (4) identifying some of the limitations of recent literature.…”