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The increasing volume of motorized traffic not only negatively impacts the structural preservation and overall planning of individual buildings within the block but also disrupts the originally harmonious and pleasant spatial environment of the area. Walking, as a primary mode of urban transportation, plays a crucial role in preserving the unique characteristics of historical blocks, enhancing the quality of the urban environment, and achieving long-term sustainable urban development. This study takes the Five Avenues historical block as a case, assessing the current walking environment from the perspective of Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE). Machine learning techniques (including web scraping, the TF-IDF algorithm, and the LDA model) were employed to collect and analyze user feedback data, assisting in constructing walking environment satisfaction indicators. A total of 19 key factors affecting walking satisfaction were identified. Paired sample t-tests, ANOVA, and reliability and validity analyses were applied to examine the feasibility and practicality of the questionnaire content. Finally, using Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA), the improvement priorities for walking environment indicators were clearly defined. Although the overall satisfaction index of the Five Avenues is comparatively high, unobstructed pathways have the greatest impact on walking environment satisfaction, followed by the rationality of guiding signage facilities, and then by public security management and facility maintenance. Furthermore, visitors prioritize factors such as the cultural recognizability of the area, travel convenience, green space accessibility, and the sidewalk width proportion; they are less focused on the functional aspects of the walkways. Based on the analysis results from POE and machine learning, targeted strategies for improving the walking environment in historical blocks were proposed, aiming to provide a more comprehensive basis for improving the walking environments of similar blocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of new urbanism advocates for promoting social support, defined as the network of care or help a person receives from non-family members, by improving the walking environment and other components of new urbanism. However, the impact of the walking environment on social support, especially from the perspective of older adults' perceptions, remains unclear. In a rapidly aging urban environment, the demand for walkable living spaces has increased among older adults. One typical measure of the walking environment, walking accessibility, often focuses on travel time and/or distance to different urban opportunities but ignores travelers' subjective feelings and experiences about the walking environment. These subjective factors are important for policymakers to design, implement, and regulate appropriate plans and strategies to enhance social interaction among older adults at the community level. This study examines how, in the Chinese context, the perceived walking environment is associated with social support, mediated by walking time and perceived level of safety, using generalized structural equation models with data from the 2021 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS). The results show that, as compared to walking time, perceived safety is more likely to be influenced by the perceived walking environment, which positively correlates with social support. This suggests that older adults feel more socially supported by their neighbors when they perceive their living environment as safe and walkable. These findings provide new evidence for decision-makers to develop and implement targeted policies on walking accessibility for older adults with better understanding of the relationship between the perceived walking environment and social support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than a half of a century, vehicular-mobility rate is thriving so much that it already has taken all the attentions of sidewalk infrastructure facilities, commonly called "pedestrian". At present, pedestrian facilities represent one of the essential challenges in terms of traffic safety and sidewalk environment, mainly for the urban dwellers of the Asian cities like in Bangladesh, as the average median walkability rating for the Asian countries is only 58.43. Currently, Rajshahi city has been severely affected regarding the safety and mobility of pedestrians, as there is no maintenance of supporting infrastructures, amenities and services at all. The impetuous and excessive increase of urbanization and motorization combined with limited attention to sidewalk facilities and public-transport opportunities resulted in a decrease in the overall pedestrian mode share. Considering the facts and to maintain the comfortable moving of the citizens, identifying the existing conditions of the walkability and pedestrian facilities of Rajshahi city must be considered as the topmost priority. This study aims to apply the principles of Global Walkability Index (GWI), incorporating a "field walkability survey" together with an ADB study, in four major intersection points of Rajshahi city; namely, zero point (CBD), Uposhohor, Kazla and Railgate. Each area will be assessed based on nine parameters of equal weight, with the average of each parameter transformed into a rating system from 0 to 100. The resulting walkability index will classify the areas into red, yellow and green zones for walking and assess Rajshahi city's global standing based on safety, security and convenience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While transit-oriented development (TOD) has been widely adopted in urban design alongside the expansion of urban metro transit, the creation of pedestrian-friendly environments has often been overlooked during implementation. This has resulted in a lower walking advantage around metro transit stations. To address this issue and encourage walking and public transport use in metro transit station areas, this study undertook a quantitative comparative analysis of the pedestrian environment in five Chongqing metro transit station areas. The analysis focused on three key dimensions: "comprehensive evaluation", "basic scale", and "structural quality". The comprehensive evaluation considered factors such as the pedestrian catchment area ratio, POI kernel density distribution, and crowd agglomeration. The basic scale dimension comprised floor area ratio, building density, pedestrian road density, and the quantity of station entrances and exits. Finally, structural quality factors included land use type mixing degree, POI