IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jotrge/v114y2024ics0966692323002600.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sociodemographic matters: Analyzing interactions of individuals' characteristics with walkability when modelling walking behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Rodrigue, Lancelot
  • El-Geneidy, Ahmed
  • Manaugh, Kevin

Abstract

The concept of walkability encompasses a multitude of features of the built and social environments that impact walking behavior, leading to the creation of a wide range of walkability indices. While past studies have compared the research outputs from multiple walkability indices, little research has looked at how relevant each index is across sociodemographic groups and how the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics and behavior vary from one index to another. Using trip data from Montréal, Canada, this paper evaluates two commonly used walkability indices at different scales – Walk Score© (meso-scale) and the MAPS-Mini audit tool (micro-scale) – and their interactions with sociodemographic characteristics. Weighted binary logistic regressions are used to model the probability of adults taking a homebased utilitarian walking trip. A total of ten models are generated, including eight models in which one of four socio-demographic variables – gender, age, household income, and presence of children below 13 years old in the household – is interacted with one of the two walkability indices. Sensitivity analyses are then conducted using the interaction variables' outputs by varying the values of the interacted sociodemographic variable. Results show significant interactions for all variables for both indices except from Walk Score©’s interaction with gender. Opposite effects are observed between the two indices in the sensitivity analysis for household income. The differential results observed between the indices and between sociodemographic groups underscore the need to properly test the equity implication of using certain walkability measures in research.

