How does street environment affect pedestrian crash risks? A link-level analysis using street view image-based pedestrian exposure measurement.

Street space plays a critical role in pedestrian safety, but the influence of fine-scale street environment features has not been sufficiently understood. To analyze the effect of the street environment at the link level, it is essential to account for the spatial variation of pedestrian exposure across street links, which is challenging due to the lack of detailed pedestrian flow data. To address these issues, this study proposes to extract link-level pedestrian exposure from spatially ubiquitous street view images (SVIs) and investigate the impact of fine-scale street environment on pedestrian crash risks, with a particular focus on pedestrian facilities (e.g., crossing and sidewalk design). Both crash frequency and severity are analyzed at the link level, with the latter incorporating two distinct aggregation metrics: maximum severity and medium severity. Using Hong Kong as a case study, the results show that the link-level pedestrian exposure extracted from SVIs can lead to better model fit than alternative zone-level measurements. Specifically, higher pedestrian exposure is found to increase the total pedestrian crash frequency, while reducing the risk of serious injuries or fatalities, confirming the "safety in numbers" effect for pedestrians. Pedestrian facilities are also shown to influence pedestrian crash frequency and severity in different ways. The presence of crosswalks can increase crash frequency, but denser crosswalk design mitigates this effect. In addition, two-side sidewalks can increase crash frequency, while the absence of sidewalks leads to higher risks of crash severity. These findings highlight the importance of fine-scale street environment and pedestrian facility design for pedestrian safety.

Reading in the city: mobile eye-tracking and evaluation of text in an everyday setting.

Reading is often regarded as a mundane aspect of everyday life. However, little is known about the natural reading experiences in daily activities. To fill this gap, this study presents two field studies (N = 39 and 26, respectively), where we describe how people explore visual environments and divide their attention toward text elements in highly ecological settings, i.e., urban street environments, using mobile eye-tracking glasses. Further, the attention toward the text elements (i.e., shop signs) as well as their memorability, measured via follow-up recognition test, were analysed in relation to their aesthetic quality, which is assumed to be key for attracting visual attention and memorability. Our results revealed that, within these urban streets, text elements were looked at most, and looking behaviour was strongly directed, especially toward shop signs, across both street contexts; however, aesthetic values were not correlated either with the most looked at signs or the viewing time for the signs. Aesthetic ratings did however have an effect on memorability, with signs rated higher being better recognised. The results will be discussed in terms aesthetic reading experiences and implications for future field studies.

Restorative perception of urban streets: Interpretation using deep learning and MGWR models.

Restorative environments help people recover from mental fatigue and negative emotional and physical reactions to stress. Excellent restorative environments in urban streets help people focus and improve their daily behavioral performance, allowing them to regain efficient information processing skills and cognitive levels. High-density urban spaces create obstacles in resident interactions with the natural environment. For urban residents, the restorative function of the urban space is more important than that of the natural environment in the suburbs. An urban street is a spatial carrier used by residents on a daily basis; thus, the urban street has considerable practical value in terms of improving the urban environment to have effective restorative function. Thus, in this study, we explored a method to determine the perceived restorability of urban streets using street view data, deep learning models, and the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), the multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) model. We performed an empirical study in the Nanshan District of Shenzhen, China. Nanshan District is a typical high-density city area in China with a large population and limited urban resources. Using the street view images of the study area, a deep learning scoring model was developed, the SegNet algorithm was introduced to segment and classify the visual street elements, and a random forest algorithm based on the restorative factor scale was employed to evaluate the restorative perception of urban streets. In this study, spatial heterogeneity could be observed in the restorative perception data, and the MGWR models yielded higher R 2 interpretation strength in terms of processing the urban street restorative data compared to the ordinary least squares and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models. The MGWR model is a regression model that uses different bandwidths for different visual street elements, thereby allowing additional detailed observation of the extent and relevance of the impact of different elements on restorative perception. Our research also supports the exploration of the size of areas where heterogeneity exists in space for each visual street element. We believe that our results can help develop informed design guidelines to enhance street restorative and help professionals develop targeted design improvement concepts based on the restorative nature of the urban street.

The effect of the street environment on two types of essential physical activity in industrial neighborhoods from the perspective of public health: a study from the Harbin low-income population health survey, China.

A large number of low-income residents in industrial neighborhoods rarely engage in recreational and physical activities in green spaces in extremely cold weather. This study mainly explores the relationship between the street environment and physical activities under special industrial properties and extreme cold weather conditions. In addition, we further divide essential physical activity into two categories, life-type and traffic-type physical activity, to explore and refine the related studies.We use principal component analysis to classify the street environment indicators and use multiple linear regression to analyze the impact of each indicator on different physical activities. The conclusions are as follows. For low-income people, the street environment in industrial neighborhoods has a much greater impact on life-type physical activity than traffic-type physical activity, and there is a conflict between the two. In addition, a high greening density is not conducive to either type of physical activity in the street environment. It reduces the paved area of streets and create sports conflicts between people undertaking different physical activities. The findings contribute to the development and optimization of public health research on environmental interventions in industrial neighborhood streets and enable effective recommendations for increasing outside physical activity among low-income people in severe weather conditions. In future studies, we will use the physical environment as a mediator to explore the relationship between the street environment and high-frequency chronic diseases in old industrial neighborhoods.