function mixing degree, intersection connectivity, median street length, pedestrian route directness, and green view index. Based on these analyses, this study proposes a series of pedestrian environment design strategies including land use and transportation. The strategies for land use advocate for "developing compact and diverse land use", "strengthening attraction of station center", "positioning large projects on the edge", "restricting private transportation capabilities". The strategies for transportation consist of "increasing pedestrian road density", "traffic calming organization", "subdivision of road types", and "three-dimensional pedestrian traffic system". These strategies aim to create a more humanized and environmentally friendly pedestrian environment, proactively rise to the challenge of climate change, thereby cultivating sustainable urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing volume of motorized traffic not only negatively impacts the structural preservation and overall planning of individual buildings within the block but also disrupts the originally harmonious and pleasant spatial environment of the area. Walking, as a primary mode of urban transportation, plays a crucial role in preserving the unique characteristics of historical blocks, enhancing the quality of the urban environment, and achieving long-term sustainable urban development. This study takes the Five Avenues historical block as a case, assessing the current walking environment from the perspective of Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE). Machine learning techniques (including web scraping, the TF-IDF algorithm, and the LDA model) were employed to collect and analyze user feedback data, assisting in constructing walking environment satisfaction indicators. A total of 19 key factors affecting walking satisfaction were identified. Paired sample t-tests, ANOVA, and reliability and validity analyses were applied to examine the feasibility and practicality of the questionnaire content. Finally, using Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA), the improvement priorities for walking environment indicators were clearly defined. Although the overall satisfaction index of the Five Avenues is comparatively high, unobstructed pathways have the greatest impact on walking environment satisfaction, followed by the rationality of guiding signage facilities, and then by public security management and facility maintenance. Furthermore, visitors prioritize factors such as the cultural recognizability of the area, travel convenience, green space accessibility, and the sidewalk width proportion; they are less focused on the functional aspects of the walkways. Based on the analysis results from POE and machine learning, targeted strategies for improving the walking environment in historical blocks were proposed, aiming to provide a more comprehensive basis for improving the walking environments of similar blocks.

BackgroundUnderstanding the factors that influence walking is important as quantitative walking assessments have potential to inform health risk assessments. Wearable technology innovation has enabled quantitative walking assessments to be conducted in different settings. Understanding how different settings influence quantitative walking performance is required to better utilize the health-related potential of quantitative walking assessments.Research questionHow does spatiotemporal walking performance differ during walking in different settings at different speeds for young adults?MethodsForty-two young adults [21 male (23 ± 4 years), 21 female (24 ± 5 years)] walked in two laboratory settings (overground, treadmill) and three non-laboratory settings (hallway, indoor open, outdoor pathway) at three self-selected speeds (slow, preferred, fast) following verbal instructions. Six walking trials of each condition (10 m in laboratory overground, 20 m in other settings) were completed. Participants wore 17 inertial sensors (Xsens Awinda, Movella, Henderson, NV) and spatiotemporal parameters were computed from sensor-derived kinematics. Setting × speed × sex repeated measures analysis of variance were used for statistical analysis.ResultsRegardless of the speed condition, participants walked faster overground when compared to while on the treadmill and walked faster in the indoor open and outdoor pathway settings when compared to the laboratory overground setting. At slow speeds, participants also walked faster in the hallway when compared to the laboratory overground setting. Females had greater cadence when compared to males, independent of settings and speed conditions.SignificanceParticularly at slow speeds, spatiotemporal walking performance was different between the settings, suggesting that setting characteristics such as walkway boundary definition may significantly influence spatiotemporal walking performance.

Urban policies have recently been formulated, following the increasing interest in pedestrian-friendly cities, people-centered safety, and accessibility. Despite the research efforts on physical walking safety, safety evaluations centered on pedestrian perception have been under-reported. Investigating the factors affecting pedestrian subjective safety perception is critical to promoting walking intention because pedestrians forgo walking if they feel unsafe. This study explored the relationship between various walking environmental factors and pedestrians’ psychological perception of safety by surveying 99 pedestrians’ perceptions at nine study sites and conducting a field investigation. Because of the multifaceted nature of pedestrian perception, mediation effect analyses were also conducted to understand the relationship between walking environment factors and perceived safety in depth, considering the role of the perception of traffic characteristics and walking infrastructure. This study found that walking environmental factors closely related to physical safety (e.g., traffic safety facilities and crosswalks) may not greatly contribute to perceived safety and demonstrated that maintaining infrastructure quality is essential for enhancing perceived safety, considering the mediating effect of the perception of infrastructure on perceived safety. The results imply that to improve the walking environment, it is necessary to consider both the physical safety and the perceived safety of pedestrians. This requires comprehensive planning for enhancing traffic safety facilities as well as ensuring user comfort and pleasure through quality infrastructure. This study can provide a basis for enhancing pedestrian-centered safety and promoting residents’ walking intention for public health while increasing their perceptions of safety.

