ANALYZING THE FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH WALKABILITY IN A CAMPUS SETTING FROM USERS' PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

ABSTRACT Due to its potential to encourage more sustainable urban settings, the term walkability has gained importance in recent years. Consequently, there has been an increased interest among researchers in understanding which factors encourage walkability. In this context, university campuses, as a part of a city, offer opportunities for walkability studies to investigate the factors affecting walking behavior. Although there are a few campus walkability studies in literature, further research is still needed to add to the body of knowledge in various geographic and climatic situations. This research aims to understand better factors that influence campus users’ walking behavior from the viewpoints of the campus community by investigating built environment characteristics associated with the campus and its surroundings walkability and other influencing factors. An online questionnaire was established for this purpose. Statistical analyses were conducted using multivariable logistic regression to examine variables that could influence the participants’ willingness to walk. Attitudes toward walking behavior and physical features of the built environment were all found to be significant determinants of campus users’ willingness to walk. In the current study, however, other influencing factors that were identified as significant factors in the literature were not found significant to predict willingness to walk. Moreover, these findings can inform municipal policy-makers and campus management about how to create a walkable campus environment and promote increased walking at a university.