Accessibility and Use of Urban Greenway

摘要

Greenway is a relatively new environmental solution being developed to meet environmental challenges. Unlike most remote national parks and other protected landscapes, greenways focus on linear open space and are located near population centers for large and multiple uses to access. Greenways have potential to serve as trails, linear parks or bike paths with safety for biking and walking because greenway trails separate from roadways with suitable surface for such activities. Researchers have developed various models which are based on multiple factors to predict the use of greenway. This paper is interested in exploring how a principle factor (residential proximity) would influence the use of greenways. We hypothesized that an increased level of residential proximity, as measured by population density and access points, will increases the user number of the greenway. Additionally, this paper will demonstrate how GIS technology and a tablet computer were used for collecting data in the domain of social science. A case study was conducted in Durham, USA and the 6.5 miles ATT greenway was chosen as study site. Combined methods were applied in this study, including (1) GIS analysis for residential proximity, (2) observe the use of greenway on site, and (3) intercept survey. Because of its linear feature, greenway was divided into segments to study. The rationale of using segmentation technique is to acquire detailed data for analysis purpose. The criteria of dividing segments is that every segment should be similar length and have at least one parking access point. The results indicated that the level of residential proximity within 4-mile buffer zones was positively associated with the use of the greenway; but the number of access point was not associated with user numbers. The study also revealed that greenway is usually used by group users. This study suggested that social factors, such as residential proximity or destination opportunity are as important as ecological factors in the design of new urban greenways.