Pedestrian Environment and Route Choice: Evidence from ew York City and Hong Kong

摘要

This research uses mixed methods of environment audit, contingent rating, and pedestrianroute choice modeling to understand the environment-walking relationship and toquantify the utility of pedestrian environments in monetary values. Based on revealedpreferences from 321 pedestrians interviewed in an urban center neighborhood in NewYork City and Hong Kong, we found that the subtle differences in the pedestrianenvironment result in quite different walking patterns and perceptions of theneighborhoods. Safety concerns and the lack of route alternatives render the Hong Kongpedestrians less familiar with the local environment even they visit the site morefrequently, comparing to those in New York City. We also found that pedestrians areoften unable to articulate the intangible amenities such as streetscape and façade design,and over-evaluate the importance of more tangible attributes like distance and safety.Finally, the route choice model produces a set of values for six key environmentalattributes. For example, one extra meter sidewalk is valued as equivalence of 115.7meters in New York City, or New Yorkers are willing to walk 115.7 meters longer if thesidewalk is widened by one meter. This value is about twice that in Hong Kong.