Prioritizing pedestrian needs using a multi-criteria decision approach for a sustainable built environment in the Indian context

Encouraging people to walk and use public transport can be a beneficial approach to tackle social and environmental issues associated with traffic and transportation. To motivate walking as a mode of choice of people, policymakers need to accord importance to pedestrians’ needs and expectations. Developing countries like India are lacking proper design guidelines for safer pedestrian infrastructure. With this background, it is essential to understand the concept of pedestrian needs for a safe and comfortable walking environment in Indian cities and provide a framework for planners to develop proper design guidelines for pedestrian infrastructures. The present study enhances the comprehension of decision-making process of pedestrians using Analytical Hierarchy Process to acquire priorities for various criteria that affects pedestrians’ choice of walking. A questionnaire survey was conducted in ten zones of Thiruvananthapuram city (Kerala, India) to recognize pedestrian priorities for walking characteristics within four main criteria: ‘Safety,’ ‘Security,’ ‘Comfort and Convenience’ and ‘Mobility and Infrastructure’ identified based on literature review. The study found that pedestrians perceived ‘Safety’ as the most important factor than conventionally used pedestrian infrastructure design factor ‘Mobility and Infrastructure.’ This paper also found a possible approach to quantify the importance of qualitative attributes that are applicable to pedestrian decision process. The findings of this study highlighted the importance of pedestrian-oriented assessment in better understanding of their decision-making process. These results will help urban planners and experts to rank the attributes defining the hierarchy of pedestrian needs and allocating investments into pedestrian facilities based on the needs and expectations of pedestrians.