Urban mobility and sustainable transportation are fundamental for the European Union's goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. The EU encourages national governments to prioritize zero-emission urban transport systems that emphasize safety, accessibility, and inclusiveness. Promoting walking plays a fundamental role in sustainable urban mobility, offering advantages such as emission reduction, better air quality, and enhanced public health. Recent research underscores the importance of creating appealing and safe pedestrian environments to encourage walking. These efforts align with the United Nations' Agenda 2030 sustainability goals, particularly Objective 11, which aims to build inclusive, safe, and sustainable cities and communities. This paper explores the factors influencing pedestrians' willingness to walk and categorizes them into basic factors, performance factors, and excitement factors, on the basis of the three factors theory. Significantly, the study reveals that the importance of these factors varies based on demographics, mainly the age of the users. Understanding these factors and their relative significance for pedestrian satisfaction is crucial for shaping effective policies and urban planning strategies aimed at promoting sustainable mobility. By prioritizing pedestrian satisfaction and addressing the specific needs and preferences of diverse groups, cities can create more walkable and environmentally friendly urban environments. These findings offer valuable insights for policymakers and urban planners working toward EU climate-neutral objectives and enhancing the well-being of citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rollator, one of the most widely used among walking assistance devices, can assist the elderly with stable walking in their daily lives. In this study, we investigated how the structural characteristics of two types of rollators affect the upper and lower extremity muscle activity and plantar pressure of the elderly in various walking environments. We quantified muscle activity (upper and lower limbs) and plantar pressure (mean force, peak pressure, and contact area) of 11 older adults walking in various environments (flat, obstacle, uneven, and sloped terrain) using two types of rollators. Upper extremity muscle activity was highest in the obstacle terrain and the uneven terrain, and a significant difference was found due to the structural differences of the rollator. Additionally, it was observed that lower extremity muscle activity and plantar pressure patterns appeared in accordance with the gait strategy to maintain stability in an unstable or inclined walking environment. In other words, it was confirmed that the weight of the rollator, the size of the wheel, grip type, and the auxiliary tools had a great effect on the upper and lower extremity muscle activity and plantar pressure of the elderly during walking. From the results of this study, it can be suggested that it is absolutely necessary to consider the biomechanical characteristics of the elderly and the structure of the rollator, which appear differently depending on the walking environment, in the development of walking aids. In the future, more clinical data will be collected, and based on this a rollator that can safely assist the elderly in various walking environments will be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public transportation (PT) often fails to provide door-to-door service. Passengers often have to walk a distance to reach their destination after getting off the public transportation station. Therefore, the walking accessibility of the station area directly affects the attractiveness of the PT. For walking, accurate calculation or prediction of accessibility should consider not only the objective distance, but also the environment and psychological perception factors of pedestrians. This paper aims to map the pedestrian perceived cost to the transportation environment to evaluate the walking accessibility of the public transportation station area accurately. From the perspective of psychological perception of walking environment, four key impedance factors are selected and a pedestrian perceived impedance model is established. Then an evaluation model of station area accessibility is set employing POIs (Point of Interests) based on the accumulative opportunity method. Finally, the case is given to show the application of the model. The results show that the number of crosswalks with signal lights, mixed use of sidewalk and non-motorized lane, the obstacle quantity and the vehicle entrance quantity on sidewalks can increase perceived impedance significantly. For example, pedestrians are willing to spend 4.21 extra minutes to adopt routes with one fewer obstacle per 100 meters. Within 10 minutes of walking time, walking perception has a greater impact on station area accessibility. The perceived walking time thresholds for evaluating bus and rail transit station area accessibility are recommended to be 15 minutes and 20 minutes, respectively. The evaluation results can provide a reliable basis for improving the walking network around public transportation station.

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While transit-oriented development (TOD) has been widely adopted in urban design alongside the expansion of urban metro transit, the creation of pedestrian-friendly environments has often been overlooked during implementation. This has resulted in a lower walking advantage around metro transit stations. To address this issue and encourage walking and public transport use in metro transit station areas, this study undertook a quantitative comparative analysis of the pedestrian environment in five Chongqing metro transit station areas. The analysis focused on three key dimensions: “comprehensive evaluation”, “basic scale”, and “structural quality”. The comprehensive evaluation considered factors such as the pedestrian catchment area ratio, POI kernel density distribution, and crowd agglomeration. The basic scale dimension comprised floor area ratio, building density, pedestrian road density, and the quantity of station entrances and exits. Finally, structural quality factors included land use type mixing degree, POI function mixing degree, intersection connectivity, median street length, pedestrian route directness, and green view index. Based on these analyses, this study proposes a series of pedestrian environment design strategies including land use and transportation. The strategies for land use advocate for “developing compact and diverse land use”, “strengthening attraction of station center”, “positioning large projects on the edge”, “restricting private transportation capabilities”. The strategies for transportation consist of “increasing pedestrian road density”, “traffic calming organization”, “subdivision of road types”, and “three-dimensional pedestrian traffic system”. These strategies aim to create a more humanized and environmentally friendly pedestrian environment, proactively rise to the challenge of climate change, thereby cultivating sustainable urban development.

