How street quality influences the walking experience: an inquiry into the perceptions of adults with diverse ages and disabilities

Abstract

The benefits of walking are now well understood. However, there is still no consensus on what causes people to forego short walking trips. This study examined users’ perceptions on trips usually walked, as well as perceptions of desirable trips within walking distance but not walked. 56 adults with diverse disability statuses and ages, living in Auckland New Zealand, were interviewed. Content analysis was used to discover the perceived difficulties of walking and what lies behind the decision to walk (or not). Barriers to walking related to poor holistic quality of walking environments, including traffic, and infrastructure. The study confirmed the importance of the comparative qualities of transport alternatives in the choice of walking. Finally, disabled users suffer disproportionately from the burden of the transport system and often cannot travel spontaneously. Future research should focus on characterising barriers to walking perceived by users, which would provide useful insights for urban retrofit.