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This study aimed to broaden Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) by including healthy urban performance attributes of the residential neighbourhoods as an additional predictor for walking behaviour. First, the study reviewed the literature on TPB and walkability in residential environments, and then constructed a TPB model based on walkability to set the hypotheses. The study explored the correlations among walkability attributes and walkability behaviour through a survey conducted with residents in Ankara, Turkey (n= 220). To analyse the data, first confirmatory factor analysis and later, structural equation modelling were used. The findings of the study highlighted two aspects of planning for a walkable neighbourhood: (i) a walkability model based on the three constructs of TPB should not neglect the measured and experienced urban performance; (ii) utilizing pedestrian environment for walking as fully as possible requires a collaborative and an experiential approach as well as a multi-parameter decision-making process.

This study aims to investigate the neurocognitive status of people with different moods (depressed and non-depressed) both in a typical urban environment (TUE) and in an urban green environment (UGE).

The study was conducted with the participation of 210 individuals in a real environment. Heart rates of the participants were measured together with EEG and eye-tracking measurements while they were walking in a real urban environment (TUE and UGE). The participants were divided into depressed and non-depressed groups according to different moods. Movements within the city based on these two distinctions and different cognitive moods were investigated, together with the effects of the city plan on these people.

As a result, the green urban fabric was found to have a positive effect even on people with depression. Yet, it was found that the non-depressed group also spent more time in a green urban environment.

The study shows that urban planners and designers should assume an important role in the design of green spaces, which have a more intense visual and cognitive impact than structures.

Evidence indicates that active school travel (AST) including walking can effectively lower levels of obesity among school-age children. Yet Queensland has been identified as one of the most inactive states in Australia where only 5 per cent of Years 1 and 5 children engaged in AST on a daily basis. The purpose of this paper is to explain walking to school behaviour among Queensland children by investigating the explanatory potential of the ecological and cognitive active commuting (ECAC) model.

An online survey of 537 carers in Queensland, Australia was conducted to collect data about demographics and the variables in the ECAC model. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the ECAC model and the pathways between variables.

The results indicate that the ECAC model explained 53.4 per cent of the variance in walking to school. Social norms are the dominating factor in the model. Distance to school affects how the ECAC model works by moderating the associations among walking to school behaviours, perceived risks, and social norms.

Changing carers’ social norms and lowering the perceived risks they associate with walking to school should increase the incidence of walking to school in Queensland.

Although the ECAC model was proposed as a comprehensive framework to explain walking to school behaviour, to date, it has not been tested empirically. Informed by a modified ECAC framework this study aims to empirically explore the factors that may be preventing or facilitating Queensland children from walking to school.

What makes neighbourhood environment more walkable is an important question for urban planning and design research. The purpose of this paper is to explore this question through a case study of urban sidewalks in different contexts of urban neighbourhoods in Rajshahi city of Bangladesh.

Using participatory observation, Google street view and photography techniques, it examines the quality of the street facilities by demonstrating physical attributes of sidewalks and by analysing how various obstructions on them characterize neighbourhood walkability environment.

The findings suggest that the unusable sidewalks in Rajshahi city, Bangladesh, are a production of inadequate and inappropriate planning and design that unable to capitalize the functionality of sidewalks as a means of walking. It further argues that the urban planners and designers of streets have paid little attention to the diverse requirements of sidewalks in accordance with spatial and socio-economic categories of urban neighbourhoods.

This study adds insights about the urban sidewalks planning and design in the context of a developing country. It provides an empirical evidence about the constraints and potentials of making a walkable city.

Building circulation has an important impact on human comfort of buildings and is one of the critical factors in building design. A quantitative walkability evaluation of building circulation can benefit both building design and operation. However, indoor walkability of building circulation is determined not only by objective path features but also by subjective user preference. How to incorporate the preference from a large group of users into the design process is still a challenging issue.