Obesity and global warming are two major challenges that affect communities’ health and quality of life. Providing good walking environments, with appropriate pedestrian infrastructure, green areas and access to commercial retail and transport hubs favour liveable, healthy, and sustainable cities. The Lisbon City Hall has implemented an intervention program in the public space as a strategy to improve environmental quality and mitigate the effects of climate change. The program “A square in each neighbourhood” intends not only to reinforce the economic base of Lisbon, namely tourism, restaurants, commerce, and creative activities but also to promote physical activity and improve the quality of living of all citizens. For studying the impact of the public space quality on the walking environment, Campolide, a typical Lisbon neighbourhood, Portugal, which includes one of the requalified squares, was selected. A two-step methodology based on spatial modelling is proposed. In the first step, the public space quality was evaluated based on a set of 13 urban quality attributes. Attributes, intended for the street level, were collected from open data platforms and complemented with a field survey. Then, through spatial analysis, these attributes were used to build the Pedestrian Environment Quality Indicator and the Priority Intervention Indicator. Using these indicators, walking-friendly streets were mapped and the most critical sites that require priority intervention were identified to prepare for the requalification planning process. The street with the highest quality in the study area according to the dimensions evaluated - connectivity, convenience, comfort, cleanliness, and conviviality - has a great offer of trees, bus stops, commercial establishments, commercial diversity, crossings, paper bins/eco points and esplanades. On the opposite side of the rank, the street with the lowest quality has no trees or green areas, transport stops, benches and tables, or commercial activity. The urban quality indicators constitute a helpful tool for city planners and policymakers when planning sustainable living neighbourhoods.

A rollator, one of the most widely used among walking assistance devices, can assist the elderly with stable walking in their daily lives. In this study, we investigated how the structural characteristics of two types of rollators affect the upper and lower extremity muscle activity and plantar pressure of the elderly in various walking environments. We quantified muscle activity (upper and lower limbs) and plantar pressure (mean force, peak pressure, and contact area) of 11 older adults walking in various environments (flat, obstacle, uneven, and sloped terrain) using two types of rollators. Upper extremity muscle activity was highest in the obstacle terrain and the uneven terrain, and a significant difference was found due to the structural differences of the rollator. Additionally, it was observed that lower extremity muscle activity and plantar pressure patterns appeared in accordance with the gait strategy to maintain stability in an unstable or inclined walking environment. In other words, it was confirmed that the weight of the rollator, the size of the wheel, grip type, and the auxiliary tools had a great effect on the upper and lower extremity muscle activity and plantar pressure of the elderly during walking. From the results of this study, it can be suggested that it is absolutely necessary to consider the biomechanical characteristics of the elderly and the structure of the rollator, which appear differently depending on the walking environment, in the development of walking aids. In the future, more clinical data will be collected, and based on this a rollator that can safely assist the elderly in various walking environments will be developed.

Recognizing the user's motion intentions is a crucial challenge to develop human augmented robotic devices due to safety and easiness of interactions. Among the possible sensorial modalities, surface electromyography (sEMG) signals have been tested to be a primary motion intention channel due to the inherent advantage of electromechanical delay and the muscle activation information. However, the lack of detailed sEMG characteristics as motion recognition has been difficult issues to develop safe and intuitive interactions with the robots. In this study, we evaluated the sEMG characteristics for their potential applicability to recognizing the motion intentions of humans. For the discrete motion intention recognition, the walking environments were classified using only sEMG signals by support vector machine (SVM) and linear discriminated analysis (LDA) models with accuracy of 79.1% and 76.3%. Due to the fact that it is crucial to identify an unexpected disturbance by the collision between the exoskeleton and surrounding environment in recognizing the user intention to guarantee the safety of the user, sEMG and torque sensors were used to classify user-intended interaction forces and disturbance forces in the event of collisions. A control algorithm was proposed that detects and compensates for collisions, and its performance showed that robust motion intention recognition and control of powered exoskeletons are possible. We investigated the effect of muscle fatigue caused by long-term walking with heavy load wearing an exoskeleton. The sEMG amplitude and frequency were analyzed for muscle fatigue due to single-joint (knee extensions) and multi-joint (walking) exercises, and muscle fatigue due to walking was prominent in the signal from the vastus medialis (VM). The characteristics of sEMG due to muscle fatigue should be seriously considered in continuous motion estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing studies concerning walkability mainly focus on the characteristics of the built environment that could encourage walking. However, few discussions have been reported regarding the influence of the street environment on walking experiences. In this study, a walking environmental assessment method was proposed, involving the nine indexes of crossing facilities, street planting, building aspect ratio, street furniture, isolation for non-motor vehicles, width of the sidewalk, illegal parking, sidewalk disrepair, and bike-exclusive lanes. This method was applied to evaluate the walking environment of 12740 city streets in 71 urban vitality centres of 50 typical Chinese cities by combining street images and virtual audits. In addition, the practical problems, causes, and strategies behind the scores were analyzed. The empirical results validate the feasibility of the proposed method in revealing problems of the walking environment in Chinese cities. Research conclusions provide suggestions to refine urban planning and management of non-motorized