01698197

Component

Walking is a crucial part of living in any urban setting. It facilitates access to the places and things people need: employment, services, and social networks. Walking also improves individual and population level health. Walking is the primary source of physical activity for most Americans and is associated with lower rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and dementia. In many urban areas, however, people must walk in environments that are not supportive. This prevents people from walking and puts those who do in uncomfortable, stressful, and often dangerous situations. This is especially true for low-income pedestrians and pedestrians of color who, nationally, face higher pedestrian fatality rates. Many established quantitative measures of walkability focus on either objective or subjective measures of the physical environment, which miss significant nuance in the context of the built and social environment contributors to perceived walkability. This paper describes the development, testing, and refinement of the Qualitative Pedestrian Environments Data (QPED) toolkit, which is a method for systematic qualitative data collection built around on-street intercept interviews. By engaging and learning from pedestrians while they are walking, the authors aim to better inform planning and engineering decisions by valuing the lived experience of pedestrians. The authors highlight the iterative process used to get from exploratory focus groups to a set of tools that has been administered successfully in seven jurisdictions in three states. The finalized data collection protocol, and training materials will be made available to other researchers, jurisdictions, and advocates seeking to holistically address the needs of pedestrians.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF10 Standing Committee on Pedestrians.

19-00720

English

0000-0001-5613-4372

6p

2019

Transportation Research Board 98th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

References

Data collection; Pedestrians; Walking

Qualitative Pedestrian Environments Data

Data and Information Technology; Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Society

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2019 Paper #19-00720

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 7 2018 9:48AM