People and their walking environments: An exploratory study of meanings, place and times

Abstract

Seen as the most sustainable transport mode, people's walking behaviour has been well investigated in relation to its environmental correlates and benefits to physical and mental well-being in current transportation and public health literature. Much of this research has considered that environmental features determine people's responses, behaviours and level of satisfaction above individual or collective subjectivities. Nonetheless, more scholars begin to argue that people's responses to environments could be highly complex, depending on personal background, past experiences and emotional interpretation of the place.The meanings that people attach to their walking practices may differ by personal, social and cultural contexts, which consequently influence how they perceive and experience their walking environments. The transferability of the westernised understandings of walking to other developing cities, thus, is questionable, and will need to be examined empirically. This study focuses on a rapidly developing Chinese city, and explores how pedestrians in Shenzhen respond to the walking environment through their articulation of walking practices. Through analysing life stories of twenty local residents, three interrelated themes emerged to highlight the significance of meanings attached to walking, engagements with timescapes and attachment to place, illustrating how these themes were entangled with walking experiences. Insights from this study will enable future studies to reconceptualise the relationship between pedestrians and their environments as a more dynamic process which should take into consideration the temporalities of the walking environment and pedestrians' bodily and emotional capacities.

Modeling and Analysis of Foot Function in Human Gait Using a Two-Degrees-of-Freedom Inverted Pendulum Model with an Arced Foot

“…The accuracy is the walking state correctly determined as this walking state. 2 The error rate is other types of walking states mistaken for this walking state.…”

“…Walking is an important mode of transportation for people [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Thus, many kinds of lower limb exoskeletons that can assist in people's walking have been developed [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14].…”

How Do Urban Walking Environments Impact Pedestrians’ Experience and Psychological Health? A Systematic Review

“…The same feature in the physical environment can be perceived in different ways depending on the time of day. A point of commercial activity on the street can be perceived as an obstacle in the morning rush hour, while, late at night, it might be seen as an island of safety [50]. Urban greenery, such as the shade of trees on the footpaths during hightemperature summers, is appreciated, but at night these trees can block the streetlights, making the street unsafe.…”

A paradox of traffic and extra cars in a city as a collective behaviour

“…Many factors intervene in this process [ 9 ], including characteristics related to the trip, such as time of the day, the purpose of the trip and its length, but also attributes of each mode of transportation and the number of options available for the user, including monetary costs, how consistent and predictable travel times are, parking availability, walking distance, waiting time, frequency, number of changes, the level of satisfaction, comfort and security [ 28 – 30 ]. Beyond trip and travel factors, other aspects such as socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the travellers, including income, car or bike ownership, gender, age, social status and environmental and health consciousness, also play a significant role [ 19 , 31 – 35 ], as well as past experiences with a mode of transport [ 28 ], transport and land-use policies, urban sprawl, subsidies, car use restrictions, public transport infrastructure, and level of service or public transport systems [ 11 , 32 , 33 , 35 – 38 ]. Even weather conditions play a role [ 39 , 40 ] on whether a person chooses to drive instead of using the bus.…”