traffic systems in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The safety of senior pedestrians is a major challenge in cities, particularly in a rapidly aging society. This study takes place in Seoul, South Korea, where pedestrian safety in highly urban environments poses a major threat. Using several big databases, the study investigated 142 frequent collision areas where 583 pedestrian-vehicle collisions involving seniors were reported in 2017. Using Poisson and negative binomial regression, we modeled the relationship between collisions and three sets of area-specific environmental characteristics: land-use; transportation and pedestrian infrastructures; and population characteristics. Two different scales of walking environment of senior citizens were investigated: the frequent collision areas (200-meter radius), and their pedestrian sheds (1-kilometer radius). The study further dissectedcommercial areas and roadways into types of destinations and roadway classifications, and found that the neighborhoods with a higher number of medical institutes and a denser network of minor roads were associated with higher risk of collisions. The study found that senior pedestrians were more vulnerable in low-income neighborhoods, especially in the areas with larger resident and floating population of seniors. The findings from the study provided some meaningful information on the risk of collision, and policy implications to improve the safety of senior pedestrians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine 554 state basic districts and 1,832 householders in Busan metropolitan city to see whether the physical and walkable characteristics of housing influence apartment prices. We use two-level hierarchical linear models with multilevel modeling for a more accurate analysis. Walkable characteristics in level 2 state basic districts potentially explain 77% of the variation in housing values. Overall, our hierarchical spatial analysis based on new state basic districts in Korea explained price variation better than previous studies, which considered each householder. The results provide policy opportunities for planners and citizen groups to pursue strategies that encourage the development of walkable and sustainable neighborhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking the greenbelt environment of pedestrian ways in urban center as the research area, compare the ecological benefits of each greenbelt with the measurement of four ecological energy indexes, such as temperature, relative humidity and illuminance of three representative roads' greenbelt environment in Tianhe District, Guangzhou to prove that except the hard paved road, the three roads with different plant compositions all can improve city's microclimate, especially the road with arbors planted on both sides is an effective, active way for thermal insulation and energy saving, thus producing good comprehensive benefits for energy saving. With analysis and discussion in this paper, some design thoughts and suggestions are offered to provide a theoretical basis for the study of greenbelt environment of urban walkways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognizing and predicting the movement and intention of the wearer in control of an exoskeleton robot is very challenging. It is difficult for exoskeleton robots, which measure and drive human movements, to interact with humans. Therefore, many different types of sensors are needed. When using various sensors, a data design is needed for effective sensing. An electromyographic (EMG) signal can be used to identify intended motion before the actual movement, and the delay time can be shortened via control of the exoskeleton robot. Before using a lower limb exoskeleton to help in walking, the aim of this work is to distinguish the walking environment and gait period using various sensors, including the surface electromyography (sEMG) sensor. For this purpose, a gait experiment was performed on four subjects using the ground reaction force, human-robot interaction force, and position sensors with sEMG sensors. The purpose of this paper is to show progress with the use of sEMG when recognizing walking environments and the gait period with other sensors. For effective data design, we used a combination of sensor types, sEMG sensor locations, and sEMG features. The results obtained using an individual mechanical sensor together with sEMG showed improvement compared to the case of using an individual sensor, and the combination of sEMG and position information showed the best performance in the same number of combinations of three sensors. When four sensor combinations were used, the environment classification accuracy was 96.1%, and the gait period classification accuracy was 97.8%. Vastus medialis (VM) and gastrocnemius (GAS) were the most effective combinations of two muscle types among the five sEMG sensor locations on the legs, and the results were 74.4% in pre-heel contact (preHC) and 71.7% in pre-toe-off (preTO) for environment classification, and 68.0% for gait period classification, when using only the sEMG sensor. The two effective sEMG feature combinations were "mean absolute value (MAV), zero crossings (ZC)" and "MAV, waveform length (WL)", and the "MAV, ZC" results were 80.0%, 77.1%, and 75.5%. These results suggest that the sEMG signal can be effectively used to control an exoskeleton robot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: Ability to walk in the community is important for independence and participation in life roles, but is difficult for many people following stroke. The purpose of this study was to determine the proportion of people with stroke with the physical capacity to be independent community ambulators at discharge from a publicly funded inpatient rehabilitation setting.Method: Consecutive medical records were audited to collate walking outcome at discharge, and to clarify if people with stroke had potential to walk independently in the community as defined by 4 criteria: independence with stairs; ability to traverse slopes and inclines; walking speed of .8m/s or more; and walking distance 367 m or higher on 6-Minute Walk Test.Results: While 80% of the 124 persons with stroke could walk indoors, only 27% could perform 4 essential skills needed to walk independently in the community at discharge from hospital. The proportion that met each criterion was 52% for stairs, 39% for slopes and inclines, 58% for speed, and 40% for distance. For the overall sample, mean (standard deviation) walking speed was .90 (.33) m/s, and distance for 6-Minute Walk Test was 349.6 (146.5) m.Discussion and Conclusion: A retrospective review found that three quarters of stroke survivors lacked physical capacity for 4 skills required to walk independently in the