Sustainable Transportation and Policy Development: A Study for Impact Analysis of Mobility Patterns and Neighborhood Assessment of Walking Behavior

Abstract

Since rapid growth and car-oriented patterns became a global threat and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) levels are advancing, strategies to redesign the built environment into healthier spaces have gained importance. Walkability plays a central role in this context. However, the literature is dominated by studies from western industrialized countries. In this paper, we employed structural equational modeling to analyze perceptual data collected from different neighborhoods of Muscat. We compared the responses regarding environmental attributes to the frequency of walking for transport. We found that land use mix combined with low residential density are the factors that have the highest impact on pedestrian activity. Conversely, the estimates of the pedestrian infrastructure were surprisingly low, suggesting that, in car dominant societies, walking perceptions are affected by drivers’ perspectives.