Perceived Safety and Pedestrian Performance in Pedestrian Priority Streets (PPSs) in Seoul, Korea: A Virtual Reality Experiment and Trace Mapping

Haeryung Lee and Seung-Nam Kim
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Haeryung Lee: Architecture & Urban Research Institute, Sejong 30103, Korea
Seung-Nam Kim: Department of Urban Design and Studies, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Korea

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: Pedestrian Priority Street (PPS) project, launched to encourage safer and more convenient walking by improving the inferior pedestrian environment on narrow streets without sidewalks, is based on Monderman’s shared space concept. Similar to the shared space approach, PPS aims for mutual consideration between pedestrians and drivers and strives to create a pedestrian-friendly environment, but the project relies on a unique road surface design. Considering the two main goals of the PPS project, this study investigated how subjective safety and pedestrians’ movements differed by design types. To analyze safety perception, ordered Logit regression and post-hoc interviews were conducted with visual assessment survey using recorded VR (virtual reality) videos. Next, trace mapping and analysis were performed based on the video recordings to measure the degree of free walking. The results found that pedestrians perceived higher safety level in PPSs than in general back road. Further, the pedestrians moved more freely in the street with an integrated design. In other types, which suggested a pedestrian zone at the roadside, there was not much difference in behavior from the general back roads. Thus, the design principle of PPS, which does not set a boundary between pedestrian and vehicle area, should be observed to lead to behavioral changes in pedestrians.

Keywords: pedestrian priority street; shared space; pedestrian performance; perceived safety; walking environment; virtual reality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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