community at the time of discharge from a public inpatient rehabilitation. Our findings recommend that people with stroke have access to outpatient physical rehabilitation to optimize walking outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid increase in ageing population and the practice of industrial social pension systems have elders become an important group. It therefore becomes a primary issue for current government and the citizens to face the ageing society. Due to the change of demographic structure, the accessible and age-friendly ecological living environment should be created in communities to implement the local ageing idea, especially to provide elders with adequate public facilities to cope with the needs in the ageing society. Aiming at Fuzhou City of Fujian Province as the research object, the variables used in this study are acquired from public statistics. Data Envelopment Analysis is applied in this study to evaluate the efficiency. The research results show that 1. one DMU presents strong efficiency, 5DMUs reveal marginal inefficiency, and 7 DMUs appear obvious inefficiency and 2. the two-period change improvement of all counties/cities are found out with Malmquist productivity index analysis. Finally, suggestions are proposed, according to the results, to provide local governments with reference for future planning of age-friendly ecological environment welfare facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An uncomfortable urban environment negatively affects residents' physical and mental health. Creating a high-quality walking environment is increasingly acknowledged as an essential component of promoting walking to improve people's health. Configuring key physical aspects of the walking environment to be more appealing satisfies the needs of pedestrians and encourages walking. However, pedestrians' satisfaction or dissatisfaction, which may vary according to the characteristics and combinations of environmental and landscape components, have rarely been investigated at the detailed street level. This study investigates pedestrians' satisfaction and dissatisfaction with physical environmental components, including types, characteristics, and combinations. This study surveyed 810 pedestrians regarding their visual preferences among 200 walking environment images to identify satisfying and dissatisfying components (i.e., satisfiers and dissatisfiers). Results indicate that, depending on their characteristics, some components can act as either satisfiers (e.g., wood and steel) or dissatisfiers (e.g., plastic). The effects of combinations of components can also be synergistic or antagonistic rather than merely additive, with either positive (e.g., adjacent road with wooden fences) or negative (e.g., adjacent road with curved path) combined impacts. This study informs the creation of a more satisfactory walking environment at the street level by guiding landscape planning, including the addition, removal, and modification of physical environmental components, ultimately contributing to an increase in urban residents' walking activity. • Visual satisfaction and dissatisfaction with components of the walking environment. • Identifying satisfiers and dissatisfiers among component types and characteristics. • Synergistic or antagonistic combined effects on the pedestrian experience. • Insights for effective improvement of the walking environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between people's actual walking experience and their social capital levels in order to examine the possibility of restoring weakened social functions of streets and public spaces in a walking-friendly urban environment. Based on the survey data of 591 residents of Seoul, we empirically analyzed the relationship between walking experience for various purposes and individual perceptions of social capital using one-way ANOVA and OLS regression models. As a result of the analysis, we found that the levels of neighborly trust and networking of people who experienced leisure walking were higher than those of people who did not, while there was no difference in the level of social capital according to walking experiences for other purposes. This result is significant in that it shows the basis for the restoration of the social function of neighborhoods through social capital formation of people as an effect of walking. Hence, it is important to create a walking environment that supports leisure activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses residential walking environments and the overall walkability of three types of communities in Busan, South Korea, and proposes a walkability index for better residential zone walking conditions. To successfully contribute to research and policy regarding residential zone walking environments, we measured the walkability of three distinct types of general residential zones using an index consisting of 59 features. These features were categorized under characteristics such as traffic safety, diverse destinations, crime safety, accessibility, and pleasurability. We then employed stepwise regression analysis to examine significant environmental factors among the index's features. The results indicate that Class I residential zones have poor basic pedestrian infrastructure. However, Class III residential zones required improvement of the psychological and social environments surrounding walkways rather than improving the pedestrian infrastructure itself. Interestingly, the results also showed that Class II residential zones required complex improvements to both the infrastructure and the psychological and social walking environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is in a period of rapid metro system development. However, there are few empirical evaluations of the complex interactions between the local built environment and metro ridership in the Chinese context. In this study, we collected empirical data on the influence of local environmental characteristics on walking access in Beijing. Walking behaviors and built environment perceptions among commuters (N = 495) were collected at six metro stations in three distinctly different physical settings in Beijing—two in hutong , two in danwei , and two in xiaoqu . Participants recorded walking routes from the metro stations until they arrived at their destinations. Evaluations of the built environment were collected using a questionnaire after the participants arrived. Geographic information system was used to map walking routes and code built environment variables. Walking behavior outcomes were measured as walked time from metro exit to participant's destination. ANOVA compared differences between perceived and measured built environment characteristics and walking behaviors among selected