TY - JOUR
T1 - A framework to evaluate the accessibility, visibility, and intelligibility of green-blue spaces (GBSs) related to pedestrian movement
AU - Fan, Pingyu
AU - Chun, Kwok Pan
AU - Mijic, Ana
AU - Tan, Mou Leong
AU - Liu, Minsi
AU - Yetemen, Omer
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Hong Kong Baptist University Faculty Research Grant (No. FRG1/17-18/044 and No. FRG1/16-17/034 ), the Research Impact Fund (No. R2002-20F ) from the Hong Kong Research Grant Council (RGC) , and the 2232 International Fellowship for Outstanding Researchers Program of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) through grant 118C329 . This research was conducted using the resources of the High Performance Cluster Computing Centre, Hong Kong Baptist University, which receives funding from Research Grant Council, University Grant Committee of the HKSAR and Hong Kong Baptist University .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier GmbH
PY - 2022/3
Y1 - 2022/3
N2 - The planning of green-blue spaces (GBSs) requires considering the pedestrian needs in their walking routes for improving the walking experience. Incorporating the quantitative spatial characteristics of pedestrian movement is essential for pedestrian-friendly urban planning, which however received insufficient attention. Based on the space syntax theory, this study provided three indicators – accessibility, visibility, and intelligibility – to demonstrate the needs of physical access, visual access, and spatial cognition, respectively, in pedestrian movement. Measuring these three indicators, this study exemplified the planning of pedestrian-friendly GBSs using Guangzhou, China as a case study. Spatial design network analysis was used to quantify heterogeneous values of accessibility, visibility, and intelligibility of each GBS throughout the city. Moreover, we used principal component analysis to identify the leading indicators based on their weightings and then to calculate the scores to compare these three aspects of GBSs. The measurements of accessibility, visibility, and intelligibility of each GBS were then averaged across urban administrative districts for evaluating city-scale GBSs. The findings showed that GBSs in central districts were most accessible and visible but least intelligible. In contrast, the overall intelligibility of GBSs throughout the city was the greatest but the visibility was the least. Furthermore, intelligibility, as a more important factor than accessibility and visibility, should be particularly emphasized in future planning of pedestrian-friendly GBSs. Pedestrians from the central districts of Guangzhou city were most satisfied with the walking experience, in terms of accessing to, viewing, and cognizing the GBSs. ‘Yuexiu’, ‘Huadu’, and ‘Nansha’ districts were found as the key places where improved accessibility, visibility, and intelligibility were particularly needed to improve the GBS pedestrian-friendliness throughout the city. In summary, this study not only demonstrated a human-scale GBS evaluation framework for improving the human walking experience but also provided empirical evidence for building pedestrian-friendly green-blue spaces at the city scale.
AB - The planning of green-blue spaces (GBSs) requires considering the pedestrian needs in their walking routes for improving the walking experience. Incorporating the quantitative spatial characteristics of pedestrian movement is essential for pedestrian-friendly urban planning, which however received insufficient attention. Based on the space syntax theory, this study provided three indicators – accessibility, visibility, and intelligibility – to demonstrate the needs of physical access, visual access, and spatial cognition, respectively, in pedestrian movement. Measuring these three indicators, this study exemplified the planning of pedestrian-friendly GBSs using Guangzhou, China as a case study. Spatial design network analysis was used to quantify heterogeneous values of accessibility, visibility, and intelligibility of each GBS throughout the city. Moreover, we used principal component analysis to identify the leading indicators based on their weightings and then to calculate the scores to compare these three aspects of GBSs. The measurements of accessibility, visibility, and intelligibility of each GBS were then averaged across urban administrative districts for evaluating city-scale GBSs. The findings showed that GBSs in central districts were most accessible and visible but least intelligible. In contrast, the overall intelligibility of GBSs throughout the city was the greatest but the visibility was the least. Furthermore, intelligibility, as a more important factor than accessibility and visibility, should be particularly emphasized in future planning of pedestrian-friendly GBSs. Pedestrians from the central districts of Guangzhou city were most satisfied with the walking experience, in terms of accessing to, viewing, and cognizing the GBSs. ‘Yuexiu’, ‘Huadu’, and ‘Nansha’ districts were found as the key places where improved accessibility, visibility, and intelligibility were particularly needed to improve the GBS pedestrian-friendliness throughout the city. In summary, this study not only demonstrated a human-scale GBS evaluation framework for improving the human walking experience but also provided empirical evidence for building pedestrian-friendly green-blue spaces at the city scale.
KW - Accessibility
KW - Visibility
KW - Intelligibility
KW - Space syntax
KW - Green-blue spaces
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124527251&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ufug.2022.127494
DO - 10.1016/j.ufug.2022.127494
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1618-8667
VL - 69
JO - Urban Forestry and Urban Greening
JF - Urban Forestry and Urban Greening
M1 - 127494
ER -