Background and objective of the study
The study was designed during Professor Kyle Bund’s guest professorship visit during the summer semester 2018. It aims at identifying the most important factors that make people walk in cities. This is important for both health and environmental reasons, serving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. In total, 501 US residents participated in an adaptive choice based conjoint study.
Design and results
The following seven attributes were considered (with three levels each): air pollution level, air pollution source, noise level, noise source, natural environment, traffic, as well as walking time and distance. Part-worth utility and relative importance scores were estimated using hierarchical Bayes analyses. The findings help identify promoters and burdens for walking in urban areas, particularly with regard to air pollution levels and traffic condition (which have a combined relative importance of 41%). Air pollution level was the most important attribute, followed by traffic, noise level, and the natural environment. In particular, pro-environmentalists select their routes based on both air pollution and noise levels, thus they might be particularly interested in informing themselves about, and monitoring, these attributes.
Implications
The results showed that the provision of information about air quality level, traffic, noise level, and the natural environment had the greatest influence among the attributes that were considered in the present study. City planners should therefore create opportunities for active routes that offer clean air, some greenery, natural sound, and low traffic, and inform city residents better about these attributes. App providers may also include such information in their offerings (e.g., maps and route planning tools).