neighborhoods. Multiple regression was used to test for associations between the built environment and metro station routes. We found that mean walking time from the metro station to a destination was 8 min. Recreational and office destinations had similar walking times to the metro station as residential destinations. Metro riders in xiaoqu and danwei walked longer distances to their destinations compared to metro riders in hutong . Physical obstacles to crossing streets made walking times longer. Greater connectivity, both perceived and measured, predicted shorter walking times. Local land use is not well integrated into metro station placement in Beijing. Better connectivity, pedestrian-friendly designs and higher building coverage ratio around the metro station might promote easier walking access and have the potential to capture more metro riders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Walking facilities are important infrastructures in communities. These facilities should be designed to accommodate the needs of all types of pedestrians. Unfortunately, existing design guidelines fail to offer adequate consideration for individuals with disabilities owing to a lack of empirical data. To address this knowledge gap, a controlled large-scale research project was conducted at Utah State University (USU) to study the walking behavior of people with various types of disabilities in various indoor walking facilities. These facilities included a passageway, different types of angles (right and oblique), bottleneck, and stairwells. The purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine the impacts of individuals with disabilities on crowd walking speed, and to study the impacts of different indoor walking facilities on the movements of various pedestrian groups. Results show that the presence of individuals with disabilities in a crowd significantly reduces the overall crowd speed. Statistical analysis also reveals similarities and differences between the walking speeds of various pedestrian groups. A regression model is calibrated to predict the speed of various types of individuals with disabilities in different indoor walking facilities. The findings of this paper may help urban planners and walking facility designers consider the needs of people with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Research on physical activity in relation to obesity gradually becomes more focused on environmental determinants, which can potentially influence people's health choices. The present article addresses the topic of physical activity from a wider sociological perspective. Our pilot study was designed with the objective of testing the applicability of a method included in the EC 6th Framework Programme EURO-PREVOB, in the Czech context. The method examines specific determinants of the built environment that can have an impact on physical activity at the population level. In addition, the study aims to analyze possible differences in built environment indicators and their relation to the physical activity of people living in neighbourhoods with areas of varying socioeconomic status.Methods: The field study was carried out in the city of Brno, Czech Republic, in 5 neighbourhood quintiles, i.e. areas divided according to the socioeconomic status of local residents. In each quintile, we evaluated the quality of the built environment according to the quality, aesthetics and safety of segregated cycle facilities, playgrounds/playing areas, public open spaces, marked road crossings and pavements as well as signs of incivilities and devastation.Results: Between the five quintiles, significant differences were found in the quality of parks and playgrounds/playing areas, pavements, marking of pedestrian crossings, and in general aesthetics, i.e. signs of incivilities and devastation of the built environment. No differences were found in the quality and use of cycle facilities.Conclusions: The method we used for the evaluation of the built environment proved highly applicable in Czech populated areas. Monitoring of built environment indicators in the Czech Republic should provide a basis for health maps, showing potential associations between the prevalence of high-incidence, non-infectious diseases and various social determinants of physical activity. This information might help in achieving an improvement in these determinants at a community level and promoting an increase in physical activity at the population level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study set out to understand the dynamics of human thermal sensation and perception associated with outdoor thermal variability in urban contexts. Previous studies found that compact urban forms and green features can contribute to urban climate diversity, and conjectured whether the wax and wane of thermal stress can promote thermal satisfaction in outdoor public spaces. Hence, a stop-and-go method has been developed to accurately capture thermal transitions along urban walks and to provide snapshots of the momentary body thermal sensation and subjective thermal perception. The measurement campaigns carried in late summer involved a total of 40 participants walking for 70 min through two waterfront districts in Rome, Italy. Our findings indicate that: (1) the oscillation of air temperature along the dense urban walk (R 2 = 0.74) is nearly twice as frequent as that along the sparse suburban walk (R 2 = 0.23), due to the microclimatic diversity shaped by the compact urban fabrics, pocket parks and tree-lined river banks; (2) the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) contrast can effectively predict thermal alliesthesia (R 2 = 0.34) measured by the rate of change of mean skin temperature (d (T m s k i n) / d t < 0.012 ° C ∙ min − 1 ); (3) subjective perception shows a significant trend but a poorer model fit (R 2 < 0.25) predicted by UTCI and T m s k i n ; (4) two confounders, view and social backgrounds, are proved to affect the regression model between the objective and subjective data. The conclusions emphasise the importance of incorporating spatial and social contexts into the investigation of outdoor thermal comfort via physiological and psychological approaches. • The instrument-relay method efficiently halved the time for 2 weather stations to acclimatise between sun and shade. • Thermal transitions and alliesthesia were accurately snapshotted along two transect routes in Rome four times a day. • The dense urban walk sharing more positive perceptions, has twice as frequent temperature oscillations as the suburban walk. • Sky and green views can confound the thermal perceptions at the same UTCI levels. • The local Italians participants exhibited higher thermal tolerance than the non-locals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of walking environment on the gait pattern of frail elderly people. [Subject] Fifteen frail elderly women volunteered for this study (mean age 85.1±5.3 years). [Method] Measurements were conducted under two conditions. In condition 1, participants walked close to a wall. For condition 2, they walked out of reach of the wall. Measurement indicators were body acceleration (Intensity Exercise: IE), body sway and walking speed. The participants were separated into two groups based on the error sum of delta of acceleration (IE). [Result] In the high-IE group under condition 2, body sway was larger than that of the low-IE group. The body sway under condition 1 was not significantly different between the high-IE group and low-IE group. [Conclusion] The walking environment of condition 1 lessens the risk of falls regardless of IE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