This study proposes a participatory framework of indoor path walkability evaluation based on user preference. Hierarchical indicators are developed to objectively measure indoor path features. Furthermore, group decision-making theory is adopted to aggregate individual user preference into user common preference for determining the relative indicator weights. Finally, integrated walkability scores (IWSs) are calculated to evaluate indoor path walkability quantitatively.

A total of three case scenarios demonstrate that the proposed evaluation framework provides an efficient way for designers and owners to measure user preference quantitatively, analyze building circulations based on user preference and compare the walkability of different building design schemes.

The developed methods provide an efficient way for designers and owners to measure user preference quantitatively, analyze building circulations based on user preference and compare the walkability of different building design schemes.

This study develops a comprehensive and quantitative walkability evaluation approach that considers both objective path features and subjective user preference derived from user characteristics and walking purposes, which provides an effective way to incorporate user feedback into the building design process and operation.

Since the 1980s, planning public spaces for leisure walking is largely linked with economic and cultural objectives. Parallel to this tendency and the priorities of local authorities on barker public space projects, inhabitant’s associations, that grow up after the 2000s, propose new ways of visiting the city through collective walks. Drawing on the example of the Atenistas group, and based on the discourses of its founders, its presence on social media and the narratives of participants, the purpose of this paper is to question the emergence and function of new forms of urban walking that joggle between tourism, social exchange and act of citizenship.

The case study is based on personal semi-directive interviews with organisers and participants at “Atenistas Open Walks”. It is also based on interviews that have been held with architects and urban planners within technical services of the municipality of Athens as also as within private sector’s structures.

First insights from the study question pedestrianisation as a dominant urban planning tool towards animated street life and performant local economy. Contrary to the traditional top-down approach in Athens’s public space planning which uses pedestrianisation or land management to re-invest on the city centre, Atenistas Open Walks reveal the existence of alternatives ways of a re-engagement with city values and history. People search to explore the city by themselves and re-trace their proper itineraries (and ways of seeing the city) by outpassing official discourses on the decline, the success, the dangerousness or the beautifulness of certain neighbourhoods. Consequently, walkers constantly nourish their will to better understand the city. Public space experience outpasses morphological or functional issues. The act of walking with others in the city willing to explore places and to exchange on this experience, confront people with different narratives and trajectories and can momently be a strong factor of social cohesion and activation of public space with significant impacts on local economy. Walking collectively can emerge, in this way, as a counter model of public space planning capable of revitalise not only touristic activity, but also citizenship.

The study questions dominant discourses that link urban liveability and touristic attractiveness of urban centres with recreational events and streets’ pedestrianisation projects.

This paper aims to synthesize the published literature regarding the impact of environmental design on the improvement of elderly residents’ physical activity.

To provide convergent evidence about the association between facility design/management and physical activity of elderly population, searches were conducted in the PubMed and Google Scholar databases, as well as in specific active living design journals such as Applied Gerontology, Aging and Physical Activity, Housing for the Elderly and Sports Sciences. The inclusion criteria for the final list were the articles that were qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods studies as well as systematic reviews; written in English; related to the built environmental design; wholly or partially focused on physical activity in elderly population; and published in peer-reviewed journals between 1984 and 2019.

Overall, 30 studies were included in the final list. The results of this review demonstrate that design interventions can raise physical functioning inside and outside of long-term residential facilities. Increasing opportunities for walkable spaces and reducing physical barriers can result in higher levels of physical activity for the elderly population.

This systematic review discloses the design strategies to enhance the level of physical activity by the elderly population based on the findings of the published literature. Overall space layout and accessibility to outdoor walkable spaces were addressed to generally promote the moderate levels of physical activity in elderly population.

Increasing opportunities for walkable spaces and reducing physical barriers result in higher level of activity for the elderly population. Corridor design and interior design ergonomic considerations were highlighted in the literature. Space layout and accessibility to outdoor walkable spaces promote the moderate levels of physical activity.

Environmental design considerations are unique aspects of enhancement of activity level in the elderly population.