Preference for Street Environment Based on Route Choice Behavior While Walking.

This study aimed to better understand the relationship between the street environment and walking behavior by deciphering the pedestrians' street environment preference based on their route choice behavior while walking. The route data of 219 residents were collected using an unobtrusive tracking method and subjected to binary logistic regression models to analyze the pedestrian route choice behavior. The results revealed that except for the walking distance, the trip purpose and travel status are the potential factors influencing the route choice of pedestrians. Furthermore, it was revealed that on-street parking, garbage bins, and streetlights could influence the pedestrians to select longer distance routes. In addition, pedestrians were more likely to select the shortest distance route when they were engaged in leisure activities with an accompanist. The findings of this study would offer insights, from different perspectives, into the micro-scale street environment and the walking behavior of pedestrians.

Effect of the Street Environment on Walking Behavior: A Case Study Using the Route Choice Model in the Chunliu Community of Dalian.

To better comprehend the relationship between the environment and walking, this study developed a conceptual framework that explained the association between the street environment and the route choice behavior of pedestrians. We collected the route choice data of 219 residents of the Chunliu community in Dalian and used a conditional Logit model to analyze the factors influencing route choice behavior to explain how the street environment affected pedestrians' walking habits and induced them to choose longer or more complicated routes for their activities. We found that sidewalk and driveway width, garbage bins, green spaces, the characteristics of street walls, the proportion of facilities could influence pedestrians' walking habits and compel them to choose longer and more complex routes. This study would provide new insights into walking characteristics and offer policy recommendations to the government on improving the street environment.

Evaluation of Walking Comfort in Children's School Travel at Street Scale: A Case Study in Tianjin (China).

(1) Background: school travel is an important part of a child's daily activities. A comfortable walking environment can encourage children to walk to school. The existing methods of evaluating walking environments are not specific to children's walks to school. (2) Methods: this study proposes a method of evaluating walking comfort in children traveling to school at street scale. Related indexes were selected that reflect children's school travel behavior and their needs in street environments based on walking environment audit tools. Factor analysis was then used to calculate the relative weight of each index. (3) Results: the new evaluation method was tested in the neighborhoods around the First Central Primary School in Hedong District, Tianjin, China. The walking comfort for children's school travel was evaluated in eight indexes: effective street width; street flatness; street cleanliness; interface diversity; buffer; shade coverage; green looking ratio; and sound decibels. Different classes and types of streets were found to have various vulnerabilities. (4) Conclusions: this evaluation method can accurately locate the weak spots in streets to improve the local policymakers' perception of street environments, which can greatly facilitate the implementation of precise measures to promote children walking to school.

Serial Mediation of Environmental Preference and Place Attachment in the Relationship between Perceived Street Walkability and Mood of the Elderly.

Urban streets are important public spaces for daily activities that play a crucial role in promoting health in the elderly. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between perceived street walkability and mood in the elderly, and specifically, the mediating effect of environmental preference and place attachment. We surveyed a total of 269 elderly residents from six streets in Guangzhou, China. We collected assessments of the street environments, environmental preferences, place attachment, and mood status from the elderly. A serial multiple mediator model was constructed using the structural equation modeling method. The results showed that the perceived street walkability was sequentially associated first with an increased level of place attachment (ß = 0.798, SE = 0.358, p < 0.000) and then environmental preference (ß = 0.191, SE = 0.033, p = 0.038), which was in turn related to improvement of positive mood in the elderly (ß = 0.595 SE = 0.341, p < 0.000). Environmental preference alone was found to be significantly associated with positive mood (ß = 0.595, SE = 0.341, p < 0.000), while no significant effect of place attachment was found when considered individually (ß = -0.075, SE = 0.089, p = 0.395). These findings provide a greater understanding of the possible mechanism through which street environment impacts mood in the elderly. Therefore, when promoting the emotional experience of the elderly, we might consider not only physical environment factors but also psychological conditions in street environments.

The experience of outdoor physical activity for skin cancer survivors: understanding the importance of the built and natural environments.

