EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Does Environmental Walkability Matter? The Role of Walkable Environment in Active Commuting

Eun Jung Kim, Jiyeong Kim and Hyunjung Kim
Additional contact information
Eun Jung Kim: Department of Urban Planning, Keimyung University, 1095 Dalgubeol-daero, Dalseo-gu, Daegu 42601, Korea
Jiyeong Kim: Department of Urban Planning, Keimyung University, 1095 Dalgubeol-daero, Dalseo-gu, Daegu 42601, Korea
Hyunjung Kim: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University, Gwanak-ro 1, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Korea

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: Since walkability plays an important role in active commuting, several cities are actively promoting its integration into urban and environmental planning policies. This study examined the association between walkability and active commuting in Seoul, Korea. A multilevel logistic regression model was used to examine the correlation between Walkability Score and the probability of active commuting after controlling for individual variables. The analysis used 129,044 individual samples nested within 424 administrative districts (dongs). In this study, three models were tested: Model 1 contained only individual variables, Model 2 contained individual variables and Walkability Score, and Model 3 included neighborhood-level variables in addition to the variables of Model 2. The results showed that the Walkability Score was significantly correlated with the odds of active commuting. Specifically, every additional one-point increase in Walkability Score was associated with 0.3% higher odds of active commuting (Model 2: odds ratio (OR) = 1.003, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.001–1.005; Model 3: OR = 1.003, 95% CI = 1.001–1.006). Additionally, public transportation density was also positively correlated with the odds of active commuting. The odds of active commuting were positively correlated with younger age, female, lower-income, and having no car. Based on the findings, policy recommendations in urban planning and design, transport engineering, and environmental planning are provided.

Keywords: active commuting; walking; cycling; Walk Score; Walkability Score, multilevel logistic regression model; geographic information system (GIS); Seoul (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/4/1261/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/4/1261/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:4:p:1261-:d:321166

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().

 
Page updated 2025-03-19
Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:4:p:1261-:d:321166