Perceptional Dimension Towards More Walkable Communities: An Assessment Tool Approach.

Abstract

In active living community, Walking is one of the oldest and most basic forms of transportation. Although, walking has generally received little or no attention in the planning, and development of urban communities. Having more walkable communities is a connection and intersection of three overlapped layers of the research main domains; urban physical features, perceptional qualities, and individual reactions. The research has developed operational definitions for the urban physical features believed to be related to walkability, investigating the interaction between human activities and individual reactions as feeling of safety and comfort, through clear perceptional dimension of image-ability, legibility, complexity, etc., within group of urban physical features as street width, proportion, buildings height, etc. However, the research aims to extract the conceptual walkability framework elaborated from the literature and offering empirical study based on a quantitative tool of the formative scenario analysis. Moreover, the research is addressing an assessment approach to have an insightful indication of the variables values based on the conceptual walkability framework, as opportunities to improve conditions for walking to make communities more Liveable. Finally the research offers a field survey instrument, through applying the formative scenario analysis technique to study walkability in one of the mixed-use neighbourhood gated community, indicating the impact of each variable and its relative weight, concluding with the graphical representation, and the impact matrix of the walkable variables of the studying area.