This systematic review discloses the design strategies to enhance the level of physical activity by the elderly population based on the findings of the published literature. Overall space layout and accessibility to outdoor walkable spaces were addressed to generally promote the moderate levels of physical activity in elderly population.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the actual walking distance to public transport (PuT) stations and to report passenger perceptions on route choice.

A systematic case study has been conducted after administrating a tailor-made paper-based intercept survey in a German city (Munich). It can determine the interrelation between the accessibility of the transit service and evaluation on walking distance acceptance. Statistical analysis and geo-spatial approach were completed for obtaining major findings.

Statistical and geo-spatial analysis shows that respondents living in low-density areas walk longer than residents living in nearby inner city areas. In terms of PuT modes, residents walk longer for suburban train and subway/metro (U-Bahn) than for bus/tram services. Transit users accept a longer walking distance to reach a train station than other PuT modes and they choose the most direct and quickest route to reach PuT stations.

Findings of this study would help to formulate future strategies and standards for the sustainable planning of public transportation systems in the context of Munich and many other cities around the globe with similar conditions. However, future research should be conducted using a large-scale survey for evaluating the comprehensive picture of walking patterns to PuT stations. Accessibility to PuT stations can also be modeled and evaluated by adopting open data and voluntary social media information. Unfortunately, this study only presents a partial evaluation of walking focused on accessibility at selected PuT stations in different settings of the urban fabric.

This empirical study can be considered as an initial finding in the favor of the city transport authority to provide a design scale for improved accessibility of transit users; however, further investigation should be conducted using a large-scale survey for evaluating the comprehensive walking patterns.

A systematic case study has been conducted after administrating a tailor-made paper-based intercept survey in a German city (Munich). Findings of this study would help to formulate future strategies and standard for the sustainable planning of the public transportation system in the context of Munich and many other cities in the globe with similar conditions.

This study intends to analyze the trend of walkability research over two years (2021–2022) in several aspects, including the research problem, gap and aim underlying walkability issues, research setting, the scale of analysis, the type of data, the data collection tool, the analysis method and contribution.

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) is employed to conduct a systematic literature review from three leading databases including Web of Science (WoS), Scopus and Sage.

From the review, it can be concluded that the research focuses on two aspects, namely, the built environment and people. The studies in this field are conducted at different scales of the built environment, from macroscale to microscale, including region, city, neighborhood and street-level studies that are conducted around the world including Asia, Europe and America which receive high attention from researchers. Meanwhile, the study of walkability in Australia and Africa gains less attention. It is revealed that there are four factors of walkability including land use and accessibility for macroscale which cover region, city and neighborhood, while street network and pedestrian infrastructure and facility are mainly analyzed for street-level. Most of the studies widely utilize a quantitative approach for analyzing physical walkability factors in a measurement-based approach by using certain tools/software, and a perception-based approach by using questionnaires.

The findings can assist to keep up with the rapid pace of scientific publications and help accelerate the understanding of particular ideas in the field of walkability for the planning and design practice and policy that can be used by researchers/academia, urban designers, urban planners, architects, engineers and policymakers. Also, this study hopefully could assist further research direction for the future and could add value to a more advanced way of understanding the research on walkability.

This research provides a robust framework for walkability trend analysis and a comprehensive understanding of the main ideas from the existing research on walkability worldwide.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the impact of the arrival of the motor car on streets, communities, life styles and health. It documents the environmental, economic and social sacrifices that societies have made, in order to accommodate car traffic; and suggests some of the early signs of the dynamics of resistance.

In style this is an opinion piece, although based upon and backed by extensive research, some of it cited here. Historical and cultural changes are mapped out with ironic references also to architectural fashions, and contemporary film culture in the sub-headings.

Prioritising pedestrians in urban areas and encouraging walking would have beneficial impacts in terms of public health and environmental quality and deliver economic savings.

With increasing focus on public and preventive health, and concerns to develop, for example, more age- and/or “dementia-friendly” environments, the paper suggests that new-build housing, in-fill and redevelopment will need to consider the streets between our homes as a key aspect of neighbourhoods and housing policy.