A New Approach for the Evaluation of the Walking Environment

Space, flow rate, speed, and the volume-to-capacity ratio have been taken into account in the existing evaluations of pedestrian environments, such as those focusing on traffic facilities. However, these measures are insufficient when assessing pedestrian environments in favored places where many pedestrians congregate. Therefore, this study attempts to develop a “walk score” to evaluate the spatial characteristics of pedestrian environments and the facility characteristics of pedestrian networks in relation to major subway stations in Seoul, Korea. In particular, the walk score that we have developed focuses on qualitative convenience factors using GIS (Geographic Information System) and quantitative network connectivity indices of the Space Syntax technique. The scores of the amenities have been calculated as avenue-oriented type, destination-oriented type, or general amenities, considering the individual distances and the number of facilities available. The convenience and connectivity of the pedestrian networks have been measured quantitatively using the Space Syntax model (Hillier 1996 Hillier B . 1996 . Space is the Machine . Cambridge , UK : Cambridge University Press . [Google Scholar]; Penn et al. 1998 Penn A , Hillier B , Banister D , Xu J 1998 . Configurational modelling of urban movement networks . Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 25 : 59 – 84 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Furthermore, our walk score has been calculated by integrating amenity and pedestrian network scores using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). With the walk score proposed in this study, it is easily possible to evaluate pedestrian environments around subway-adjacent areas, and to compare and analyze the types and number of facilities and the connectivity of the pedestrian networks. This will be helpful in suggesting future improvements, as well as evaluating the level of quality of current pedestrian environments.