District 2-2 (or Saerom-dong), located in Sejong smart city, is designated as a 'Specially Designed Zone for Women'. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the gendered dimensions of this smart city district through gender analysis. This paper analyzes the planning, implementation, and post-occupancy stages of the district through a review of guidelines of gender-mainstreaming policies of Korean cities, interviews of experts involved, and a survey of 100 residents to gain an insight into how users perceive the spatial aspects of the women-friendly walking environment. Results show that, at the planning stage, little interprofessional communication occurs between smart city experts and 'women-friendly city' experts. At the implementation stage, this leads to incomplete gender-mainstreaming of the district. Post-occupancy survey results reveal, however, that despite these shortcomings, both women and men perceive the 'Specially Designed Zone for Women' to be safe. Even so, there is a gender difference in the perception regarding smart installations. CCTVs are more important to men than women, while on-site emergency bells are more significant to women than men. This indicates that women need more active safety systems than passive surveillance systems. This paper argues that a gendered perspective is needed for the more inclusive planning of smart cities. • The gendered dimensions of Sejong's smart city district are investigated in three stages. • There is little interprofessional communication at the planning stages. • This led to incomplete gender-mainstreaming of the district at the implementation stage. • Post-occupancy survey results reveal that both women and men perceive the 'Specially Designed Zone for Women' to be safe. • A gendered perspective is needed as women need more active safety systems than passive surveillance systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Walking is a sustainable commute mode, and walkability is considered an essential sign of sustainable mobility. To date, many walkability assessment tools have been developed to assess the walkability conditions across the world. However, there is a paucity of comprehensive methods to assess current walkability tools based on walking needs and ensure all walking requirements are included. Thus, researchers and experts are unable to select the most comprehensive tool systematically. The present study attempts to develop a system to evaluate the quality of the existing tools. The instrument focuses on factors related to walking needs frequently observed in all types of walkability assessment tools. Hence, a pilot measurement quality appraisal instrument (MQAI) is developed and tested by a research team with planning and public health backgrounds. The final MQAI is tested by suitable reliability, criterion, and content validity tests. Most appraisal scales display moderate to high reliability for both audits and questionnaires. The MQAI appears as ready for use in several applications, including meta-analyses and systematic reviews. Additionally, the MQAI can be used by practitioners and planners to identify the most comprehensive and efficient assessment tools based on their needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Walking is an essential sustainable mode of transportation. Encouraging to increase walking trips can bring various social and economic benefits to our society. Since the policy paradigm has been shifting from car-oriented to pedestrian-oriented, interest in securing pedestrian rights and improving walking environments is increasing significantly. This study aims to examine factors affecting pedestrian satisfaction according to land use and street type. A pedestrian satisfaction survey was conducted in an industrial city with a mid-size population in the city of Changwon, South Korea. Based on the survey data from 500 respondents, factors affecting pedestrian satisfaction were analyzed by land use (commercial or residential areas) and street type (non-separated or separated sidewalks). The analysis results, using binary and ordered logit models, showed that the less illegal parking, the more pedestrian space, pedestrian guidance facility, and green space, the higher the pedestrian satisfaction. Factors positively affecting the satisfaction of pedestrian paths according to land use were physical environmental variables, such as the separated sidewalk variable. In commercial areas, pedestrian guidance facilities and street cleanliness were included as major influencing factors, implying differences in land use influencing factors. A common factor affecting the satisfaction of separated or non-separated sidewalk cases was also identified as the sufficiency of walking space. Therefore, the most urgent policy measure for improving pedestrian satisfaction for the city was to install a sidewalk or expand the pedestrian space. In the pedestrian-vehicle separation models, green space and cleanliness were included as significant variables, and in the non-separated models, variables of pedestrian guidance facilities and sidewalk conditions were included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, there are a variety of pedometers available based on different technologies. The aim of this study was to investigate step measurement accuracy regarding two different pedometer technologies, spring-suspended lever arm and accelerometers, in six walking environments, compared to a reference method. Descriptive data indicates that the spring-suspended lever arm pedometer had the largest SD and underestimated the steps in five out of six walking environments. The ANOVA showed that both pedometer technologies performed accurate measurements in one of the walking environments. However, none of the pedometer technologies performed accurate step measurements in all six walking environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]