Neighborhood Environment and Affective Walking Experience: Cluster Analysis Results of a Virtual-Environment-Based Conjoint Experiment.

There is empirical evidence that neighborhood environment characteristics influence individuals' self-reported affective walking experiences. However, much of the research investigates residents' affective walking experiences at the neighborhood level using revealed-preference methodologies, making it difficult to identify the separate impacts of characteristics. In addition, empirical studies have not shown enough evidence that individuals from different sociodemographic backgrounds have distinct affective walking experiences. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to explain how different groups of people perceive the characteristics of a neighborhood differently. To do this, this study conducts a conjoint experiment employing videos of virtual environments involving a sample of 295 respondents. Using a latent-class regression model and a multinomial logit model, we are able to determine how individuals and groups perceive neighborhood characteristics differently based on their different emotions. The results somewhat confirmed the findings of the empirical research, indicating that land use mix, connectivity, road size, open space, and greenery are related to a positive walking experience. The level of affective walking experience that individuals associate with neighborhood environmental characteristics is, however, considerably variable. Therefore, our results show that open space and road width are crucial for a walkable neighborhood since they are most helpful to individuals' subjective well-being.

Association between Campus Walkability and Affective Walking Experience, and the Mediating Role of Walking Attitude.

The walkability of a neighborhood is important for alleviating transport problems and improving the social and physical wellbeing of residents. However, it is unclear to what extent high walkability contributes to positive attitudes about walking and walking experiences on university campuses. In addition, little is known about the extent and mechanism by which walking attitude influences the affective walking experiences of students. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the relationship between campus walkability and students' affective walking experience, as well as to explain the role of walking attitude as a mediator of this relationship. To address these issues, data were collected via questionnaires at a Chinese university and analyzed by using the structural equation model. After controlling for personal characteristics, the results indicated that campus walkability had a positive direct and indirect (through walking attitude) association with affective walking experiences. Our findings have proved that walkable campuses are important because they promote positive walking attitudes and walking emotions, which are beneficial to students' mental health and subjective wellbeing.

How Does Walkability Change Behavior? A Comparison between Different Age Groups in the Netherlands.

Empirical research provides evidence that, in neighborhoods with higher walkability, individuals make more walking trips. However, it is not clear what the exact nature is of the relationships between neighborhood walkability and walking trips, since a higher walking frequency can be explained in different ways. This study examined whether the extra walking trips in better walkable neighborhoods are related primarily to trip generation, destination choice, or transport mode choice and whether this is the same for different age groups. A neighborhood fixed effects regression analysis was conducted in a first step to obtain a walkability measure for each neighborhood in the Netherlands including systematic as well as unobserved effects. Subsequently, the estimated fixed effects were used as walkability data for a path analysis based on a causal model to test the hypotheses stated. The results of the path analysis show direct relationships of neighborhood walkability with trip generation, destination choice, and transport mode choice, after controlling for the mutual relationships between the activity and trip variables. Comparing different age groups (i.e., children, adults, and elderly), the differences found mostly concerned the relationship between neighborhood walkability and trip generation. We concluded therefore that conditions for walkability are not the same for all age groups.