Suggested Citation

  • Rodrigue, Lancelot & El-Geneidy, Ahmed & Manaugh, Kevin, 2024. "Sociodemographic matters: Analyzing interactions of individuals' characteristics with walkability when modelling walking behavior," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:114:y:2024:i:c:s0966692323002600
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2023.103788
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692323002600
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2023.103788?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anna Consoli & Alberto Nettel-Aguirre & John C Spence & Tara-Leigh McHugh & Kerry Mummery & Gavin R McCormack, 2020. "Associations between objectively-measured and self-reported neighbourhood walkability on adherence and steps during an internet-delivered pedometer intervention," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(12), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Craig, Lyn & van Tienoven, Theun Pieter, 2019. "Gender, mobility and parental shares of daily travel with and for children: a cross-national time use comparison," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 93-102.
    3. Bojing Liao & Pauline E. W. van den Berg & Pieter J. V. van Wesemael & Theo A. Arentze, 2020. "How Does Walkability Change Behavior? A Comparison between Different Age Groups in the Netherlands," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-14, January.
    4. Curl, Angela & Mason, Phil, 2019. "Neighbourhood perceptions and older adults’ wellbeing: Does walking explain the relationship in deprived urban communities?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 119-129.
    5. Nan Ye & Linjie Gao & Zhicai Juan & Anning Ni, 2018. "Are People from Households with Children More Likely to Travel by Car? An Empirical Investigation of Individual Travel Mode Choices in Shanghai, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Buehler, R. & Pucher, J., 2017. "Trends in walking and cycling safety: Recent evidence from high-income countries, with a focus on the United States and Germany," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 107(2), pages 281-287.
    7. Lang, Debbie & Collins, Damian & Kearns, Robin, 2011. "Understanding modal choice for the trip to school," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 509-514.
    8. McMillan, Tracy E., 2007. "The relative influence of urban form on a child's travel mode to school," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 69-79, January.
    9. Angela Curl & Helen Fitt & Melanie Tomintz, 2020. "Experiences of the Built Environment, Falls and Fear of Falling Outdoors among Older Adults: An Exploratory Study and Future Directions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-15, February.
    10. Arlene Tigar McLaren, 2018. "Parent–child mobility practices: revealing ‘cracks’ in the automobility system," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(6), pages 844-860, November.
    11. Arlie Adkins & Carrie Makarewicz & Michele Scanze & Maia Ingram & Gretchen Luhr, 2017. "Contextualizing Walkability: Do Relationships Between Built Environments and Walking Vary by Socioeconomic Context?," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 83(3), pages 296-314, July.
    12. Shirgaokar, Manish, 2019. "Operationalizing gendered transportation preferences: A psychological framework incorporating time constraints and risk aversion," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 10-18.
    13. repec:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2016.303546_3 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Jonas De Vos & Katrin Lättman & Anna-Lena van der Vlugt & Janina Welsch & Noriko Otsuka, 2023. "Determinants and effects of perceived walkability: a literature review, conceptual model and research agenda," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(2), pages 303-324, March.
    15. Carver, Alison & Timperio, Anna & Crawford, David, 2013. "Parental chauffeurs: what drives their transport choice?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 72-77.
    16. Tjur, Tue, 2009. "Coefficients of Determination in Logistic Regression Models—A New Proposal: The Coefficient of Discrimination," The American Statistician, American Statistical Association, vol. 63(4), pages 366-372.
    17. Curtis, Carey & Babb, Courtney & Olaru, Doina, 2015. "Built environment and children's travel to school," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 21-33.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dorji Wangzom & Marcus White & Jeni Paay, 2023. "Perceived Safety Influencing Active Travel to School—A Built Environment Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-12, January.
    2. Singh, Nishant & Vasudevan, Vinod, 2018. "Understanding school trip mode choice – The case of Kanpur (India)," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 283-290.
    3. Li, Man & Wang, Yupeng & Zhou, Dian, 2023. "Effects of the built environment and sociodemographic characteristics on Children's school travel," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 191-202.
    4. Bojing Liao & Xiang Li, 2023. "Neighborhood Environment and Affective Walking Experience: Cluster Analysis Results of a Virtual-Environment-Based Conjoint Experiment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-19, January.
    5. Curtis, Carey & Babb, Courtney & Olaru, Doina, 2015. "Built environment and children's travel to school," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 21-33.
    6. Liu, Yan & Wang, Siqin & Xie, Bin, 2019. "Evaluating the effects of public transport fare policy change together with built and non-built environment features on ridership: The case in South East Queensland, Australia," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 78-89.
    7. Kelly, J. Andrew & Fu, Miao, 2014. "Sustainable school commuting – understanding choices and identifying opportunities," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 221-230.
    8. Ermagun, Alireza & Levinson, David, 2016. "Intra-household bargaining for school trip accompaniment of children: A group decision approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 222-234.
    9. Milad Mehdizadeh & Trond Nordfjaern & AmirReza Mamdoohi, 2018. "The role of socio-economic, built environment and psychological factors in parental mode choice for their children in an Iranian setting," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 523-543, March.
    10. Liu, Yang & Min, Shisheng & Shi, Zhuangbin & He, Mingwei, 2024. "Exploring students' choice of active travel to school in different spatial environments: A case study in a mountain city," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    11. Scheiner, Joachim & Huber, Oliver & Lohmüller, Stefan, 2019. "Children's independent travel to and from primary school: Evidence from a suburban town in Germany," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 116-131.
    12. Rotaris, Lucia & Del Missier, Fabio & Scorrano, Mariangela, 2023. "Comparing children and parental preferences for active commuting to school. A focus on Italian middle-school students," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    13. Li, Shengxiao & Zhao, Pengjun, 2015. "The determinants of commuting mode choice among school children in Beijing," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 112-121.
    14. Havet, Nathalie & Bayart, Caroline & Bonnel, Patrick, 2021. "Why do Gender Differences in Daily Mobility Behaviours persist among workers?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 34-48.
    15. Haimei Li & Li Han & Yibin Ao & Yan Wang & Tong Wang, 2022. "Influences of the Built Environment on Rural School Children’s Travel Mode Choice: The Case of Chengdu," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-18, July.
    16. Emond, Catherine R. & Handy, Susan L., 2012. "Factors associated with bicycling to high school: insights from Davis, CA," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 71-79.
    17. McLaren, Arlene Tigar, 2016. "Families and transportation: Moving towards multimodality and altermobility?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 218-225.
    18. Chen, Peng & Jiao, Junfeng & Xu, Mengyuan & Gao, Xu & Bischak, Chris, 2018. "Promoting active student travel: A longitudinal study," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 265-274.
    19. Kamruzzaman, Md. & Hine, Julian, 2013. "Self-proxy agreement and weekly school travel behaviour in a sectarian divided society," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 74-85.
    20. Craig, Lyn & van Tienoven, Theun Pieter, 2019. "Gender, mobility and parental shares of daily travel with and for children: a cross-national time use comparison," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 93-102.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:114:y:2024:i:c:s0966692323002600. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-transport-geography .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.