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Evaluation of Walking Comfort in Children’s School Travel at Street Scale: A Case Study in Tianjin (China)

Author

Listed:
  • Jin Zuo

    (School of Architecture, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
    Tianjin Laboratory of Creative Urban Design, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China)

  • Tong Mu

    (School of Architecture, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
    Tianjin Laboratory of Creative Urban Design, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China)

  • Tian-Yi Xiao

    (School of Architecture, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China)

  • Jian-Cheng Luo

    (Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China)

Abstract

(1) Background: school travel is an important part of a child’s daily activities. A comfortable walking environment can encourage children to walk to school. The existing methods of evaluating walking environments are not specific to children’s walks to school. (2) Methods: this study proposes a method of evaluating walking comfort in children traveling to school at street scale. Related indexes were selected that reflect children’s school travel behavior and their needs in street environments based on walking environment audit tools. Factor analysis was then used to calculate the relative weight of each index. (3) Results: the new evaluation method was tested in the neighborhoods around the First Central Primary School in Hedong District, Tianjin, China. The walking comfort for children’s school travel was evaluated in eight indexes: effective street width; street flatness; street cleanliness; interface diversity; buffer; shade coverage; green looking ratio; and sound decibels. Different classes and types of streets were found to have various vulnerabilities. (4) Conclusions: this evaluation method can accurately locate the weak spots in streets to improve the local policymakers’ perception of street environments, which can greatly facilitate the implementation of precise measures to promote children walking to school.

Suggested Citation

  • Jin Zuo & Tong Mu & Tian-Yi Xiao & Jian-Cheng Luo, 2021. "Evaluation of Walking Comfort in Children’s School Travel at Street Scale: A Case Study in Tianjin (China)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-21, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:19:p:10292-:d:646762
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stewart, Orion & Vernez Moudon, Anne & Claybrooke, Charlotte, 2012. "Common ground: Eight factors that influence walking and biking to school," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 240-248.
    2. Tarek Al Shammas & Francisco Escobar, 2019. "Comfort and Time-Based Walkability Index Design: A GIS-Based Proposal," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-22, August.
    3. Ayse Ozbil & Demet Yesiltepe & Gorsev Argin & Greg Rybarczyk, 2021. "Children’s Active School Travel: Examining the Combined Perceived and Objective Built-Environment Factors from Space Syntax," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-22, January.
    4. Mika R. Moran & Efrat Eizenberg & Pnina Plaut, 2017. "Getting to Know a Place: Built Environment Walkability and Children’s Spatial Representation of Their Home-School (h–s) Route," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-21, June.
    5. Ayse Ozbil & Tugce Gurleyen & Demet Yesiltepe & Ezgi Zunbuloglu, 2019. "Comparative Associations of Street Network Design, Streetscape Attributes and Land-Use Characteristics on Pedestrian Flows in Peripheral Neighbourhoods," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-23, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Yuhan Shao & Yuting Yin & Zhenying Xue & Dongbo Ma, 2023. "Assessing and Comparing the Visual Comfort of Streets across Four Chinese Megacities Using AI-Based Image Analysis and the Perceptive Evaluation Method," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-18, April.

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