An Urban Morphological Indicator-based Area Typology and Resident’s Subjective Evaluation of Their Neighborhoods:A Case Study of the Sendai Metropolitan Area, Japan

Abstract

Recently, various neighborhood indicators have been used to examine geographical variations in the perceptions and behaviors of urban residents in relation to the physical forms of their neighborhoods.However, the characteristics of a streetscape as a comprehensive neighborhood environment, which can only be determined by combining such indicators, have not been examined. Therefore, in this study, neighborhoods in the Sendai metropolitan area, Japan, were classified based on several urban morphological indicators to obtain a typology of Japanese residential areas in terms of the neighborhood physical environment. It was then confirmed that the various subjective evaluations of residential areas obtained from the social survey data differed significantly between the area typologies, which was also observed when controlling for individual attributes. The results revealed that the physical form of the neighborhood is associated with neighborhood liveability ; in particular, a type found around city centers distinguished from other areas by its high density, connectivity, and accessibility is strongly associated with positive evaluations of the area in most aspects.