Quality of Life in Egypt: Walkability Assessment in El-Mansheya Square, Alexandria, Egypt

Abstract

Quality of life is an important aspect of liveability in cities. Being able to walk means there is less energy consumption, a stronger local economy and better health, thus better economic and social status. We aim to identify the role of walkability in city centers: How walkable is the city of Alexandria, Egypt? How do people feel about walking in the city? This research reviews how walkability develops in a city and has identified how the people in the central business district (CBD) of Alexandria travel through it. Walkable communities help cut greenhouse gas and other emissions by encouraging less driving, improving citizen's health by providing more walking opportunities, reduce crime by increasing social interaction, and support the local economy by encouraging shopping in the city center. The main problem is the decrease in walking rates in the CBD of Alexandria. Our research uses a questionnaire to identify the proportion of people living or working in the CBD, what means of travel they use, how long their journey is between home and the CBD, and what walkability issues they face. This paper is of great importance to planners and decision-makers, showing how people behave in the historic CBD of Alexandria.

Walkability Concept Toward Sustainable City: Comparative Insights of Brisbane and Bogor Urban Areas

“…Walkability study in a TOD area is very important because pedestrian pathway is a crucial component in the urban design of TOD area (Vale, 2015). Walking does not only reduce congestion and has a low environmental impact, but also has social and recreational values, and boosts mental and physical health (El-zemrany and Kandil, 2019). In addition, it becomes very important to conduct research related to walkability, considering the continuously increasing carbon emission, traffic and crowdedness, the lack of integrated and intermodal transportation system that resulted in decreasing health index (Hellberg et al, 2021;Reisi et al, 2019;).…”

“…Research on walkability has been conducted a lot before. Walkability itself can be studied from several fields of science such as health concerning physical activity from walking (El-zemrany and Kandil, 2019;Isiagi et al, 2021;Rebecchi et al, 2019;Usón and Fernandez-Anez, 2020), behavioral studies (Battista and Manaugh, 2019;Cambra and Moura, 2020;Frank et al, 2005;Hatamzadeh et al, 2017;Lee and Dean, 2018;Prima and Prayogi, 2020), urban design (Meetiyagoda, 2018;Ortega et al, 2020;Ujang and Muslim, 2014), and transportation planning (Al-Thani and Furlan, 2020;Gonzalez-Urango et al, 2020;Middleton, 2021). In Indonesia, research on walkability has also been conducted in Surabaya, Jakarta, and Banjarmasin (Sari et al, 2020;Afkara and Kusuma, 2020;Tanan and Darmoyono, 2017).…”