PURPOSE: Cancer patients are encouraged to do more physical activity (PA). Exercising in outdoor settings, however, may expose people to UV radiation, which is the main risk factor of melanoma. This study aimed to understand how melanoma diagnoses affect people's perception of the outdoor environment for PA. METHOD: In-depth interviews were conducted among 19 individuals (20-85 years) with a history of melanoma at a skin cancer clinic in the Denver metropolitan area. Transcribed interviews were coded for emergent themes. The coding framework included topics related to PA behavior, sun protection, and perceptions of outdoor environment. RESULTS: Respondents reported no change in their level of outdoor activity after the melanoma diagnosis; they tried to reduce the risk of sun exposure by using sunscreen and sun-protective clothing. They also reported seeking shade, trees, and groundcover along urban corridors, in order to avoid sun exposure, reflective surfaces, and heat while being active outdoors. CONCLUSION: Given the public health significance of UV exposure and extreme heat, further investments should be made to craft streetscape design guidelines and implement sun-proof spaces across public facilities, including parks, schools, and sport fields in order to ameliorate environmental risks for skin cancer survivors, to prevent future cancers among those that are vulnerable to the hazards of excessive UV exposure and extreme heat, and to promote outdoor PA. IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: Skin cancer survivors and other vulnerable population subgroups will benefit from discussions around neighborhood-based design interventions that promote PA while accounting for sun safety.

Childhood Disadvantage, Social and Psychological Stress, and Substance Use Among Homeless Youth: A Life Stress Framework.

We used a life stress framework to examine linkages between distal or primary stressors (e.g., child abuse) and proximal or secondary stressors (e.g., street victimization) and their association with substance use among 150 youth experiencing homelessness in the Midwestern United States. Results revealed that numerous primary stressors such as number of times youth ran from home and number of foster care placements were associated with secondary stressors, such as anxiety, total duration of homelessness, and street victimization. Only street physical victimization (e.g., been beaten up since leaving home) was associated with greater substance use. Our findings provide a more holistic picture of both distal and proximal life stressors that these young people experience and reveal the complexity of issues that service providers must acknowledge when working with this population.

The Impact of PM10 Levels on Pedestrian Volume: Findings from Streets in Seoul, South Korea.

Although many studies have revealed that both air quality and walking activity are dominant contributors to public health, little is known about the relationship between them. Moreover, previous studies on this subject have given little consideration to the day-to-day atmospheric conditions and floating populations of surrounding areas even though most pedestrian count surveys are not conducted on a single day. Against this backdrop, using the 2015 Pedestrian Volume Survey data and quasi-real-time weather, air quality, and transit ridership data in Seoul, this study investigates the relationship between particulate matter (PM)10 and pedestrian street volumes empirically. The regression results suggest that PM10 concentration determines people's intention to walk and affects the volume of street-level pedestrians. The three regression models, which adopted different spatial aggregation units of air quality, demonstrated that PM10 elasticity of pedestrian volume is the largest in the borough-level (the smallest spatial unit of air quality alert) model. This means that people react to the most accurate information they can access, implying that air quality information should be provided in smaller spatial units for public health. Thus, strengthening air quality warning standards of PM is an effective measure for enhancing public health.

Evaluation of the implementation of an intervention to improve the street environment and promote walking for transport in deprived neighbourhoods.

BACKGROUND: Levels of physical activity remain low, particularly in deprived areas. Improving the street environment to promote walking for transport using a community engagement approach is a potential strategy to increase physical activity. An understanding of the implementation of this intervention approach is needed to facilitate further research, replication and scale-up. The aim of this study was to evaluate the implementation of the Fitter for Walking (FFW) intervention in deprived neighbourhoods. METHODS: FFW was delivered in five regions of England between August 2008 and March 2012 and aimed to use a community engagement approach to improve the street environment to promote walking for transport. Implementation was assessed in relation to reach; dosage; implementation processes and adaptation; and factors influencing implementation. Three data sources were used: focus groups and face-to-face interviews with coordinators; implementation logs; and participation records. RESULTS: Reach: 155 community groups participated in FFW engaging 30,230 local residents. Dosage: A wide variety of environmental improvements were implemented by local authorities (LAs) (42 projects) and by communities (46 projects). Examples of LA-led improvements included removal of encroaching vegetation, new/improved pedestrian signage, new dropped kerbs/kerb improvements and new, repaired or improved footpaths. Examples of community-led improvements included planting bulbs, shrubs or bedding plants, clean-up days and litter pick-ups. In 32 projects, no environmental improvements were implemented. Promotional and awareness-raising activities were undertaken in 81 projects. Examples included led walks, themed walks, development of maps/resources to promote improved routes and community events. Processes and adaptation: The need for a planning phase, a preparatory phase, and a delivery phase with a four step process were identified. Adaptability to local context was important. Factors influencing implementation: Five key themes were identified in relation to the barriers and facilitators of implementing FFW: local knowledge and contacts; intervention delivery; coordinator role; working with LAs and other partners; and working with communities. CONCLUSIONS: FFW is one of few reported interventions which have used a community engagement approach to change the street environment to promote walking for transport in deprived neighbourhoods. Delivering these types of interventions is complex and requires considerable resource and time. A set of recommendations and an implementation framework are proposed for future delivery of this and similar types of programme.